RR7106B BRITAIN GOES DECIMAL
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- čas přidán 22. 07. 2015
- (1 Jan 1971) RR7106B BRITAIN GOES DECIMAL
On February 15th 1971 the British coinage goes
decimal. The sterling will no longer be divided into
20 shillings or 240 pence but into 100 new pence.
Millions of coin-operated machines from parking
meters to telephones have had to be converted. But
the British public has been lukewarm to the idea from
the start; it will be some time before the Government's
intensive advertising campaign "think Decimal" begins
to sink in.
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1:48 - "When you want to pay a decimal price like this, 47½ new pence... STOP!"
Something that's hardly mentioned is that so many countries also had pounds, shillings and pence (£sd). The last country to ditch £sd was Nigeria who decimalised their currency in 1973
the old shilling and florin coins were the same size as the new 5 and 10 p coins, I remember using them in the 80s
Oh yeah, i remember on the Monday going down to Woolworths to buy a couple of 7” singles which formerly cost 6’/ each, were now 35p. but within weeks the price had jumped to 49 pence. An increase of 20p each on the original cost of 6’/.
And the big lie was we wouldn’t be paying any more for our shopping and that prices in the shops wouldn’t rise. Naturally prices rocketed overnight.
There were 240 pennies to the original pound. And twelve pennies to the shilling. After decimalisation we only had a hundred pennies to the pound. Of COURSE we couldn’t buy as much as we used to. We couldn’t afford it. I agree totally that decimalisation was much simpler in the long run, but we paid dearly for the switchover in every possible way.
6/ converted to 30p, so Woolies had already taken the piss by adding 5p! Then they striped us up some more the rogues!
@@RD-dn7yv the old sixpence was converted to 2 and a half new pence (logically, yes) which means if a product costs 3s 6d it'll be 17 and a half new pence, but what if a product costs 3s 5d, 3s 4d, 3s 3d, 3s 2d, 3s 1d and 3s 1/2d. What would be their exact equivalent to the new pence? The old sixpence is equivalent to 2 and a half new pence which is impossible to be divided into two to get the exact equivalent of the old threepence.
I am of the generation that spent their infancy during decimalisation (born eight months before the change-over) so was never affected by it. We 'decimal era babies' are now around the early fifties mark!
As a USAer, I always thought the 'old' U.K. system was so confusing; then I remembered I mostly still use the Imperial system of measurement. I know that metric would be much simpler, but it's difficult to do alone and without societal pressure!
In the USA you use feet and inches. If you understand feet and inches then you also understand pounds, shillings and pence. It's exactly the same thing. If somebody is 5'10" and they grow by 3 inches they become 6'1". If something costed 5s 10d (5/10) and the price increased by 3d it would then cost 6/1d. Exactly the same. The only difference is that every 20 shillings made £1.
I suppose the old LSD meant the average Briton was a bit quicker on number conversions though?
well, back then, there were far fewer trees and werewolves walking about so we could concentrate proper. Oh, you mean that LSD
@@tachikomakusanagi3744
Werewolves of London......
It’s been 50 years past from that day
Almost all my life, then, as I was born eight months prior!
@@angelacooper2661 I wasn’t even born in that year my mum and and dad are adolescences during those times
In an alternate timeline on 1-1-71 Britain would it would be the same the only difference is with dollars and cents.
Старая добрая монетная система, ушла в прошлое!
1 фунт =4 кроны =20 шилингов =240 пенсов до 1971 г.
Санкт-Петербург 7.3.2020г.
well that clears it up
@@tachikomakusanagi3744 🖐️😊
Something very strange here - my coins are all ROUND not OVAL. Wonder if mine are worth more?
How long did it take to switch all the machines round? 🤔 It must have been a very big task
This gave the British public's collective brain a workout. If you can't cope even when the papers print conversion tables every single day for a couple of years you're fucked anyway - I'm surprised you can tie your shoes. I was seven when this happened. It was fun.
The wise ones who went to the banks, to change them.
After the Brexit success the British should go back to the next thing on the list and reintroduce the old “great” system 240 pence or 20 shillings to the pound. After all, why live a simple life when a hard one is much more fun, just like during the war. 😂🤦♂️🤯
genius
I doubt such wishful thinking will get us anywhere
We've had decimal currency too long now
Now coinage has so little value that rather than try to understand the conversion I would just round either way in favor of the other party and call it even.
And remember D Day? Decimal Day should not be what D Day means.
Was the half pence EVER worth anything? Really?
Yes. 4 mojo sweets for half pence.
But, of course! There was a quarter penny in circulation, as well. It was called a Farthing.
@@19gregske55 not in decimal though. I'm not too old, but i do remember pound notes (ok, i'm too old). I don't know if that even makes sense. I really should stop drinking, but lockdown. And alcoholism. Mainly the latter
@@tachikomakusanagi3744: Dear Tachikoma, The question was whether or not the ha'pney was worth ANYTHING. Of course it was! It was issued in decimal; but eventually discontinued.
It was two Blackjacks you fucking tit.
Pounds, Shillings and Pence - I would prefer the old system. There was something special about it, with the coins having their own special names. Farthing, threepenny bit, a tanner, a bob, two bob bit, half crown. I like them.
Until you have to start adding up in old money
Not a problem for me, John. I was just a baby in the pram, eight months old at the time of decimalisation. So I have never had to worry about the fiscal change-over!
I think the reason why a lot of British people find it hard to grasp the decimal currency in 1971 is because it's totally different from the currency they are accustomed to. Instead of 100 pence to a pound, the Harold Wilson government should have adopted 1,000 pence to a pound. Under this system, one pound is still equal to 20 shillings, but each shilling shall be equal to 50 new pence. The 10-bob note, half crown coin, one florin coin and one shilling coin shall be retained, only the "pence coins" shall be changed to 25 new pence coin, 10 new pence coin, 5 new pence coin and 1 new penny coin. Had the Wilson government adopted this, the British people would have easily understood the decimalised version of the currency because the prices shall still be written the same way, only the pence values will change. Example: 2 shillings and 6 pence or 2/6 shall be written as 2/25.
The conversion value from old pence to new pence shall be as follows:
¼d=1 new pence
½d=2 new pence
¾d=3 new pence
1d=4 new pence
2d=8 new pence
3d=12 new pence
4d=17 new pence
5d=21 new pence
6d=25 new pence
7d=29 new pence
8d=33 new pence
9d=37 new pence
10d=42 new pence
11d=46 new pence
12d=1 shilling (50 new pence)
wil no-deal brexit put an end to dis experiment?
let's hope it improves your spelling
@@stevetaylor8698 it won't
So if I have this right old money coins were just smaller denominations like 1 old penny would be like a quarter of the value of a new penny, so buying a chocolate bar for 20 new pence would involve a large number of old pennies to make up the equivalent value. New money must have felt somewhat lighter on the purse. The new half penny was taken out of circulation in 1984 as its purchasing power was so weak which means if old money had still been in use they also would have been taken out of circulation anyway as their purchasing power was much less.
Well, you're close. You probably wouldn't have given the shopkeeper 48 pennies, because that would have weighed about a pound, so you'd have used other coins. When Britain went decimal, they have seven coins in common circulation, up to a half crown (two shillings and sixpence, usually written as 2/6, which could be said as "two and six"), so you'd still need to chuck in a couple of pennies (or use a three penny coin and get a penny back).
One problem was that many of the pre-decimal coins were simply too big for their value. Also, the £/s/d system would have been much more difficult for programming computers (which were becoming more common with businesses). Imagine putting money into your bank account-the computer would have to add the number of pennies-if it's more than 12, then subtract 12 from the number of pennies and carry 1 into the shillings total. Add those up, and if it's more than 20, subtract 1 from the total of shillings and add it to the pounds. Even if you simply called a subroutine to do the math each time, it's two extra steps-and back in the 70s, that would have made a significant difference in the processing time.
@TheRenaissanceman65 Yes-in fact the florin was the first attempt at decimalizing British coinage. The Victorian florins (up until the late 1880s) actually said "one tenth of a pound" on the reverse. On my first visit to Britain (late 1980s) I was surprised to see quite a few florins and shillings doing duty as 5p and 10p coins
@@almostfm The shilling and two shilling coins circulated until 1990 and 1993 and were a constant feature in change because they had never been withdrawn, being the same value as 5p and 10p there wasn't any need to take them out of circulation. These coins dated back to 1947.
in 1971, you would have to buy a very large chocolate bar for 40p. A 4oz (circa 110g) would have cost less than 5p.
1 крона =5 шилингов. 1 флорин =2 шилинга 1 фунт =240 пенсов.
Important men in suits, menial workers in tabbards….Ladies, know your place.
BIG mistake of UK