Peaky Blinders - review

[museumtom]

Am I the only one that has a problem with the sound quality on Peaky? He talks is whispers, sometimes with music in the background. Subtitles would help enormously but they are not there. Having said that i is a great programme.

Kind regards.

Tom.

[Gardenerbill]

50 minutes ago, museumtom said:

Am I the only one that has a problem with the sound quality on Peaky? He talks is whispers, sometimes with music in the background. Subtitles would help enormously but they are not there. Having said that i is a great programme.

Kind regards.

Tom.

I agree Tom, we normally have our sound set at 21, for last night's episode we had the sound up around 35, almost double the normal setting.

[RedCoat]

I used to be a fan of Peaky Blinders but have lost interest.

At one point I was researching a NSW Police Prosecutor for a museum project, and became fascinated by the 1920's /30's Sydney Razor Gangs. Tilly Devine, a most formidable crime boss had a husband / enforcer called Jim Devine who had served in the 4th Australian Tunnelling Company during the First World War. An interesting coincidence. 

Cheers

[Skipman]

https://www.radiotimes.com/programme/b-cs9mpq/the-real-peaky-blinders-season-1/?episode=b-luahw9

 

Mike

[GrandUncle Gassed 1918]

On PEAKY BLINDERS and Shelby's letter to Churchill: Only experienced professional British riflemen, and their officers, fought the Germans at Mons. I strongly believe that Shelby was lying. Regarding Verdun, the French asked the British to attack the Germans in their own sector to draw off some Germans from the Verdun attack.  (Thus the Battle of the Somme.) I don't believe that any British units fought at Verdun.  British nationals in the French Foreign Legion could have. I believe that Shelby was lying here, too.  Apparently, Shelby served at the Somme, but what and how he did is unknown.

As for Churchill's calling for a show of hands from former soldiers who served at Verdun, I believe that he was being sarcastic in order to make Shelby look like a wannabe con-man.

And as for Russian units serving in France in 1916, that is unbelievable.  Russians are known for inefficiency, and the Russian army was in such a bad way in 1916, that their High Command would not have seriously discussed sending their troops anywhere away from the Eastern Front.  Meanwhile, there is one report of a Russian soldier captured by the Germans who worked for the German army on the Western Front, rather than waste away in a POW camp, and who sneaked away one night to the British trenches.

[museumtom]

Part of my project is to go through all the Irish death certificates from 1914 to 1921...stay with me lads this is going somewhere... The most common cause of death for discharged soldiers is 'PHTHISIS', pronounced TIE SIS which is a catch all word for a wasting disease, most commonly pulmonary tuberculosis. Peaky blinders is the only place I have ever heard this word PHTHISIS uttered in my life. Even my doctor never heard of it before but it was very common 100 years ago.

[GrandUncle Gassed 1918]

    Gangsters in WW1?  Al Capone qualified for the last draft, starting in Sept. 1918, when the minimum draft age was lowered from 21 to 18. Apparently his number did not come up.  But in any large popular army statistically there must be criminals of sorts.  In "Make the Kaiser Dance" by Henry Berry, one former doughboy reported that some American soldiers were rowdy in a Bistro behind the battle line, and when an MP insisted that they be more respectful toward the proprietor, a doughboy grabbed the MP's gun and shot him.  Another former doughboy reported that on a U.S. transport ship headed toward France, many of the soldiers apparently had had too little training due to Allied pressure for rapid reinforcement.  A sergeant tried to compensate by disciplining them, but four troops conspired to lure the sergeant on deck during the night, grabbed him, and threw him overboard.  No one was caught in either case, although the army authorities came down hard by punishing the criminals' units. Interesting to me, there is a short story by a Czech author about a murder of a hated Austro-Hungarian officer by two soldiers.  No one was caught, so the lower-ranking enlisted men were lined up and told to count off by fives. Every fifth man was then marched off and shot.  The authorities considered the case closed.

[PRC]

On 08/09/2022 at 06:20, GrandUncle Gassed 1918 said:

And as for Russian units serving in France in 1916, that is unbelievable.  Russians are known for inefficiency, and the Russian army was in such a bad way in 1916, that their High Command would not have seriously discussed sending their troops anywhere away from the Eastern Front. 

A trawl of the forum or even a wider internet search will give you information on the Russian Brigades that fought on the Western Front. Having said which they were more likely to be conscripts than "elite" fighting troops. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Expeditionary_Force_in_France

As for the rest  - hokum to advance the story and poor continuity \research on the part of the programme writers & producers, chucking in a few buzz words that will have vague associations for most of the viewing public. Pre the introduction of conscription any imprisonment by the civil authorities was still potentially a bar to enlistment. 

I particularly liked service files with passport style photos in the first series - if only!

Cheers,
Peter

[James A Pratt III]

I would say the US units with men from big cities like New York City contained a least some men with criminal records. I would also say post-WW I there where more than a few US WW I vets who got involved in bootlegging ect. I believe crime in the US went way up post WW I.

I am not sure but, I think there was a former WW I RNR or RNVR officer who was involved in rum running into the US.

[Scritch]

On 03/10/2022 at 16:20, James A Pratt III said:

I would say the US units with men from big cities like New York City contained a least some men with criminal records. I would also say post-WW I there where more than a few US WW I vets who got involved in bootlegging ect. I believe crime in the US went way up post WW I.

I am not sure but, I think there was a former WW I RNR or RNVR officer who was involved in rum running into the US.

It does seem to be the case! Edward 'Monk' Eastman, a notorious New York gang leader, served in France with the 106th Infantry Regiment of the the 27th US Division. http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/meastman.htm

[James A Pratt III]

Bert hall of the lafayette escadrille did jail time post WW I. see on youtube The league of WW I Aviation Historians presentation"The Bad boy Bert hall" by Blaine Pardue who has a book a book on him.  Also you can laugh along with the rest of the crowd.