Some of the real “Peaky Blinders”, gang members who wreaked havoc in Birmingham
ROYAL COLLECTION TRUST/WEST MIDLANDS POLICE MUSEUM/GETTY IMAGES
In March 1890, when 26-year-old teetotaller George Eastwood ordered himself a ginger beer at a pub in Birmingham, a gang leader called Thomas Mucklow and his friends mocked his choice of drink.
Worse, those men lay in wait for Eastwood when he left the bar and gave him such a beating that he was left fighting for his life. After that assault, newspaper reports of the incident included the first media reference to “Peaky Blinders”.