There was an Avengers episode (think it was in the 60’s) where Steed is claimng to be a half-penny millionaire. Not sure if English money was decimalized at that time or not (ie if pennies were 100 to the pound or not -maybe they always have been). What was the relative value of a million ha’ pennies in 1965? - 5000 pounds?
British currency was decimalized in 1968. Before then, there were 240 pence to the pound (12 pence to the shilling; 20 shillings to the pound), so a half-penny millionaire would be the possessor of 2,083 pounds, 6 shillings, and 8 pence.
Thanks!
It was actually decimalized in 1971
Oops. That’s what I get for not double-checking this stuff.
I’ll bet no-one cares, but the episode was called “You have just been murdered”, originally transmitted October 28th 1967.
I’ll bet no-one cares, but the episode was called “You have just been murdered”, originally transmitted October 28th 1967.
And if you want me to be really nit-picky, Steed only had 999,999 ha’pennies. He needed to borrow the las tone from Mrs Peel to make it to million club.
Anddecimal currency was introduced in 1968, but old money wasn’t abolished until 1971, so both MEBuckner and David Cronan are correct.
But we went on using pounds,shillings and pence until February 1971. The only decimal coins introduced before then were ones that had the exact equivalent value of the old currency(such as the 5 new pence/shilling) and were used as such.Other coins which did not have an exact match ( such as the new penny and halfpenny)were not in circulation till “D Day”.