May 12, 2013

Churchill’s Picture To Appear on Five Pound Note in 2016

Click on the Image of the Banknote for a video explanation of its features.At a ceremony held at Chartwell itself, Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, announced that Winston Churchill’s image will appear on the Five Pound banknote starting in three years’ time. King was joined by Lady Soames, Patron of the Churchill Centre, and her nephew’s son Randolph Churchill as the new design was presented using a large facsimile. The image used is taken from the famous “Roaring Lion” photograph made by Yousef Kharsh in the Canadian Parliament building in 1941.  As a backdrop the new note will include an image of the Palace of Westminster and the Nobel Prize for Literature, which Churchill received in 1953.

Lady Soames flanked by Mervyn King and Randolph ChurchillBeneath Churchill’s picture is the inscription, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”  To reinforce this, the time seen on clocktower housing the famous Big Ben (now officially known as the Elizabeth Tower) is set at 3 PM, the approximate moment when Churchill made his famous statement to Parliament upon first becoming Prime Minister in May 1940.  For a video explanation of the new note’s features CLICK HERE.