From NPR:
... Fifty years ago Monday, the U.K. and Ireland put an end to a system of currency that had been used for hundreds of years, and made a switch to decimalization — the system where currency is based on multiples of 10 and 100.
Before Feb. 15, 1971, Britain's currency was 12 pennies to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound — or 240 pence to a pound.
But that's not all. There were also two farthings in a ha'penny, three pennies in a bit, two bits in a sixpence, two sixpences in a shilling, five shillings in a crown, and four crowns in a pound. There were also two shillings in a florin and 10 florins made a pound. (Here's a chart.)
The system was bewildering to foreigners but beloved by many Brits, according to the English writer Anthony Burgess: "Tanners and bobs, ha'pennies and threepenny bits, were instantly recognisable ...
Great stuff!
... Fifty years ago Monday, the U.K. and Ireland put an end to a system of currency that had been used for hundreds of years, and made a switch to decimalization — the system where currency is based on multiples of 10 and 100.
Before Feb. 15, 1971, Britain's currency was 12 pennies to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound — or 240 pence to a pound.
But that's not all. There were also two farthings in a ha'penny, three pennies in a bit, two bits in a sixpence, two sixpences in a shilling, five shillings in a crown, and four crowns in a pound. There were also two shillings in a florin and 10 florins made a pound. (Here's a chart.)
The system was bewildering to foreigners but beloved by many Brits, according to the English writer Anthony Burgess: "Tanners and bobs, ha'pennies and threepenny bits, were instantly recognisable ...
Great stuff!
