Peaky Blinders Myths - Global expert Prof. Carl Chinn's truth about the Birmingham Gangsters

Peaky Blinders has been one of the biggest hit series of recent years however a lot of debate has focussed on how accurately it portrays real events and people. For example...did the Peakies, the Gangsters of the time, sew razors into their trademark hats as weopons? Here's where you can find out more. From the man who knows.

Buy Carl Chinn's Peaky Blinder Books

Prof. Carl Chinn PhD MBE is an English historian, writer and broadcaster whose working life has been devoted to the study and popularisation of the city of Birmingham. He broadcast a programme on the BBC from the mid-1990s focusing on Birmingham's history.

In 1990, he was contracted to lecture at the University of Birmingham, where he subsequently became a full professor in 2002. During this year he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his "services to local history and to charities."

He features in many historical programmes about the era and Peaky Blinders, the most recent being THE REAL PEAKY BLINDERS available on BBC IPlayer

Peaky Blinders is an epic centred on a gangster family of Irish-Romani origin set in Birmingham, England, starting in 1919, several months after the end of the First World War in November 1918.

It centres on the Peaky Blinders gang and their ambitious, cunning boss Tommy Shelby (Murphy). The gang comes to the attention of Major Chester Campbell (Neill), a detective chief inspector in the Royal Irish Constabulary sent over by Winston Churchill from Belfast, where he had been sent to clean up the city of the Irish Republican Army, Communists, gangs, and common criminals. Winston Churchill (played by Andy Nyman in series 1 and Richard McCabe in series 2) charged him with suppressing disorder and uprising in Birmingham and recovering a stolen cache of arms meant to be shipped to Libya. The first series concluded on 3 December 1919—"Black Star Day", the event where the Peaky Blinders plan to take over Billy Kimber's betting pitches at the Worcester Races.

The second series has the Peaky Blinders expand their criminal organisation in the "South and North while maintaining a stronghold in their Birmingham heartland." The series introduces Alfie Solomons played by Tom Hardy. It begins in 1921 and ends with a climax at Epsom racecourse on 31 May 1922, Derby Day.

The third series starts and ends in 1924, as it follows Tommy and the gang entering an even more dangerous world as they once again expand, this time internationally. The third series also features Father John Hughes (Paddy Considine), who is involved in an anticommunist organisation; Ruben Oliver (Alexander Siddig), a painter whom Polly (Helen McCrory) enlists to paint her portrait; Russian Duchess Tatiana Petrovna (Gaite Jansen); and Linda Shelby (Kate Phillips), new wife of Arthur.

The fourth series begins on Christmas Eve 1925, and ends following the general strike of May 1926, with Tommy using Jessie Eden for information and being elected as a Member of Parliament in 1927.

The fifth series begins two years later on 29 October 1929 (Black Tuesday) and ends on 7 December 1929, the morning after a rally led by fascist leader Oswald Mosley.

The sixth series begins on 5 December 1933 when prohibition was repealed in the United States. The Nazi Party has also obtained power in Germany, leading to a growth in membership of the British Union of Fascists.

Dedicated to Helen McCrory.

[mamluki]

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