The T-birds. Pink ladies. The warriors. Teletubbies. Throughout history, film and television have been home to a range of terrifying gangs, but perhaps the latest to capture the world's attention are the Peaky Blinders. Led by Cillian Murphy in Stephen Knight's award-winning period drama (which broke the mold for television production)the show is inspired by a real gang in the early 20th century (although Knight approached the series as an old-school western). The drama stars Murphy as Thomas Shelby, a devoted family man and fearsome boss of the titular gang, who for six seasons and nine years has evaded the law and outlaws in equal measure, dancing with death on more than one occasion along the way. .

Peaky Blinders has already attracted the likes of Sam Neill, Adrien Brody and Tom Hardy during its nearly decade-long run, and Oscar nominee Barry Keoghan is now set to join the fray in The Netflix feature film Peaky Blinders.which is expected to bring Thomas' story to a close as he finally embarks on the dark middle of his life But why does the term Peaky Blinders strike fear into the hearts of Birmingham's locals and neighboring gangs? What is the origin of their name and are there any common misconceptions about how the Shelby clan got it? Well, in Thomas's own words, no fight! Instead, let us break it down for you.

The term "Peaky Blinders" regained popularity when the BBC show of the same name premiered in 2013, but even before then it was commonly assumed that "Peaky Blinders" arose from a violent act that the real-life version of the gang members regularly performed. . of their enemies. In the Peaky Blinders series, Shelby and his crew sew razor blades into the tops of their flat caps and use them to slice and dice their opposition, often through the face and eyes to the point of blinding them. That seems to more or less settle the matter, at least until you take a closer look at the timeline of the actual Peaky Blinders' existence in relation to a key event in history: the invention of the razor blade.

In the real world, the Peaky Blinders formed in the late 1880s and, much like Shelby and his colleagues in the TV show, wore the flat hats that became synonymous with the gang itself. Replaceable razor blades, however, were not produced in Britain until 1908, just two years before the end of the Peaky Blinders' reign and the moment they began to lose control of their territory to a rival gang known as the Birmingham Boys. Hats off (no pun intended) to whoever came up with the cool origin story, but it's just not true, unfortunately. Instead, the more reasonable and simpler answer is that it has everything to do with the Peaky Blinders wardrobe and maybe even how they wore it.

Given that the real Peaky Blinders emerged some 28 years too early for their name to have anything to do with razor blades, what is the truth behind the gang's now legendary moniker? Well, it's really quite simple. Peaky Blinders are simply named after their flat caps and hats. The hats the gang wore did come with peaks, which would explain the "peak" part of their name. "Blinder", on the other hand, had more to do with the local dialect and how the gang was perceived.

In Birmingham, the term "blind" is associated with a clearer appearance, something the gang always strove for as they walked down the street, often tipping their hats at an angle so that only one eye was visible and the other "blinded." " Also, "blind" is often used to describe someone as happy with something they've done or gotten away with ("pulled the blinds"). As for the name's more violent overtones, the link between the razor and Peaky Blinders first appeared in a 1977 novel written by John Douglas titled "A Walk Down Summer Lane" and likely slipped into an urban legend associated with the gang.

After all, the origin of the name is not important. When it comes to a beloved show, clothes don't make the man, but being able to walk to the edge of town and across the boardwalk in slow motion sure makes you look cool.