£50 banknote featuring World War II codebreaker Alan Turing enters circulation

[Steven P. Administrators]

 

A new £50 banknote featuring Alan Turing has been released into circulation on what would have been the Enigma codebreaker’s birthday.

 

Mr Turning is the first gay man to appear on a banknote and in honour of his life, the Bank of England is flying the Progress Pride flag above its building in London’s Threadneedle Street on Wednesday.

 

The new polymer Bank of England note will be available in bank branches and at ATMs in the coming days and weeks.

 

Source: https://www.itv.com/news/2021-06-22/alan-turing-50-banknote-enters-circulation

 

Cool gesture, I wonder if the Rosa Parks banknote in the U.S. will ever see the light of day, it has been talked about for years, but as per usual that is all that is happening (the MO of the GOP, talk about it until people forget why it was an issue).

[FloatingFatMan]

It's a shame hardly anyone uses £50 notes...

[SnoopZ]

I've never seen a £50 note in person.

[Steven P. Administrators]

1 minute ago, SnoopZ said:

I've never seen a £50 note in person.

It's like €100 notes here in The Netherlands, you get funny looks if you try to pay with it (unless it is a car or something that costs thousands).

[Nick H. Supervisor]

Man that performed acts that were widely unaccepted in his time gets put on note that is widely unaccepted.

 

Joking aside, this is great news. I just wish you saw £50 notes more. Hasn't that changed with the switch to polymer notes?

[FloatingFatMan]

13 hours ago, Nick H. said:

Man that performed acts that were widely unaccepted in his time gets put on note that is widely unaccepted.

 

Joking aside, this is great news. I just wish you saw £50 notes more. Hasn't that changed with the switch to polymer notes?

The material it's made from doesn't matter, it's the value of the note.  Most small shops just won't take them as either they can't change it, or it'd take most of their smaller notes.  Supermarkets take them, but most people pay by card in those...

[Nick H. Supervisor]

1 minute ago, FloatingFatMan said:

The material it's made from doesn't matter, it's the value of the note.  Most small shops just won't take them as either they can't change it, or it'd take most of their smaller notes.  Supermarkets take them, but most people pay by card in those...

Oh. I thought that at one point the reason the £50 was so rejected was because it was the easiest to counterfeit, or it was something like there were more counterfeit £50 notes in circulation than legitimate ones. I can't remember now, and it's entirely possible I'm misremembering what I can't remember.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

6 minutes ago, Nick H. said:

I thought that at one point the reason the £50 was so rejected was because it was the easiest to counterfeit

I have heard this also.

[FloatingFatMan]

15 minutes ago, Nick H. said:

Oh. I thought that at one point the reason the £50 was so rejected was because it was the easiest to counterfeit, or it was something like there were more counterfeit £50 notes in circulation than legitimate ones. I can't remember now, and it's entirely possible I'm misremembering what I can't remember.

Yeah, it was at one point a major target of counterfeiters, which is one reason why smaller shops stopped taking it, but by far the bigger reason was just the value of the thing... Who wants to sell a £1.99 item and have to give £48.01 change?  There goes your till float...