Ticker tape and a binary message: Bank of England's new Alan Turing £50 must be the nerdiest banknote ever
- Reference: 1616678231
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/03/25/turing_50_quid/
- Source link:
Due to hit circulation on 23 June, the design replaces the relatively short-lived [3]incarnation featuring Matthew Boulton and James Watt . Instead, the update will show the scientist Alan Turing and the Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) he developed.
[4]
As the note of choice for shady deals (or so we're told) and the thing occasionally passed over just before a grandparent wheezes their last, we're sure a few readers have a wad of " [5]bullseyes " stashed away behind the bookcase of dusty .NET tomes.
The future for the notes is looking equally iffy: last year the Bank of England [6]reported that long-term trends for the folding stuff had accelerated as cash-based transactions plummeted even as demand for notes grew (the so-called "paradox of banknotes").
[7]
[8]
Click to enlarge
As for the new note, Turing's face will adorn a polymer version, which replaces the familiar paper of old. Noting Turing's contributions to codebreaking as well as to the fields of mathematics and computer science, Governor Andrew Bailey said: "By placing him on our new polymer £50 banknote, we are celebrating his achievements, and the values he symbolises."
Bailey also noted of Turing: "He was also gay, and was treated appallingly as a result."
Indeed he was. Despite his wartime efforts, Turing was persecuted by the state for his homosexuality and was convicted of gross indecency in 1952. He died in 1954 from cyanide poisoning and an inquest determined his death as suicide.
He was eventually [9]granted a posthumous pardon in 2013 following an [10]apology in 2009 from then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
[11]
Also celebrating Turing's imminent arrival on the note is UK agency GCHQ, [12]which has created a set of puzzles that produce 11 words or names to be tapped into the agency's Enigma machine simulator. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2019/07/15/bank_of_england_alan_turing_50_note/
[2] https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2021/march/the-new-50-note-unveiled
[3] https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2011/november/new-style-50-banknote-issued-today
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YFzBvIBFKNamjdPr3BVeewAAAFc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/slang/bullseye-fifty-pounds
[6] https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/quarterly-bulletin/2020/2020-q4/cash-in-the-time-of-covid
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YFzBvIBFKNamjdPr3BVeewAAAFc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/03/25/polymer-50-specimen-back.png
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2013/12/24/turing_pardoned/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2009/09/11/turing_apology/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YFzBvIBFKNamjdPr3BVeewAAAFc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://www.gchq.gov.uk/information/turing-challenge
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Magnanimity
This. After I commit suicide because you're chemically castrating me because of who I love and what I do in private behind closed doors, it is very gracious of you to "pardon" me long, long, long after I'm dead and buried.
Remind me to mail you a Thank You card from my grave site.
Re: Magnanimity
The newer biographies (after Hodges' classic) list entries from his diary suggesting the suicide was more depression that he thought his work was going nowhere than his personal life.
But as long as the government put up a pride flag once a year they can completely ignore worrying about mental health services.
Re: Magnanimity
It wouldn't surprise me if chemical castration and persecution caused depression and lack of motivation.
Re: Magnanimity
Must be spinning in it... Turing Scheme, fifty pound note, GCHQ test in honour of him...
Any idea where I get one of these
Do I actually have to go outside and visit a bank?
Re: Any idea where I get one of these
It should be ok as long as you are not using a balaclava or stocking over your head as a Covid-19 precaution
Re: Any idea where I get one of these
As a USAian, acquiring one is going to involve my daughter and her UK friend, an Apple or Venmo transfer, an order from Amazon.UK (for a nice Lucite display holder) and a good deal of postage for same. The note, I suspect can be mailed inside a greeting card.
Gotta have one, though. Turing is responsible for the principles behind the gadgets that have been my life's work. He deserves a place on my shelf, alongside Marconi (IT 100 lira note)
Re: Any idea where I get one of these
"As a USAian, acquiring one is going to involve my daughter and her UK friend..."
Worth checking with a local bank/foreign exchange bureau - they may be able to facilitate. Though your idea may be a more certain way to acquire one in a short period
Re: Any idea where I get one of these
...and FAR less expensive...I want a shiny new one, as well!
(but, yes, I had considered that...I would have to go into town, the local banks don't do foreign)
I got Marconi off eBay and he's a bit crinkled.
I got Marconi off eBay and he's a bit crinkled.
To be honest, I suspect most of us would be a little crinkled if we had been dead for almost 84 years.
Hey, stop pushing! I'm going.
Re: Any idea where I get one of these
>As a USAian,... Turing is responsible for the principles behind the gadgets that have been my life's work. He deserves a place on my shelf, alongside Marconi (IT 100 lira note)
Do you think if the average American knew of Franklin's scientific work he would be removed from the $100 ?
Re: Any idea where I get one of these
Lots of places dont accept anything bigger than a 20.....
Easiest way to get some is to become a drug dealer
We've already got complaints from the usual morons that it "isn't diverse enough".
****A**** thing *CAN'T* be diverse. Only a collection can be diverse. AN item is AN item, it's impossible for AN object to be diverse.
Well you may want to point out to them he was gay.
We've already got complaints from the usual morons that it "isn't diverse enough".
Have we?
I've seen thousands of blustery anti-pc , anti jsw , daily mail types saying "Its PC gone MAD!" , cant say anything these days! bbc agenda! ticking the boxes!
railing against some percieved and often imagined attempt at equality .
.
.and yet its very very rare to hear from the "offended snowflakes"
people assume SJWs will be upset and start yelling about it when no one has in fact said anything.
Most of the "Cancel Culture" and PC movement is largely powered and gains its momentum by the apoplectic rage of its opponents, in a kind of self sustaining reaction
£50 notes the currency of corrupt elites, of crime of all sorts and of tax evasion
I was once given a couple of £50 notes at a bank counter when I went in to get £200 out - the sole ATM was out of action at the time - a friend who saw the notes wanted to take a closer look as they had never held one before!
Does anyone bother with £50?
I thought the crime-note of choice was the €500. It was used by criminals to such an extent that they stopped issuing them a few years ago. £50 is a lot lower value than that.
£50 notes the currency of corrupt elites, of crime of all sorts and of tax evasion
And Japanese tourists. The last time my Japanese friends visited they'd changed their money in Japan and been given £50s for most of it. Not the best option, although they learned the phrase "have you got anything smaller" quite quickly.
Sadly I've little chance of ever seeing one in the wild! Not one that temporarily belong to me anyway.
Great! Super!
It's polymer so you can put it in the tumble drier and watch it physically shrink at the same rate as its monetary value ... a very useful demonstration of UK economics for the kids.
Re: Great! Super!
If it's like our colonial plastic notes - it would have to be a bloody hot dryer to damage them.
ps. ours even have holograms you can project with a laser - I only just discovered that !
Re: Great! Super!
Don't use the tumble dryer, do it properly [1]in a microwave !
[1] https://www.ckbw.ca/2020/04/07/how-not-to-clean-your-money-during-the-pandemic/
£50 vs the 1000CHF note
I don't know why we make such a big thing about 50 quid notes. In Switzerland 1000CHF notes are pretty common, about £778 equivalent. The big supermarkets accept them without batting an eyelid.
Re: £50 vs the 1000CHF note
Given the cost of living in Switzerland, it makes paying for the weekly shopping more convenient
Re: £50 vs the 1000CHF note
You meant it as a joke but it is less of a joke than you realize
Re: £50 vs the 1000CHF note
Once upon a time I tried buying some pick and mix sweets from a cinema with a £50 note and you should have seen the fuss they made. They said the total was actually £62.50.
Re: £50 vs the 1000CHF note
Cinema pick n mix is expensive, just as well you didn't go for the icecream as well
Re: £50 vs the 1000CHF note
>In Switzerland ... The big supermarkets accept them without batting an eyelid.
To be fair they also accept bars of gold with swastikas on them
Birthday in binary
The binary on the note reads 1001000111100000111101111
which in decimal is 19120623
23 June 1912
I can't tell why any reference to Turing also has to reference his sexuality?
I've got a feeling its a question I'm not supposed to ask but I don't really get it.
Magnanimity
> He was eventually granted a posthumous pardon in 2013
It's okay then if you're pardon me for having my life wrecked by you...