TOI correspondent from London: Winston Churchill, who was reviled in India for his role in the 1943 Bengal famine, and Jane Austen will not appear on British banknotes, and will instead be replaced by British wildlife.Churchill currently appears on the £5 note with his quote “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat”, and Austen appears on the £10 note saying: “I declare after all that there is no such pleasure as reading!” JMW Turner appears on the £20 banknote, and Alan Turing appears on the £50 banknote.The Bank of England announced on Wednesday that following a public consultation on the themes to be used in its next series of banknote design, nature has come to the fore.
The King will continue to come to the fore.“On the theme of nature, much of the feedback received from participants referred to the UK’s native wildlife. The bank also said that images of wildlife would be more effective for developing banknotes with security features.” This means that hedgehogs, badgers and puffins could replace the historical characters introduced in 1970.The bank will hold a second consultation this summer to collect public views on which wildlife will be on display.
Alex Burghart, MP and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said: “It is extremely disappointing that our national heroes under Labor are deemed too ‘divisive’ to appear on banknotes. Most countries celebrate their history. We should too.”“Children don’t already have good enough knowledge about our history and our national heroes. This will make things worse,” said former British diplomat Amir Kotecha, who has roots in Gujarat.
