Matthew Boulton on the new £50 banknote

[Gromit]

He just pipped Sir Bruce Forsythe to the honour. It was the most shocking result since Elizabeth Fry beat the highly fancied David Beckham onto the £5 note. And David Attenborough has inconveniently not died, so we have to put up with Adam Smith on the £20 note.

Apparently Matthew Boulton invented Birmingham.

Have we run out of famous Britons to honour on our banknotes? The current lot seem fairly obscure to the average man or woman in the street.

Should the subjects on banknotes be more popularist and be of people we have actually heard of? And who do you think is worthy of the honour?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15522387

[Kromovaracun]

"I don't know how he scores on the hairiness scale. "

Pish-posh, as I say, the hairiness problem is easily overcome by elaborate hats.

[jno]

Princess Beatrice, then?

[VHG]

There is a statue to Boulton, Watt and Murdoch in Birmingham, right outside the International Convention Centre.

It was recently re-gilded, hence the glowing gold colour

See it here

http://tinyurl.com/6k7srkj

[VHG]

And for those that say we dont do manufacturing in the UK any more...

A quarter of the new Boeing Dreamliner plane is made in the UK

http://tinyurl.com/3gxk3un

[scotman]

J S Haldane does not appear to have been very hirsute

http://www.mhs.ox.ac....%931936-physiologist/

[vulcan]

R J Mitchell should be on the £50 bank note, without him we would have been spending deutschmarks.

[cazzz1975]

nice to see the concept of manufacturing being used on the £50 pound note, we have almost become a nation of importers/shoppers...

[anotheoldgit]

/// And for those that say we dont do manufacturing in the UK any more..///

I'll go along with VHG on this,

To name just a few, may not all be British owned, but certainly manufactured in the UK..

/// BMW (MINI, Rolls-Royce), Tata (Jaguar-Land Rover), Volkswagen (Bentley) and General Motors (Vauxhall Motors) Honda, Nissan and Toyota with a number of smaller, specialist manufacturers (including Lotus and Morgan) and commercial vehicle manufacturers (including Leyland Trucks, LDV, Alexander Dennis, JCB, the main global manufacturing plant for the Ford Transit, Manganese Bronze and Case-New Holland) also being present. The British motor industry also comprises numerous components for the sector, such as Ford's diesel engine plant in Dagenham, which produces half of Ford's diesel engines globally.///

/// BAE Systems, which manufactures civil and defence aerospace, land and marine equipment; VT Group, one of the world's largest builders of warships; and GKN and Rolls Royce, who manufacture aerospace engines and power generation systems. Commercial shipbuilders include Harland and Wolff, Cammell Laird, Abels, Barclay Curle and Appledore. Companies such as Princess, Sealine, Fairline Boats and Sunseeker are major builders of private motor yachts.///

And there is more,

http://en.wikipedia.o...in_the_United_Kingdom

[Zeuhl]

Alan Carr could be on the Nine Bob Note

[Kromovaracun]

Ah yes Marx, that famous Brit....

[bazwillrun]

to a degree the pics on the note are just a side issue, the main reason for getting rid of the current note is it will force the hands of people who for whatever reasons (legal and illegal) have a lot of cash in the current £50 note.

They will have to exchange them or lose them, not if but when.

Yet not a mention of when the current 50 ceases to be legal tender, because they dont want to spill the beans and give these people an easy time, but they must have set a date when these current notes cease to be legal tender.

you cant walk into a bank these days and just change up a suitcase full of cash, they will be reporting all sorts of transaction details to The taxman and other departments

[mightyWBA]

It's quite ironic that the bloke that "invented Birmingham" is on the new £50 note..
I live in the Black Country, which is next door to Brummieland and a far more salubrious,wealthy and prettier part of the West Midlands(it's all relative, I know)..and I've never had a £50 note in my life..

Yow could have put Jasper Carrott on it..Them Brummies will never see one!

[DTCwordfan]

Cynthia Payne would be a nominee plenty of hair there and the details on the whips.......

Just trying to think of famous British sex maniacs - other than the likes of Nell Gywnne.....but she could be a good nominee, also Camilla's relative, Alice Keppel.