# Were there any protests when the UK moved away from its old duodecimal currency? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 18, 2008, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391 "2008-08-18T06:38:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391/41 "2008-08-20T17:08:52Z")
> [@](#): > > NOTE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AND AMERICANS: One shilling=Five Pee. It helps to understand the antique finances of the Withcfinder Army if you know the original British monetary system: > > Two farthings = One Ha’penny. Two ha’pennies = One Penny. Three pennies = A Thrupenny Bit. Two Thrupences = A Sixpence. Two Sixpences = One Shilling, or Bob. Two Bob = A Florin. One Flroin and one Sixpence = Half a Crown. Four Half Crowns = Ten Bob Note. Two Ten Bob Notes = One Pound (or 240 pennies). One Pound and One Shilling = One Guinea. > > The British resisted decimalized currency for a long time because they thought it was too complicated. Somehow, “Two Bob Five Pee” sounds like badly-translated foreign fetish pr0n. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391/42 "2008-08-20T17:17:58Z")
[QUOTE=Tom Tildrum] Somehow, “Two Bob Five Pee” sounds like badly-translated foreign fetish pr0n. [/QUOTE] We would never have called it that. It would have been either “two and five”, or “two shillings and five-pence”. You only used “bob” when talking about shillings only (with no pennies). ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391/43 "2008-08-20T17:37:38Z")
[QUOTE=Rayne Man] We would never have called it that. It would have been either “two and five”, or “two shillings and five-pence”. You only used “bob” when talking about shillings only (with no pennies). [/QUOTE] Yeah, right. Next you’ll be telling me that Bob’s my uncle. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391/44 "2008-08-20T17:52:38Z")
[QUOTE=Rayne Man] We would never have called it that. It would have been either “two and five”, or “two shillings and five-pence”. You only used “bob” when talking about shillings only (with no pennies). [/QUOTE] Yes – in British English, “five pee” only refers to the decimalised pence, i.e., it is 1/20 of a pound. The old pennies would have been “five pence”, i.e., 1/48 of a pound. While we’re talking about terms for the old Lsd – I grew up in both England and Australia pre-decimals, and one difference was that in England a penny plus a half-penny was “three ha’pence” while in Australia it was “a penny ha’penny”. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391/45 "2008-08-20T18:10:04Z")
Van Morrison: Half a mile from the county fair, rain came pouring down Me and Billy was standing there, with twelve-and-a-half pee … somehow, it just doesn’t work … ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391/46 "2008-08-20T18:24:11Z")
Does anyone else remember the [silver three penny piece](http://www.ukcoinpics.co.uk/g5/3d/3d34r.jpg)? Although it was last minted in 1941 it was still in (very limited) circulation in the 1960’s. This was the favourite coin to put into Christmas Puddings. This coin was replaced in the late 30’s by the larger [nickel-brass](http://www.ukcoinpics.co.uk/g6/3d/3d43.jpg) version. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391/47 "2008-08-20T23:13:47Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] … While we’re talking about terms for the old Lsd – I grew up in both England and Australia pre-decimals, and one difference was that in England a penny plus a half-penny was “three ha’pence” while in Australia it was “a penny ha’penny”. [/QUOTE] Ooh, funny - I’d have called it a " a penny ha’penny" too. (Glasgow, 1960s) Ah, nostalgia. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391/48 "2008-08-21T02:55:24Z")
[QUOTE=Alive At Both Ends] One reason for this was that there was an eighteen month “changeover period” after decimalisation in Feb. 1971. All shops had the option of being “decimal shops” which only took the new currency or “£sd shops” which only took the old currency (but all prices in these shops were multiples of six old pence, to enable prices to be later converted to decimal). If you didn’t like the new currency you could continue to shop in the non-decimal shops for a while, until you got used to it. [/QUOTE] Cite? While you may be correct, I don’t recall any such transition and I lived through the conversion. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391/49 "2008-08-21T09:31:30Z")
[QUOTE=Rayne Man] This coin was replaced in the late 30’s by the larger [nickel-brass](http://www.ukcoinpics.co.uk/g6/3d/3d43.jpg) version. [/QUOTE] Don’t remember them, but Dad has a few from what I remember. Great thing about Dad working for the bank, he has examples of all sorts of coins and more than one [George Best fiver.](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6086902.stm) ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391/50 "2008-08-21T13:44:46Z")
[QUOTE=amarone] Cite? While you may be correct, I don’t recall any such transition and I lived through the conversion. [/QUOTE] So did I - I was 11 in Feb 1971 - and I \*do \*remember it. As the columnist Keith Waterhouse, writing in the _Daily Mirror_, put it, “How do you expect us to change to an obviously simpler system that even a baby could understand, without an eighteen-month changeover period?” In practice, though, there were never very many £sd shops and most of them went over to decimal long before the eighteen months were up. Their real purpose was to give people an easy way to get rid of their old pennies, ha’pennies, and thrupenny bits, none of which had exact decimal equivalents. Once the old coins were out of circulation the need for the £sd shops was gone. I’ll see if I can find an online cite. ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391/51 "2008-08-21T14:30:14Z")
It appears that I was (partially) wrong - although an eighteen-month changeover was planned, it was cut short in August 1971 when the old penny, ha’penny and thrupenny bit were demonetised. [Cite](http://www.retrowow.co.uk/retro_britain/new_money/decimalisation.html) But I was right in saying there was a changeover period, albeit only six months instead of eighteen. ---
**Author:** ![tetranz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@tetranz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tetranz)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391/52 "2008-08-21T15:04:18Z")
I was ten years old when we changed in New Zealand. As others have said, we had it easier than the UK because an old penny and a new cent were almost the same. 12 pennies became 10 cents and several of the old coins were usable for many years. Kids were educated in the new system at school. I think my mum still has my “Dollar Scholar” certificate tucked away in a draw somewhere. I can still remember the ads on TV with the little jingle in 1966 “The 10th of July, Next Year!” and then after new year it become … not hard to guess … “The 10th of July, This Year!” 🙂 I remember earlier than that going fabric shopping with my mum and buying so many feet and inches of something at something like two shillings and fourpence a yard. It sure sounds complicated now. I don’t recall what they used to calculate the price. Now with decimal currency and decimal measurements (i.e., metric) things are a lot simpler. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391/53 "2008-08-21T15:27:20Z")
I lived through it in Australia. It went over pretty well- my father was a tram conductor and had to deal with the difference between coins. I still have a couple of farthings in my change jar- along with the mandatory halfpennies and pennies. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391/54 "2008-08-21T23:02:31Z")
One sad thing, though - it was somehow rather fun (albeit perhaps only to a child) sometimes to get really old coins in one’s change - long dead kings and queens of history book dates. Oops, well perhaps only one long dead queen, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391/55 "2008-08-21T23:33:37Z")
[QUOTE=Celyn] Oops, well perhaps only one long dead queen, I suppose. [/QUOTE] You never know: A lot of things were kept very quiet back in the old days. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391/56 "2008-08-22T01:45:42Z")
[QUOTE=Alive At Both Ends] It appears that I was (partially) wrong - although an eighteen-month changeover was planned, it was cut short in August 1971 when the old penny, ha’penny and thrupenny bit were demonetised. [Cite](http://www.retrowow.co.uk/retro_britain/new_money/decimalisation.html) But I was right in saying there was a changeover period, albeit only six months instead of eighteen. [/QUOTE] The transition period was the time during which both sets of currency were valid. I am questioning the assertion that part of the transition was to have some stores that used just old money and others that used just new. From your own link there were a few renegade shop owners that refused to recognize the new money for a while, but I can find no evidence that there was a planned period during which different stores took only (to use your words) one currency or the other. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391/57 "2008-08-22T15:07:37Z")
From the Frost Report (YouTube link, Usual warnings apply): [Tom Lehrer explains currency decimalization](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIpr0s52yVk) ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391/58 "2008-08-22T16:15:44Z")
[QUOTE=amarone] The transition period was the time during which both sets of currency were valid. I am questioning the assertion that part of the transition was to have some stores that used just old money and others that used just new. From your own link there were a few renegade shop owners that refused to recognize the new money for a while, but I can find no evidence that there was a planned period during which different stores took only (to use your words) one currency or the other. [/QUOTE] I find a few references to a TV campaign with the jingle “decimal shops take decimal change” and perhaps “LSD shops take LSD change” (but did people really refer to the previous system as “LSD”??). Or [this](http://www.gertlushonline.co.uk/1970---1979---bristol-chronicles.html) advice from the Decimal Currency Board before the change: “Pay decimal prices in decimal shops and £ s d in £ s d shops.” Which suggests that they at least anticipated a period in which shops were either decimal or £sd, but not both. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391/59 "2008-08-22T16:20:10Z")
What did happen was that many products (such as books and other non-perishable items) were duel priced for a year or so. Thus you would get this on a book :- _25p/5 shillings._ ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391/60 "2008-08-22T16:27:41Z")
The jingle I referred to should of course have been more like “decimals shops have decimal prices, decimal shops give decimal change”. The way I phrased it doesn’t make much sense. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-any-protests-when-the-uk-moved-away-from-its-old-duodecimal-currency/460391.md?page=4)