If you are looking to immerse yourself in some official Peaky Blinders trivia, read on….
Question one:
Do you know the name of the horse Tommy rides in the first episode? Or what gift Polly brings to Ada and her new baby? Too easy? Okay, then, what’s the name of the song John claims Arthur Snr used to drunkenly sing to them?
For those of you who can’t get enough of the Shelbys and their associates, or who think you know everything there is to know about every episode of Peaky Blinders, then you need the Official Peaky Blinders Quiz Book.
In this first, official trivia book, quiz master and superfan Matt Whyman, working for publishers Hodder, has compiled hundreds of questions about Peaky Blinders. They start off easy and then get a little bit trickier – plus there are a handful of killer questions, guaranteed to bring out your competitive side.
The book is a must-have for all Peaky Blinders fans… Here, Matt explains to Peaky Blinders TV why and how he put the quiz together.
PB: How did you go about writing the Quiz?
(Quiz Master) Matt: As a huge Peaky Blinders fan, this was a dream job. I’d already watched every episode, but on beginning work on the book, I realised that to be a quiz master you have to have an understanding that goes way beyond just being a fan. You’ve got to have a laser-like attention to detail.
PB: How well do you remember the answers now? Let’s test you with a trickier one:
Matt: I’d have to think about that one! The good thing is the answers are all contained in the series, if you watch carefully, and the questions follow the narrative of the series . Ultimately, we wanted fans to be able to re-live the series by working through the Quiz.
But the Quiz is also designed to be enjoyed in different ways: it can be read alone, answering questions in your head, or it can be played with a bunch of mates having a proper game and some fun, to see who’s got the most knowledge.
PB: What makes a good quiz?
Matt: that’s a tricky question! The thing about creating quiz questions is that you can make them impossibly difficult to the point where it’s not fun. Jamie Glazebrook, the executive producer of Peaky Blinders, was my difficulty control. He was very good at basically saying ‘I don’t think anyone’s going to know this,’ and that’s how we found the sweet spot throughout the Quiz Book. We want you to feel like you know this answer, it’s just on the tip of your tongue or in the back of your mind…
PB: Did writing the quiz change your perspective on the show?
Matt: What became apparent to me while I was writing the Quiz and talking to the Peaky Team was just how many levels there are to the story. It’s quite mind-blowing.
As can happen with TV shows when the set dresser or costume designer is really involved on a deep level, some of the things going on are almost subliminal, but they’re fascinating when you can pick them out.
There’s one that I really noticed when Tommy visits Alfie in Margate. When he goes to his house there’s a mosaic on the front doorstep that spells out ‘Lethe’. I had to look up what it meant – it means ‘oblivion’ in classic Greek. When I talked to Jamie about it, he said, ‘oh, yeah, everything’s there for a reason.’
Get your copy of The Official Peaky Blinders Quiz Book from Waterstones now.
For the answers, buy the book!