Author Topic: Happy Decimalisation Day!  (Read 5015 times)

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Happy Decimalisation Day!
« on: 15 February, 2021, 09:37:32 pm »
It has just occurred to me whilst in conversation with Jan's sister - that today is the 50th anniversary of the decimalisation of our currency.

Don't tell Farage.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #1 on: 15 February, 2021, 09:54:21 pm »
Finally, something that makes me feel young.

Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #2 on: 15 February, 2021, 09:59:42 pm »
Where's my thruppence?

offcumden

  • Oh, no!
Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #3 on: 15 February, 2021, 10:01:17 pm »
I remember it well. I was teaching at a Nottinghamshire primary school at the time. One member of my class around that time must have found the decimal system handy (but for distance, not currency) when he went on to become a prodigious avaleur de kilometres, and is currently OTP.  Blimey, half a century ago; surely you (we!) can't be that old, Steve  ;).   


Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #4 on: 15 February, 2021, 10:05:11 pm »
Diamondgeezer has brought back £sd:

https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/

Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #5 on: 15 February, 2021, 10:06:30 pm »
The 100th anniversary is the only one that matters.

mmmmartin

  • BPB 1/1: PBP 0/1
    • FNRttC
Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #6 on: 15 February, 2021, 10:14:21 pm »
Thank heavens those days are over. Trying to work out the change you'd get after buying three lbs six oz of flour at 19/6d a hundredweight (cwt to be confusing) and handling over 17/6d was completely bonkers.
Besides, it wouldn't be audacious if success were guaranteed.

Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #7 on: 16 February, 2021, 12:43:08 am »
Just download an app on your mobile?

Why didn't anyone think of doing that back then?

Move Faster and Bake Things

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #8 on: 16 February, 2021, 06:54:19 am »
According to my mother, the old system made mental arithmetic easier, since few things are sold in tens.  Also, it was easier to work out a third or a quarter of prices.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #9 on: 16 February, 2021, 07:27:16 am »
Brings back memories of my mother, who, being bemused at the new fangled money, would be told to count it up in tens on her fingers.
Much amusement and merriment (on my mother's part) when she produced her base 9 pair of hands.
She'd lost her left index finger in her first job in a meat slicing machine.
We knew how to have fun in t'olden days.
Too many angry people - breathe & relax.

Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #10 on: 16 February, 2021, 07:30:21 am »
handling over 17/6d was completely bonkers.
A ten bob note, 7 shillings and a tanner. Simple. :thumbsup:

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #11 on: 16 February, 2021, 08:00:03 am »
That means that 50 years ago today I was on a junket course in Eindhoven while some poor bugger back in Glasgow had to convert my programs to decimal.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

TimC

  • Old blerk sometimes onabike.
Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #12 on: 16 February, 2021, 08:23:28 am »
handling over 17/6d was completely bonkers.
A ten bob note, 7 shillings and a tanner. Simple. :thumbsup:

More likely a ten bob note and three half-crowns.

We were holding a protest in the tuck shop as they'd sneakily upped the price of Blackjacks from 4-a-penny (960/£) to 4-a-new-halfpenny (800/£). Bastards.

robgul

  • Cycle:End-to-End webmaster
  • cyclist, Cytech accredited mechanic & woodworker
    • Cycle:End-to-End
Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #13 on: 16 February, 2021, 08:24:48 am »
handling over 17/6d was completely bonkers.
A ten bob note, 7 shillings and a tanner. Simple. :thumbsup:

... or seven half-crowns.

I have a complete set of the old coins and the 10/- £1 and £5 notes - kept for no other reason but notalgia (not that it's what it used to be  ;D)

The other thing that ceased with decimalisation was the 2d stamp on cheques - every cheque had a duty of twopence, with either an embossed stamp if you had an account with a posh bank, or a printed roundel for the hoi-polloi  (the cheque printing businesses had licences to print the stamp on cheques and then account for the money to HM Gov - I worked for one of the printers back then)

robgul

  • Cycle:End-to-End webmaster
  • cyclist, Cytech accredited mechanic & woodworker
    • Cycle:End-to-End
Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #14 on: 16 February, 2021, 08:29:04 am »
handling over 17/6d was completely bonkers.
A ten bob note, 7 shillings and a tanner. Simple. :thumbsup:

More likely a ten bob note and three half-crowns.

We were holding a protest in the tuck shop as they'd sneakily upped the price of Blackjacks from 4-a-penny (960/£) to 4-a-new-halfpenny (800/£). Bastards.

To me there is no doubt that the conversion contributed massively to price increases - as your Blackjack example.   IF we had implemented a "10 bob pound" then the base unit of 1p wouldn't have been such a massive 2.4 times the size of the old 1d.   

IIRC Australia changed from  £SD to dollars around the same time but did that on the "10 bob dollar" basis

Giraffe

  • I brake for Giraffes
Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #15 on: 16 February, 2021, 08:54:06 am »
A chippy in Teflon did a blatant fiddle. We used to stop at a pub opposite the chippy on our way to the club hut in N.Wales then across for foods.
Chips were 6d one week and 6p the next. The sign had just the descender scribbled out and an ascender put in. If it hadn't been for hunger, fueled by BEERS, I would have walked out - after a loud, suitable comment.
2x4: thick plank; 4x4: 2 of 'em.

Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #16 on: 16 February, 2021, 09:00:53 am »
I do remember handing a two shilling coin, but never a half crown. Crowns and farthings were
before my time.

TimC

  • Old blerk sometimes onabike.
Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #17 on: 16 February, 2021, 09:04:42 am »
The half-crown was withdrawn only a year before decimalisation, in 1970.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #18 on: 16 February, 2021, 09:18:18 am »
The half-crown was a lovely coin. I wish I'd kept one as a souvenir but back then it was a whole pint of McEwan's.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

ian

Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #19 on: 16 February, 2021, 09:45:12 am »
Finally, something that makes me feel young.

It's indeed reassuring that I don't have to rely completely on the what I'm listening to topics in A&E.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #20 on: 16 February, 2021, 09:57:48 am »
Diamondgeezer has brought back £sd:

https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/
Nothing to do with decimalisation from the blogspot that links to now:
Quote
St Helen's is the largest such place of worship to survive the Great Fire and the Blitz, although two IRA bombs caused a fair bit of damage in the 1990s so there's been a lot of touching up. The interior's broad and spacious with two naves, all the better to cram in the four different congregations who turn up on Sundays. Parishioners were setting up for the main morning service when I peered in, with Mandarin, Informal and Contemporary gatherings due later in the day.
Surely church services are all virtual now?
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #21 on: 16 February, 2021, 11:23:26 am »
We had sixpennnies in our Christmas Pud (sorry- one of us got a sixpence in their portion of Christmas pud) well into the seventies. Were they just for decoration? I can't remember  :-\

CommuteTooFar

  • Inadequate Randonneur
Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #22 on: 16 February, 2021, 11:29:44 am »
remember to spend your pennies in sixpenny lots

Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #23 on: 16 February, 2021, 11:32:51 am »
For anyone wanting good old British currency instead of this filthy foreign decimal stuff it should be noted that £ s d (Librae, Solidi and denari) were introduced by Charlemagne when he sorted out the old Roman currency and are therefor French.
“There is no point in using the word 'impossible' to describe something that has clearly happened.”
― Douglas Adams

Re: Happy Decimalisation Day!
« Reply #24 on: 16 February, 2021, 11:40:04 am »
My younger brothers class's pet was a guinea pig called Decimal.  The got it on D-day.  Still remember him bringing it home for the weekend.