Web Page 1134

31st March 2013

Top Picture : Remember the old white fivers

Second Picture: So that’s what happened to Martins Bank?

Real Cash

You are all old enough to remember “old money" or Pounds, Shillings and Pence or even more confusingly L.S.D. (that stood for Libra Solidus Denarius by the way not the well known drug) was what people spent before what is affectionately remembered as D-Day (no, not the one in the Second World War!) meaning Decimalisation Day.

Before the 15th February 1971, if you needed to understand money life wasn’t quite as simple as it is today. You’d need to have understood the old system of pounds, shillings and pence.

OK, calculators ready for the younger readers, while I explain how it all worked:

Four farthings made a penny (1d)                                                                                   Two half pennies made a penny (1d) Six pence or a silver six pence made half a shilling (6d) or a tanner                                                                 Twelve pence made a shilling (1s or 1/-) or 'bob' (as in 'bob a job')                            Two shillings made a Florin (2/-)
Five shillings made a crown (although there was no such thing except on special occasions, such as to mark the Queen's Coronation in 1953, the death of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965 and for no apparent reason in 1960)
You could have spent a half crown - that's 2/6 (two shillings and six pence)
20 shillings made a pound and there were notes for 10 shillings as well.

So there were 240d (that's pence) in £1. That's 12 (pence in a shilling) x 20 (shillings in a pound) - easy isn't it? I don't know why they ever changed it! If you needed to add up in pounds, shillings and pence you needed three columns.

Banknotes started at 10 shillings (50p in today's money). The ten-shilling (or ten bob) note disappeared in 1971, being replaced by the strange shaped fifty pence coin.

Oh, and what about guineas. One guinea was 21 shillings - that's one pound and one shilling. There were no guinea coins, but you might still find bills in guineas from solicitors, accountants, auctioneers and other professionals, and if you went on holiday you might have to settle your hotel bill in guineas. It was a way of sounding posh and also making a bill seem a little bit smaller than it actually was – similar to the modern trick of £9.99 instead of £10! Even here there was a variety. I always assumed that in the days of real money when items were priced at 19/11^3/₄d or 9/11^3/₄ d was to fool us into thinking that the item was a lot less than £1.0s.0d. or ten shillings. Not a bit of it says a retired accountant friend of mine it was a security measure. When the item was sold it meant that the counter hand had to give change and so would have to go to the till and open it, whereas if the item was just £1 or 10/- the receipt for the sale could be written out and given to the customer and then the note quietly palmed into the assistants pocket. I think my friend has a suspicious mind!

It was not until 1967 that minting of the old coins ceased. However, the Royal Mint devised a method to stop people hoarding the last of the old money. All coins minted in the old denominations from 1967 to 1970 were dated 1967.

Starting from 1968 the “new money” started to be minted and put into circulation. In fact the system started with the coins being entitled 'New Pence' and issued in the values of 5p and 10p at first. These fitted in well with the old system, as they were direct replacements for the one and two shilling pieces. In those days today's pence were 'new pence' and that was what was on the coins.

The decimal half penny (½p) was introduced in 1971 and remained in circulation until 1984, by which time its value had been greatly reduced by inflation. It was not struck, except for collectors' sets, after 1983 and was no longer legal tender after 31^st  December 1984. The 50p piece was reduced in size in 1997, following the reduction in size of the 5p in 1990 and the 10p in 1992. The 1p and 2p underwent a compositional change from bronze to plated steel in 1992. However, both coins remain valid back to 1971, the only circulating coins valid on Decimal Day still to be valid.

In 1982, the word "new" in "new penny" or "new pence" was removed from the inscriptions on coins, to be replaced by the number of pence in the denomination (i.e. "ten pence" or "fifty pence"). This coincided with the introduction of a new 20p coin, which, from the outset, simply bore the legend "twenty pence".

A new bi-metallic £2 coin was introduced in 1997, and continues to be minted. Before that date, commemorative £2 coins were minted in 1986, 1989, 1995 and 1996, but these are hardly ever found in circulation.

And you just thought it was money, any way I must be off to try and find my silver threepenny pieces and my white fivers!

Stay in Touch

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

Pj.keat@ntlworld.co.uk

You Write:

Joy Writes:

I have been trying to find my best friend PAMELA TANDY. I left Court Lane in 1956.  My name was JOYCE LEWINGTON.  I was the first person to join Mr Fentiman's art class and I was greatly influenced by Miss Bray.  I fondly remember Miss Blitz and recall with terror Miss Pipe. Is there anyone around still who could have been in my year? I too am nostalgic for the days of black & white television with one channel and I wallow in the nostalgia of your wonderful reports.

John writes:

I don't know if you have ever done an article on the schools annual poetry competition, but many years ago I won a prize (Can't remember what it was) when I wrote a piece of poetry and it was published in the schools newsletter.

I can still recite it today.

It may be a bit of fun to get your readers who did the same to send them in.

The Nightmare 

"Night falls, monster creep.

Coffins open the dead step out

Werewolves cry into the sky

Haunted men they fall and die

Horror houses have many creeps

I just cannot get to sleep".

The mindset of a very young 12/13 year old lad

News and Views:


Dionne Warwick filed for bankruptcy in her home state of New Jersey, listing assets of $25,500 and liabilities of over $10 million, mostly stemming for tax debts to California and the federal government. Claiming "negligent and gross financial mismanagement," she says the original tax debt was paid, but penalties and interest continue to mount.

On this day 31st March 1960-1965

On 31/03/1960 the number one single was Running Bear - Johnny Preston and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 31/03/1961 the number one single was Wooden Heart - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was The Dickie Henderson Show (AR) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 31/03/1962 the number one single was Wonderful Land - The Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the week was US Air Force consider using lasers to shoot down missiles.

On 31/03/1963 the number one single was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 31/03/1964 the number one single was Little Children - Billy J Kramer and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Radio Caroline starts broadcasts.

On 31/03/1965 the number one single was The Last Time - Rolling Stones and the number one album was Rolling Stones Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.