STEVEN Knight heard the story from his dad, who would have been eight years old at the time.

The boy was told to take a message to a local address.When he walked in he saw a group of immaculately dressed men, piles of coins in front of them, drinking beer and whisky out of jam jars.

Whatever money they had to spare clearly went not on fancy glasses but their clothes. Meet the Peaky Blinders, some of whom were the boy’s uncles.

Knight’s personal connection to the Sheldons, who became the fictional Shelbys, is one of a treasure chest of stories to be found in The Real Peaky Blinders (BBC2, Monday, 9pm).

The two part documentary traces the history of the gang from their beginnings in the Victorian slums of Birmingham.

An early stop is made at the West Midlands Police Museum to look at its collection of mug shots of the first Peaky Blinders. Every face tells a story of poverty and violence.

It’s the same for their “molls”, who mostly came up before the judge for theft. The women, too, were dressed to the nines, complete with grand hats, presumably to make them blend in when they went on “shopping trips”.

Besides Knight and the curator, the talking heads include various historians. Leading the pack is Professor Carl Chinn, himself a Brummie, whose enthusiasm and detailed knowledge drive the story on.

Even the most ardent of fans will likely come across a few surprises here, including the real story behind those caps.

We also get to see what the original Peaky Blinders haircut looked like. Turns out it’s even more bizarre than the one sported by Tommy, Arthur and the rest.

Marin Alsop, the subject of The Conductor (Sky Arts, free to view, Tuesday, 8pm), also has a childhood tale to tell. One that could scarcely be more different from Knight Snr’s, but is just as revealing in its way.

Among Alsop’s earliest memories was being taken to a grand concert hall in New York by her father.

Mum had made her wear a dress so she wasn’t in the best of moods, but all that changed when the conductor, some up and comer by the name of Leonard Bernstein, started to explain his role in the orchestra. Alsop told her father this was the job she wanted to do when she grew up.

If she had known then how many mountains she would have to climb to become the first woman to head a major American symphony orchestra, and the first to conduct the Last Night of the Proms, even the tireless Alsop might have hesitated.

Conducting turned out to be one of the last bastions of white male entitlement. As one critic puts it, it was more likely that a woman would be the head of a G7 country than a major symphony orchestra.

Alsop, a violinist and student at Juilliard from the age of seven, met with rejection after rejection when she applied for training places.

Her response was to keep trying, and in the meantime she set up her own orchestra with backing from a financier whose wedding she had played at.

Eventually, she caught a break and national and international acclaim followed.

She even got to study with Bernstein one day. They became great friends. “My hero,” she calls him.

Shrewd, articulate, and with a sense of humour that’s as dry as a Martini in Manhattan, Alsop is great company, and a natural teacher to boot.

That said, even after two hours – too long, but there we are – I’m still not sure I could tell you precisely what a conductor does. Maybe the mystery is all part of the magic.

There is a part of me that is torn, like an old slipper, about recommending Crufts 2022 (Channel 4, Thursday, 3pm and 8pm) as one of my picks of the week. On the one paw, I’ll gladly watch dogs do anything, even if they are just sleeping.

On the other paw, I can’t bear the faff of all that primping and preening. Let them roll in puddles as God intended.

But on the other paw (there are four, remember), I appreciate all that bouncy, glossy beauty as much as any dog lover.

The pandemic meant no show last year so expect the owners and hounds to be even more hyper and up for it in the 2022 competition.

However waggy the tails, the dogs will still be sedate compared to the presenting team led by Clare Balding. Excitable bunch? Just a bit, but their enthusiasm is infectious.

For your sofa snack of choice, I recommend posh crisps for the humans and carrot batons with a side of water for the dogs.

Remember: whatever hound strolls off with the trophy, we all know the best dog in the world is the one snoring beside you.