A PORTRAIT OF wartime prime minister Winston Churchill will adorn the new £5 note in the UK, the Bank of England revealed today.
“Our banknotes acknowledge the life and work of great Britons,” said Governor Mervyn King from the leader’s former home at Chartwell. “Sir Winston Churchill was a truly great British leader, orator and writer. Above that, he remains a hero of the entire free world. His energy, courage, eloquence, wit and public service are an inspiration to us all. I am proud to announce that he will appear on our next banknote.”
The first Churchill notes will be issued in 2016.
The £5 will feature a portrait from a photograph taken in Ottawa by Yousuf Karsh on 30 December 1941, as well as a view from Westminster and the Elizabeth Tower from the South Bank looking across Westminster Bridge and a background image of the Nobel Literature Prize medal awarded to Churchill in 1953.
The image of the Elizabeth Tower shows the hands of the Great Clock at 3pm, the approximate time on 13 May 1940 when the then-prime minister declared in a speech to the House of Commons: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” This declaration is quoted beneath the portrait.
Churchill will replace the 19th-century social reformer Elizabeth Fry.
(YouTube: bankofenglanduk)
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