Peter Twist is a historical consultant. With a background in engineering, fine arts, and teaching, his knowledge of historical topics and events span all periods around the globe and with his impressive collection of personal resources. From his love of history, Peter has hosted workshops, lectured and written on various history topics, and is active in the heritage community as a museum board member and event organizer. Twist is particularly interested in and knowledgeable about the years 1500 to 1900. He offered direction and advice, educating every department in production with general historical information: from customs of the day, to details regarding the style of dress and simple aspects of everyday life, to nautical minutiae and military history.

A respected historian, Peter Twist was the credited historical advisor and technical advisor, and an uncredited trainer who gave advice on matters concerning weaponry for the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Twist also had uncredited acting roles in The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, and At World's End.

Biography[]

Pirates of the Caribbean[]

Despite the fact that Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is a tale of fantasy, the filmmakers were no less resolute in their quest to learn as much as they could about real pirates. To that end, the studio hired respected historian Peter Twist. Twist is particularly interested in and knowledgeable about the years 1500 to 1900. He offered direction and advice, educating every department in production with general historical information: from customs of the day, to details regarding the style of dress and simple aspects of everyday life, to nautical minutiae and military history. Twist noted, "A pirate is anybody who commits a crime on the high seas, so it's a very broad term. Theft, destruction of property, anything like that done on open water qualifies as piracy." Although the pirate characters aren't based on any real pirates, the movie is "a compilation of a lot of the things that were done by real pirates, and pirate codes, and so it is fact based," he stressed. "Piracy has been around since man first put to sea," asserted Twist. "Julius Caesar was captured by pirates, the histories of all ancient cultures refer to pirates, the Egyptians and so on. They've always existed."

"The original pirates operated as individuals, they were haphazard and undisciplined," Twist said. "Over time piracy became more sophisticated. For example, in a war a government would grant 'letters of mark' to people who would then go and attack the enemy's shipping. The sailors and the government would basically split the money, and this was quite legal." A great many ship owners and sailors found this a profitable way to make a living, so profitable that they would continue the practice after the war ended and it was no longer legal. "That's piracy. The islands in the Caribbean were particularly valuable," Twist explained. "Aside from the gold and silver, the crops and the goods produced there were highly valued and well worth stealing. So it was a natural place for pirates to operate." Twist also said that the legendary pirate booty of buried treasure is simply a myth. "Buried treasure was something that virtually never happened. History tells us that typical pirates, after taking a prize, would divide the money and then head into a relatively pirate-friendly port for a drinking and womanizing binge that would make the Romans blush, so there was nothing left to bury." The most famous pirates had "rather short and violent careers," according to Twist, "but they did amass huge amounts of money. It was the allure of the fast buck that made people turn to piracy."^[1]

For the pistols, swords, daggers and other weaponry in the production of back-to-back sequels Dead Man's Chest and At World's End, property master Kris Peck worked closely with armorer Kelly Farrah, an expert in the field who's also quite an historian, as well as historical adviser Peter Twist, who served in the same capacity on the first film.^[2] Whether it's the weaponry of all nations, drooping telescopes, Jack Sparrow's rings, pieces of eight which actually resemble pieces of junk, a Pirate Code book or practically anything else one can imagine being handled in the pirate world, Kris Peck and his merry band could be relied upon to come up with the goods. With the aid of armourer Harry Lu and historical adviser Peter Twist, Peck either found or fabricated a multitude of weaponry for pirates of all nations, the crusty Flying Dutchman crewmen and East India Trading Company troops.^[3]

In the original Pirates trilogy, directed by Gore Verbinski, Peter Twist was credited as "Technical Advisor" in the ending credits for The Curse of the Black Pearl,^[4] though he was also credited as "Historical Advisor" in the bonus feature An Epic At Sea found in DVD/Blu-ray releases.^[5] Peter Twist returned as a credited historian for the fourth film, On Stranger Tides, directed by Rob Marshall.^[6] Also a Combat Trainer for the film, Peter Twist's responsibilities included training actor(s) to march, how to properly handle a musket and/or sword, and ensuring period accurate settings/costumes.^[7] Peter Twist was given two credits as "Historical Advisor" and "Technical Advisor" for the fifth film Dead Men Tell No Tales, directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg.^[8]

Work[]

Filmography[]

Onscreen appearances[]

Peter Twist has appeared onscreen as a British officer in at least three of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. It is unknown whether the roles were simply a nod to his primary function as a historical/military advisor, or actually served a practical purpose in directing the extras portraying British soldiers. Twist's role in At World's End was identified in at least one post by actor Ken Lally.^[9]

The Curse of the Black Pearl

Dead Man's Chest

At World's End

External links[]

• Peter Twist at the Internet Movie Database
• Peter Twist, Historical Consultant - Historical Twist
• Historical Consultants and Technical Advisers(Advisors): Film and TV

Notes and references[]