20 ‘Illegal’ Self-Defense Weapons British Great-Grandfathers Kept Hidden in Every Home

I uncover the hidden weapons British families kept in their homes across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries—and the decisions that kept them there. I trace the history of objects ranging from life preservers, shillelaghs, hatpins, and trench clubs to pepper box revolvers, the Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife, Webley revolvers, the Sten gun, the Welrod, and the FP-Forty-Five Liberator. I also examine how changing British firearms and offensive weapons laws pushed these objects into drawers, walls, attics, and sheds. This is a history of real weapons, real families, and the forgotten objects still discovered in British homes during renovations and clearances. 0:00 A countdown of twenty weapons British men kept hidden in their homes across the 20th century. 1:04 life preserver 2:01 shillelagh 2:58 knobkerrie 3:57 hatpin 4:53 trench club 5:46 knuckle duster 6:42 cosh 7:39 sword stick 9:35 catapult 10:31 Sheffield fighting knife 11:27 pepper box revolver 13:01 poacher’s pistol 14:54 Apache pistol 15:56 Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife 16:56 Webley and Enfield revolvers 18:04 improvised industrial weapon 19:52 Sten gun 20:56 Welrod 22:04 FP-Forty-Five Liberator 23:03 unregistered firearms