Carl Chinn

Professor Carl Stephen Alfred Chinn, MBE, PhD (born 6 September 1956) is an English historian, writer, radio presenter, magazine editor, newspaper columnist, and media personality whose working life has been devoted to the study and popularisation of the city of Birmingham. Chinn is a supporter of Aston Villa FC and has a season ticket in the Doug Ellis Stand at Villa Park.

Family

Chinn was born at Sorrento Hospital in Moseley, West Midlands. His father, Alfred (died 26 April 2010), was known as "Buck" and was a notable football supporter and local activist from Sparkbrook. His mother, Sylvia, was known as "Sylvie" and was from Aston. Chinn grew up in Birmingham and was educated at Moseley School and the University of Birmingham.

Career

Chinn initially followed his father and grandfather into bookmaking before entering academia, gaining his PhD in 1986.

His work in the community made him a popular figure, and in 1994 he was invited by the Birmingham Evening Mail to write a two-page feature on local history. This proved extremely popular and Chinn has written a weekly column for the paper ever since.

Peaky Blinders

The Peaky Blinders were a criminal gang based in Birmingham, England, in the late 19th century and to a lesser extent, in the early 20th century. They were one of the many urban youth gangs in the era.

Name

According to Carl Chinn, the name Peaky Blinders is popularly said to derive from the practice of stitching razor blades into the peak of their flat caps, which could then be used as weapons. Chinn describes this as an unrealistic scenario and says a more mundane explanation is that "peakys" was a common nickname for popular flat caps with peaks. The gangs were known to have a distinctive clothing style, wearing peaked caps, cravats, and bell-bottom trousers, and jackets whose "line of brass buttons down the front gave added distinction". Their style of dress was similar to that of the Scuttlers, a Manchester-based gang of the same period.

History

Whether the Peaky Blinders were a single gang or a local Birmingham term for a form of violent youth subculture is debated. Eric Moonman states that, in Birmingham, youth street-gangs were known as "Peaky Blinders" or as "Sloggers". Paul Thompson writes that "These gangs would attack a drunkard and probably leave him insensible in the gutter. If they cannot trip a man or knock him down, they kick or use the buckles of belts…. They will use knife, poker, fork or anything.'"

Carl

Carl may refer to:

See also

Birmingham

Birmingham (ⁱ/ˈbɜːrmɪŋəm/) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. It is the largest and most populous British city outside London with 1,101,360 residents (2014 est.), and its population increase of 88,400 residents between the 2001 and 2011 censuses was greater than that of any other British local authority. The city lies within the West Midlands Built-up Area, the third most populous built-up area in the United Kingdom with 2,440,986 residents (2011 census), and its metropolitan area is the United Kingdom's second most populous with 3,701,107 residents (2012 est.) and is also the 9th largest metropolitan area in Europe.

Kathleen Dayus

Kathleen Dayus (1903 – January 2003) was an English author from the West Midlands.

Dayus was born in Hockley, Birmingham, 1–2 miles NW of the city centre. The living conditions she experienced were back to back slum dwellings with hand to mouth existence, but in a close knit and supportive community.

She described her growing up, married life, parenthood including her decision to hand her children to Doctor Barnardo's for a period, and later life, in a series of books:

These were brought together under the title: The Girl from Hockley: Growing Up in Working-Class Birmingham, published by Virago in 2006.

She was awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree by University of Birmingham in 1992 in recognition of her contribution to the written record of Birmingham's history. In August 2006 her work was featured daily, read by Diana Bishop and abridged by Julian Wilkinson, as Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4.