With the upcoming Peaky Blinders movie appearing to show how the Shelby family played a part in preventing the Nazi’s winning World War Two it is fair to say that Peaky has never been overly concerned with historical accuracy.
The Peaky Blinders TV show is based on real gangs, but the Shelby family never existed and there are several core details in the story that simply did not happen.
There was never one unified ‘Peaky Blinder gang’, they didn’t wear razor blades in their stylish hats, and the gangs mostly lost control of Birmingham after World War One.
Despite this though, the story of Peaky Blinders overlaps with genuine things that happened in history far more than you’d maybe expect.
The Blinders fighting with Billy Kimber really happened
The first season saw the Shelbys scrapping with Billy Kimber’s gang, who himself was competing with Darby Sabini for control of the racecourses.
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In real history Billy Kimber and his ‘Birmingham Boys’ had genuine gang wars with some of the Peaky Blinders gangs, and Billy Kimber may have himself been a Blinder at one point. Kimber was actually from Birmingham in real life and not a cockney as portrayed in the TV series.
Social historian and Peaky Blinder descendant Carl Chinn said in an exclusive interview with LADbible that Kimber’s gang was the closest to a real version of the Shelby’s, saying: “Most similar to would be the Birmingham gang of the real Billy Kimber… Billy Kimber is a formidable fighter, but with a brain brought together into a really fearsome fighting group.
“By the First World War, they've taken control of the racecourse rackets in the Midlands and the North.”
Alfie Solomons was a real gangster who fought with Billy Kimber and Darby Sabini
Alfie Solomons was played by Tom Hardy in the show and, though his relationship with the Birmingham Peaky Blinders was fictional, it did draw on some real life events.
The real man was called Alfred Solomons and was a Jewish crime boss who ran the ‘Yiddishers’ gang.
He had various battles with Billy Kimber and Darby Sabini, with Solomons being arrested for shooting Kimber in 1921.
Charlie Chaplin’s cameo isn’t as far-fetched as you’d think
Yes, if you didn’t realise, Charlie Chaplin is actually in Peaky Blinders. An actor portraying Chaplin has a brief cameo as an acquaintance of Tommy’s
Speaking about why he included the popular comedic actor in a recent interview, Steven Knight said that it was because in real life Billy Kimber left Birmingham to go and become Charlie Chaplin’s bodyguard.
In addition to this Chaplin was a Birmingham native with Romani roots, meaning that he did likely know the real life Peaky Blinders gangs.
The Nazi Party did almost work with the United States as portrayed in season six
Much of season six focuses on the rise of Fascism in the United Kingdom, influenced by the rise of the Nazi party in Germany.
One major season six-character, Jack Nelson, is thought to be based on Joseph Kennedy Sr, the father of JFK who is rumoured to have made his fortune as a rumrunner.
Nelson’s role in the series is as a senior ally to President Roosevelt, which Kennedy Sr operated as in real life.
As portrayed in the show, Kennedy Sr (with Nelson as a stand in) lobbied for America to abandon the Allies in favour of Germany during World War 2, a popularly held belief in America until 1942 when the US more widely learned of the holocaust.
Oswald Mosley and his links to Hitler were scarily real
The final two seasons of Peaky Blinders focus heavily on the rise of the British Union of Fascists led by Oswald Mosley, who is played by Sam Claflin in the show.
You may think that the show exaggerates Mosley’s links to Hitler and high-level Nazis, but it was very real.
In the show he marries his wife Diana Mitford at Joseph Goebbel’s house, with Hitler making an appearance as a guest at his wedding.
This genuinely happened in real life, with Hitler calling Mitford and her sister Unity ‘angels’ on a regular basis.
Topics: Peaky Blinders, History, TV and Film, TV
Michael Slavin