# Questions about Peaky Blinders (maybe from Brits)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-peaky-blinders-maybe-from-brits/855253>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [June 8, 2020, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-peaky-blinders-maybe-from-brits/855253 "2020-06-08T16:09:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-peaky-blinders-maybe-from-brits/855253/1 "2020-06-08T16:09:52Z")

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Maybe this is better in IMHO, please move if necessary. I’m only on S2 so not looking for spoilers.

Multiple people give Campbell shit for not serving in the war. Why would you give a 60+ year old man a hard time for not being in the war? What capacity would he be in even if he was?

What accents are they using? I assume Birmingham, but even to my untrained ear I’m hearing significant variations even between the family members. Particular Thomas and everybody else. Are they any good?

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**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-peaky-blinders-maybe-from-brits/855253/2 "2020-06-08T18:51:49Z")

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Conscription was instituted 18 months into the war, but only covered people up to 41. According to the Wiki Campbell is around 64, so would’ve been 54ish at the start of the war. Before conscription, there was a considerable [shame campaign](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_feather#World_War_I) to encourage enlistment.

So he might’ve been expected to serve the war effort somehow, but not in combat. I would take it as an insult because of the effect on the recipient, rather than the truth of it.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-peaky-blinders-maybe-from-brits/855253/3 "2020-06-08T19:36:15Z")

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> [@thelurkinghorror](#):
>
> I would take it as an insult because of the effect on the recipient, rather than the truth of it.

Yes. An insult doesn’t have to be justified in order to be biting. Even if Campbell didn’t serve because of age, the Shelbys assert their superiorty to him because they served and he didn’t.

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**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-peaky-blinders-maybe-from-brits/855253/4 "2020-06-08T20:47:22Z")

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Many of the recruits into the British military in World War II did so because they were shamed into it:

> **[How were soldiers recruited in World War One?](https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zqhyb9q/articles/z4v9mfr)**
>
> Learn how soilders joined the army in WW1 and how many men were in a battalion in this KS2 Bitesize history guide.