The Real Peaky Blinders: Billy Kimber, the Birmingham Gang and the Racecourse Wars of the 1920s

by Carl Chinn

Real-Peaky-Blinders

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Crime, True Crime, Historical, Biography, Mystery

112 pages, Paperback

First published October 10, 2014

Reviews

[Charles Bevan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was seduced by the title as being a real story of the Peaky Blinders, which it turns out not to be! You have half a book of newspaper stories about gangs, which repeats itself remorselessly and more or less states there wasn’t really any gangs called Peaky Blinders, just phrases described in newspapers as coining the phrase. You have to get over half way before you meet people with the name Sheldon to get to anyone resembling a character in the series that this book is trying to ride on the back of.
There are several syntax errors, words missing etc. which make you wonder if anyone checked the writing before publication.
I found it frustrating and repetitive and binned it well before the end.
Won’t be rushing to read anything else by this author.
Disappointing!

[Maria Espadinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Kings of Birmingham

https://youtu.be/SA9cNu_B5Tg

When I think about England, what instantly pops into my mental screen is the image of the royal family smiling and waving. Hence, I was quite surprised when I heard about a fierce gang that once upon a time haunted the streets of Birmingham.

However, there was some sort of royal aura surrounding each member of the gang, cos they were all impeccable dressers. If it wasn’t for their street caps, they could easily mingle with the English court😉😜 Anyway, since they were the Kings of Birmingham, I guess there must have been some traces of nobility in most of them😉 Nevertheless, their real name was Peaky Blinders and this book tells their real story 👍👍👍👍

[Maria Espadinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Os Príncipes do Crime

https://youtu.be/jMMUgnf2E9c

Foi para mim uma surpresa saber que os Peaky Blinders foram um temível gangue de Birmingham, pois no meu ecrã mental sempre visualizei gangues na América e reis e rainhas em Inglaterra.

Os Peaky Blinders surgiram, pois, em Inglaterra, em finais do século XIX. Eram filhos da classe operária que ambicionaram ir além dos limites impostos pela pobreza das suas ocupações, o que os levou a enveredar por caminhos algo sinuosos, no sentido mais pejorativo to termo.

Sobre os Peaky Blinders sabe-se que aterrorizavam e encantavam:
Aterrorizavam porque, com os seus bonés letais (tinham lâminas inseridas nas palas), eram danados para a luta.
Encantavam porque, tratando-se dum gangue britânico, trajavam que nem príncipes. 😉

https://youtu.be/-964sSBviK0

Este livro conta-nos a sua história.

https://youtu.be/0gYSj_J2bzs

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a HUGE fan of the BBC TV series Peaky Blinders!!!🙌 Just love it and couldn't wait to start reading this book.
Although I found this book interesting and it did give you some facts about the real peaky blinders and gangs in Birmingham, the racecourse wars of the 1920s, Billy Kimber and Alfie Solomon but I was also disappointed as I thought the true life stories of the factual characters in Peaky Blinders would be more in depth!
The writing was a bit all over the place and confusing! Instead of chapters being dedicated to specific characters, there were paragraphs pertaining to the characters written into several chapters throughout the book! So confusing! There were also many spelling and grammatical errors throughout this book!! He definitely needs a new editor!!!
Interesting book at times but also disappointing!!

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admit, I've never actually watched an episode of Peaky Blinders (it's on the list, okay?) - which probably makes me a better audience for this book than those who are attracted to it because they're great fans of the series and expected to find more of its events and characters confirmed in this nonfiction account of its inspiration. Alas, the TV take on Birmingham's historical criminal underworld appears to be far more fiction than fact, leaving some deeply disappointed in this book. I, on the other hand, went into it without any preconceived notions and found it to be quite an interesting read.

[Lydia Richards · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking forward to this when I got it as a Christmas present last year, but coming round to it, it was a SLOW read. I think this is the longest I've taken to read a book in years. The cover lures the reader in, thinking we're going to learn about the real people behind the TV series which I so love, unfortunately this wasn't the case.

Most of the chapters just followed the template of:
Person / Crime / Punishment / Any further crimes and punishments.

Not to mention that the people whom the Shelbys were based on weren't introduced until over halfway through the novel, and that was albeit brief.

As many people have already mentioned, there's quite a few grammatical errors in this book, which quite annoys me. It's as if the editing stage was rushed in order to get it published to the masses and make as much money as possible, as quickly as possible.

Overall, while it was interesting to learn about a different culture, I was quite disappointed overall, and felt the title misleading.

[Mizuki]

I can't lie to myself, I lost interest after page 20, so no rating. I admit this time "it is not the book it's me", the topics of the Birmingham gangers at the beginning of the century, and the historical period around WWI can be intriguing, the historical photos gathered by the author are also interesting, the research seems to be solid too but......in the end I decided I am better off watch the TV series 'Peaky Blinders' from the start instead. 

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m a fan of the TV series, Peaky Blinders (BBC), so I was delighted to receive this is a gift from a relative. I really wanted to love this book, or at the very least enjoy it, but it was a real slog (no pun intended) to finish. It was difficult to assign a star rating to it – the depth of research that’s gone into it should make it at least a 3* - but unfortunately, it was a rather dull, needlessly drawn out book full of grammatical mistakes, which is why I’ve classified it as a 2*.


The author has clearly done a great deal of research, which is the main reason why I feel so guilty giving it a low rating. The way that this information has been presented, in overly long chapters that lack any linear narrative, was a source of real frustration. Chinn uses a combination of police archives, newspaper articles and testimonies of those who lived in the neighbourhoods at the time to paint a picture of the real working-class Birmingham and its criminals. It was very interesting to see how fact differed from fiction – there was no real “Peaky Blinder” gang, the peaky blinders (coined by the newspapers) operated before the First World War (not after), and they were actually common criminals who terrorised ordinary people (unlike the more sympathetic antihero portrayal in the TV show). After I finally finished the book, I felt like I learned a lot and I particularly liked the chapter about the real men that some of the characters from the TV series are based on – Billy Kimber, Alfie Solomon(s), and Darby Sabini.


Unfortunately, this chapter only made up a small part of the book and was not covered in much depth. The rest is waffling filler that goes back and forth about “slogging gangs”, “pitch and toss”, “sloggers”, and more “pitch and toss”. It was very repetitive and focussed too much on minor characters and events (who were basically the same people with different names and injuries). The book did not need to be as long as it was and was badly let down by its poor editing – in fact, I don’t think this book was proofread at all. I lost count of the amount of lazy grammatical mistakes, and a good chunk of the first half of the book should have been seriously slimmed down. I could have forgiven this lack of editing if it had been self-published, but the editors should have done a much better job and have not, in my opinion, done this book justice. I agree with other reviewers who have said that it felt more like reading a dissertation with little attempt at creating a story, which made for a very dry prose lacking any direction.


I’m glad that I read this book so I now have accurate knowledge of the real Peaky Blinders. What frustrates me is that it could easily have been 4* if the editing team had done a proper job. A real shame.

[José · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not a well-written book.
The content of the book is interesting, but it has no relation with the show it draws inspiration from. It's a history book, a recalling of events around the mythology of the actual Peaky Blinders (and no, nothing like in the show. The main character's are not based on real people).
Nevertheless, it was interesting to read about the emergence of such violent gangs and the relationship that clearly existed between class, poor working and living conditions and police, and political repression of the working class and why groups like the slogger gangs started to appear. Something that is still relevant today.
It's just a shame that the author does not have the most compelling writing style. And unfortunately there were too many typos and grammatical inconsistencies throughout the text to overlook.

Thank you for your words, Carl Chinn.

[Phil Cunningham · Rating 1 out of 5]

Overall, a disappointing book, filled with spelling and grammatical errors which blunt the extensive research work that went into this publication. There is a lot repeated in this book, namely fiction is different from reality. Yes, that is quite obvious! I’m not entirely sure if this is an attempt to cash-in on the success of the television series Peaky Blinders, although seeing this is one of several books on the same subject by Chinn, I’m starting to think it is. Probably the most valuable part of this book are the suggestions for further reading.

[B · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting account of the real life peaky blinders and the slogging gangs of late 19th and early 20th Century Birmingham, with an eye opener to the true crimes and power struggles of illegal betting and protection rackets.
However, repetitive facts and statistics (from newspaper accounts, eye witness statements and police reports) alongside the grammatical and spelling errors (which should have been picked up during editing), made it quite a slow read.

[Jade aka MrsTosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was interested to read about the real history of the Peaky Blinders as I realise the TV dramatisation is nothing like the real thing. Having watched various documentaries about the subject over the years, it is apparent that they terrorised the streets of Birmingham, and people were scared of the gang and the lifestyles they led. Not as it had been romanticised by TV.

I enjoyed this book, especially since it came from a relative of one of the members. Some of what he has to say is based on family information. I did find some of the book repetitive in places. But was an interesting read all the same.

[Marc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring book, couple of decent paragraphs but pretty repetitive throughout

[Cassandra Marie Darling · Rating 2 out of 5]

Repetitive, not strong historical accurate, guess work and damn right boring in places. Love the show, knew it was only loosely based on historical figures and not like for like but this book feels like we have jumped onto a money making wagon whilst the shows still of interest.

2 stars (is generous) purely for the chapter based on Billy Kimber, Sabini and Alfie Solomons as that linked nicely even if Alfie Solomons story was a bit wet. The concept of the book and snipets were interesting. Was not worth the page count, could of been half that. Pure disappointment and glad I got it on kindle sale.

[Fischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read

[steph]

DNF. I decided to DNF this because i just couldn't find any kind of motivation to pick this up and finish it. I bought this because i really like the BBC tv show and was curious to see what the characters were like in real life, however i got over half way through the book and not ONE person remotely resembling anybody in the TV show was mentioned. All that happened half way through the book was young "ruffians" physically assaulting police officers in the late 1800s. It wasn't even written in an engaging and interesting way. The author would mention this random person, tell you their age and occupation, tell you what crime they committed and their punishment. That's it. Over and over again.
Based on other reviews I've read characters resembling those in the TV show do come into it later in the book, however i literally just cannot find motivation to read this anymore. I really think the author should have just written about gang work in the 1800s as 55% through the book, thats all that there is.

[Neil Lacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Previous reviews suggested this book would very poor and although I agree with poor grammar, missing words and spelling mistakes, I don't agree with the view that this book is mis-titled. There was a wider view of Birmingham gangs but peaky blinders were woven into the story throughout. Book was repetitive at the start describing how the peaky blinders name came to me which was poor but overall still an interesting read.

[Alexis Lloyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Brumie I was intrigued to read this. This the truth about Peaky Blinders. They operated in areas of Birmingham that I know well. I moved away but still have family there. Cillian Murphy, although pleasing to the eye and a great actor bears no resemblance to the actual Peaky Blinders. The were ruthless killers and true bad 'uns. Read it and see.

[Caz Freeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

That took some getting through, was an interesting read i think it was good not to have watched the series so i wasnt constantly comparing the 2

[catnipthief · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mondanom sem kell, de azért persze fogom, hogy imádtam a sorozatot, úgy zusammen az egyik legnagyobb tévés teljesítménynek tartom, ezért is gondoltam, hogy talán érdemes lenne kicsit mélyebben beletúrnom a történelmi háttérbe. Külön izgalmas volt az is, hogy a szerző tősgyökeres Brummie, akinek akadnak is a felmenői közt helyi gengszterek, sőt, ő maga is sürgölődött gyerekként édesapja búkméker-"irodájában".
A végeredmény viszont, hát, nem kiábrándító, de legalább döbbenetesen unalmas. Mindenképp tiszteletreméltó, ahogy Carl Chinn MINDEN apró részletnek utánajárt, de őszintén kétlem, hogy a sorozat rajongói ilyen szinten érdeklődnének annak gyökerei iránt. De még ez sem volna akkora probléma, ha Chinn némi anekdotázással, urbánus legendákkal kicsit higítaná a, valljuk be, kóbor lőtéri kutyát sem érdeklő nevek, dátumok és helyszínek véget nem érő sorát, de hát nem teszi. Történelemfüggőknek lehet, hogy sokat adhat ez a könyv, de mivel a sorozat a kötet apropója, és annak hátán mászik fel, én szerettem volna valami vadabbat olvasni egy főiskolai disszertációnál.

[Jasmine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably 2.5 ⭐️ for me. It just felt a little all over the place and could definitely have been more concise. I seem to have the same criticism as most of Goodreads, that it needed a better editor for grammatical errors and chronology issues, as well as repetitiveness.

I was hoping for more connections between the characters from the show and their real life counterparts, but instead you get “most guys and gals from Birmingham at the time were peaky blinders, realistically.” The most interesting parts of the book were the parts that described scenes from the show or talked about these connections, but there was only maybe 20 pages of that in the entire book.

There was a lot of “X was arrested for this and charged X amount” which made me feel like the synopsis and marketing of the book was highly misleading. It also gives about four different reasons for why they were called Peaky Blinders and I’m still not entirely sure which reason is the real one.

[Paige · Rating 1 out of 5]

First DNF of the year.

I really wanted to like this book and I tried to ignore the low reviews and give it a chance since I have liked books in the past people haven't cared for so much but honestly, I only made 40% before my headache got so bad I just had to stop.

this book felt so surface level and information overload that I was just confused the whole time. I felt as though the author was more concerned with pointing out everything and anything the TV show either 'got wrong' or 'fictionalised' then writing a captivating story about what was really going on in the 1920s. Of course, things are going to be different, if they just did a show stating only the facts, no one would watch it.

I really wanted to give this book a chance but it just didn't do it for me

[Sam Savelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Long and a bit of a chore to read, this book did do exactly what I set out hoping it would - separated fact from fiction about the peaky blinders. I was grateful for the main point that the book was making, most neatly summarised in the final few paragraphs (if you make it that far) - that the real people this series was based on did not have honour, glamour or integrity.

There was probably enough here for a compelling article / chapter, but not a whole book.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ngl I already knew most of the information in here so I pretty much just skimmed through and read parts that I didn't know about.
Having lived in Birmingham for 3 years, it was interesting (but also frustrating at times) to learn about the realities of the 1920s. And also as someone who studied that period in history too.
I remember in my museum placement they had a lot of exhibits about the peaky blinders so it was interesting to put even more context to it.
I would agree that the writing is not the best, but overall it was a good read that I should've got round to reading a long time ago.

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

As an obsessed fan of the TV series, I so desperately wanted to like this. The title leads you to believe that you’re going to read about a family or gang in which the Shelby family and The Peaky Blinders are based on. In reality, this reads as a documentation of men in Birmingham who were arrested for crimes and gang culture in that time period. There are so many newspaper articles, police archives, and testimonies from people at the time, but they all tell a very similar story, and it really does become repetitive. It’s interesting to read about the real life working class people of Birmingham, but this could easily have been halved. And to add insult, the book confirms that there really wasn’t a gang called The Peaky Blinders, which makes the title even more misleading. The author has blatantly tried to cash in on the TV show’s success, but it just isn’t what you want it to be. It’s obvious that the author has done a lot of in depth research into the time period and the people, but I don’t think the end result is a reflection of that.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of facts and figures. Prepare to have any illusions you have acquired from the tv show shattered. Forget the glamour and the attraction of the "Disneyfied" Peaky Blinders and embrace the grit and dirt of poverty, brutality and violence, bullying that people lived in fear of every day.
I guess i would have liked to have read more about the individual characters but obviously that is difficult when a lot of these lived over a hundred years ago. This is a good starting point to learn who the characters are though.

[Rebecca McAlees · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have never been so disappointed in a book. This was advertised as being about the peaky blinders and to be fair the last few chapters were, however, the first 3/4 of the book was about slogging gangs before the peaky blinders tv show even began. It felt repetitive and boring and I wouldn’t recommend it to even the most die hard peaky blinder fans like myself because it’s quite honestly a waste of time.

[Zuzanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5⭐️

[kinga]

DNF

[natasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book is horribly written and super repetitive so i don’t recommend it if you want to learn any actual history. by the order of the peaky fucking blinders