Tommy Shelby’s Hat In Peaky Blinders Isn’t Exactly Historically Accurate

You know what it’s like. You’re strolling down the cobblestoned streets of Birmingham with your motley crew of fellow troublemakers, when all of a sudden, you run into a rival gang, with no intention of backing down from a fight. What do you do when you need a more personal touch for close-quarters combat? It’s simple: just take off your hat, find the hidden razor embedded inside, and voila! Unfortunately, that little scenario might make for an awesome urban myth, but at the end of the day it’s likely only that — a myth.

That’s the cold dose of reality provided by the Birmingham Mail (via Netflix’s Tudum website). In an interview published around the time of the season 6 premiere, the outlet talked to local Birmingham historian Carl Chinn about separating truth from fiction in “Peaky Blinders.” At the top of the list, inevitably, are those sneaky, razor-sharp blades hidden inside the hat of each and every Peaky Blinder. In the world of the show, their odd-sounding name comes from the act of slashing enemy faces with those razors and blinding opponents with their own blood. But in reality, Chinn explains that it just doesn’t add up:

“As for the razor blades? They were only beginning to come in from the 1890s and were a luxury item, much too expensive for the Peaky Blinders to have used. And any hard man would tell you it would be very difficult to get direction and power with a razor blade sewn into the soft part of a cap.”

Talk about a bummer. Still, we’re glad facts never got in the way of telling a truly compelling story … as exaggerated as it may have been. Just don’t let this ruin the show for you, by order of the Peaky Blinders!