Hi everyone,
How are you today?
A few weeks ago, I mentioned the British Museum Volunteers Fortnight...
A trip to Hampton Court Palace: オンライン英会話のアーチイングリッシュアカデミー (seesaa.net)
In fact, Volunteers Fortnight doesn't last a fortnight (two weeks) but goes
on for about a month, and this week I went on the last day trip during this
period. The museum took us to the Bank of England Museum for a special talk
by the curator there. Admittedly, I would not usually think about going to
this kind of museum, but the talk went beyond my expectations.
The Bank of England (shown in the picture at the top of this article)
opened in 1695 after it was given a Royal Charter by King William III and
Queen Mary II in 1694. The building was created incrementally by architects
George Sampson, Robert Taylor, Sir John Soane, and Herbert Baker. It's an
impressive construction, I think.
Until recently, banknotes in England were made from paper, but they are now
made from polymer which is a thin, flexible plastic. Contrary to what we
might think, I learnt that polymer is actually better for the environment
than paper banknotes.
These days, the design of banknotes includes the monarch's face, however, I
heard this is also a recent convention which started in 1960. Before that,
each banknote had an individual design but usually included the image of
Britannia who is the personification of Britain. Britannia is a female
warrior holding a trident and a shield...
In England, we now have 4 types of banknotes - 5, 10, 20, and 50 pounds,
and in my lifetime each banknote has had the face of Queen Elizabeth II on
it, but the person on the other side of the banknote has changed. I didn't
know until I heard the curator's talk, but the criteria for choosing who
will appear on the banknote is 1) they have to have been dead for more than
100 years; and 2) they must have made an impact on society. In some cases,
the public was asked for its opinion and the bank has had to choose one
famous person from over 700 suggestions in some cases! Here are the current
images on the banknotes...
Since Queen Elizabeth II passed away, however, new banknotes have been
issued with King Charles III's face on them. I haven't seen these yet
though. I heard that the banknotes in Japan have also changed recently.
This seems nice timing for my trip to the Bank of England Museum, and the
topic of this blog! Do you know how the famous people for the banknotes in
Japan are chosen? Can the public give their input like in England?
There are many more things I could tell you about the bank, but I will
finish here for today. Next time we receive a banknote in England or Japan,
perhaps it'll be a new one. Let's keep our eye out for them!
Until next time, take care and have a good week. Best wishes, from
Corrina.☺️
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