The Shelby family, although fictional
The Shelby family, although fictional, appears to have been inspired by real members of the Peaky Blinders, such as Kevin Mooney who was the son of a gypsy family, known for his practice of constantly changing his name and involvement in activities such as land grabbing. Another member was Billy Kimber, who later formed his own gang, the Birmingham Boys, and came into conflict with the Peaky Blinders when they disputed control of horse racing. The antagonist Oswald Mosley, a real English politician with ties to Mussolini and Hitler, he founded a fascist party and had more than 50 thousand followers, known as the "men in black", who caused riots and disturbances. Mosley was arrested during World War II and, after several failed attempts to resume his political career, he died in 1980.
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