Since 1970, a total of twelve famous people have graced the back of the banknotes issued by the Bank of England. It's a very exclusive list. And, with one exception, each of these people lived in London for at least some of their life. So I've been out to track down these noteworthy celebrities, to see where they lived, worked and/or died. Join me this week on the trail of twelve Londoners of note.
You have to be a bit special to be celebrated on an Englishbanknote. It's not everybody whose portrait is deemed worthy of being stuffed into millions of wallets, purses and piggy banks. You have to be British, you have to be dead, you have to be fairly non-controversial, and apparently it helps if you have a beard because that makes your portrait harder to counterfeit. Several potential candidates are considered, but it's down to the Bank of England's Governor to make the final decisions. Here are the twelve who've made the grade so far, distributed across three separate series of banknotes.
Series D £1 Isaac Newton (1978-1988) £5 Duke of Wellington (1971-1991) £10 Florence Nightingale (1975-1994) £20 William Shakespeare (1970-1993) £50 Christopher Wren (1981-1996)
Series E £5 George Stephenson (1990-2003) £10 Charles Dickens (1992-2003) £20 Michael Faraday (1991-2001) £50 John Houblon (1994-)
Series E(revised) £5 Elizabeth Fry (2002-) £10 Charles Darwin (2000-) £20 Edward Elgar (1999-)
So far that's ten men and only two women. So far that's four from the arts (two writers, a composer and an architect) and four from the sciences (three scientists and an engineer). So far that's ten properly famous and two just 'worthy'. And so far everyone has been English (although the surprise choice of Scottish economist Adam Smith for the £20 note from next spring breaks the pattern). With 'Series F' now on its way, I wonder who'll be next. Apparently the Bank already have a female shortlist including novelist Jane Austen, poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Octavia Hill, founder of the National Trust. I reckon Isambard Kingdom Brunel must be a prime candidate, and perhaps William Wilberforce. But who would you choose?
Londoners of note
