Seriously thoughtful Decimal Currency in Britain

[GeoffC]

An interesting article for those who remember, and perhaps had forgotten (or did not realise) the details like "it took only 20 seconds" for the decision to make the change .... How Britain converted to Decimal Currency [BBC Website link]

The picture link is also worthy of a visit ....

[Billi]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

The picture link is also worthy of a visit ....

Yes! Wonderful old coins. I hope your new coins are as nice, too? (Germany terribly failed with the Euro coins, such boring motives...).

[wannabee]

Was it a coincidence that Australia and UK went decimal on 14 Feburary? Though 5 years apart.

[HarryT]

I must correct one error in the article:

But pre-decimal pennies are still in use in one part of London where they have a vital role.

They are used to adjust the timing of the pendulum of the clock in the Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster, commonly known as Big Ben.

"Big Ben" is the name of neither the Clock Tower nor the clock; it's the name of the bell that chimes the hours. The tower is called "St. Stephen's Tower"; the clock (AFAIK) doesn't have a name.

[chamekke]

The farthing was too cute for words.

[TGS]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I must correct one error in the article:



"Big Ben" is the name of neither the Clock Tower nor the clock; it's the name of the bell that chimes the hours. The tower is called "St. Stephen's Tower"; the clock (AFAIK) doesn't have a name.

The article said that the Clock Tower is commonly known as Big Ben, which it is.

[pdurrant]

There an interesting thing about adjusting the clock by adding/subtracting pennies to the pendulum of the clock.

Those who've studied the physics of pendulums might remember that the mass of a pendulum doesn't affect the period of a pendulum.

So how does adding or removing a penny to the pendulum of the clock have any effect on it?

It's because the penny is added/removed above the centre of mass, so adding a penny raises the centre of mass, and speeds the clock up, while removing a penny does the reverse.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

The picture link is also worthy of a visit ....

Ok Geoff, you're clearing showing bias in your links of pre-decimal currency. That's a scottish shilling that's shown there!

The Royal Mint have been pretty good with the decimal coinage. I'm not too fond of the 2008 design, but it is ingenious.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ne...inage_2008.jpg

This is a nice site and shows the English and Scottish shilling, as well as the old silver thruppenny bit (which was before my time)
http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/units/money.htm

It also shows some of the heads used for British coins. Note that monarchs face alternate ways. The missing Edward the VIII coin shows we we well rid of him - he broke tradition and face the same way on his coins as his father. His brother chose to also face to the left, to make it look like the tradition had been kept!

Here's a splendid site with the heads of gold sovereigns from James I/VI onwards. (There are some earlier ones, but without the monarchs head showing.)

http://www.goldsovereigns.co.uk/heads.html

It shows the four portraits used for Elizabeth II quite well. The first was only on pre-decimal coins, the last three only on decimal coins.

[Billi]

Did you change only your currency to decimal forty years ago or other measurements, too? And which "good old traditions" have you kept until now?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Billi

Did you change only your currency to decimal forty years ago or other measurements, too? And which "good old traditions" have you kept until now?

Metrication also came in the 1970s - switching from Imperial units to SI units. Weights, Lengths, Volumes, even paper sizes.

Unfortunately, the new government that came in in 1979 slowed down the adoption of metic units greatly, by allowing imperial units to continue to be used for some things. This was a big mistake. A sharper switch-over would have been much better in the long run.

The main remnants of pre-metric units are the use of pints (Imperial 20 fl.oz. pints, not the US 16 fl.oz. pints) for beer and milk, and the use of miles and yards for road distances.

[chamekke]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

The main remnants of pre-metric units are the use of pints (Imperial 20 fl.oz. pints, not the US 16 fl.oz. pints) for beer and milk, and the use of miles and yards for road distances.

I've heard that the UK has established an interesting new tradition in weather reporting of using Celsius for colder temperatures and Fahrenheit for hot ones...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by chamekke

I've heard that the UK has established an interesting new tradition in weather reporting of using Celsius for colder temperatures and Fahrenheit for hot ones...

No, all weather forecasting is in Celsius. Occasionally a presenter might give a Fahrenheit equivalent, but the actual forecast is always C.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by chamekke

I've heard that the UK has established an interesting new tradition in weather reporting of using Celsius for colder temperatures and Fahrenheit for hot ones...

Weather observations and forecasts use Celsius. It is only the occasional customer who insist on the 'extra' of fahrenheit (BBC on occasion, as do some of the Press, and others for their own reasons).

The knot (NM per hour) is the standard wind speed measurement and forecast value. Millimetre for rainfall and snowdepth.

[lene1949]

Having grown up on the decimal system, I had a hard time, when we came to Australia in '83... and still do... Many recipes are still using the old system... Some builders are still using the old system...

There's Subway... they have a foot long Sub and a 6 inch long sub... I really don't know, what these measurements are, so I asked for a 6 foot Sub...

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by lene1949

There's Subway... they have a foot long Sub and a 6 inch long sub... I really don't know, what these measurements are, so I asked for a 6 foot Sub...

Now you must also tell what their reaction was!