So the Bank of England is deciding which dead British scientist/mathematician is going to grace the soon to be newly minted £50 note (we’ve moved our notes to plastic and this is the last one to be done).
The competition seems to be between Professor Stephen Hawking and ADA Lovelace.
So very soon, the whole of the UK (who love to refer to their notes in slang ie. quid, fiver, tenner) could well be saying ‘have you got change for an ADA’.
I’m looking forward to holding a 50 ADA note in my pocket.
Bookmakers William Hill have Stephen Hawking as the current favourite, with odds of 7/4, followed by Nobel-prize winning chemist Dorothy Hodgkin 4/1.
Ada Lovelace, Alan Turing and Alexander Fleming have odds of 5/1 and Rosalind Franklin, who made important contributions to the understanding of DNA, is at 6/1.
Further names will be considered up until nominations close on 14 December.
After that the decision will be considered by the Bank’s Banknote Character Advisory Committee
