Ten quid Jane

[Gob]

Jane Austen to be face of the Bank of England £10 note




Author Jane Austen is to feature on the next £10 note, the Bank of England says, avoiding a long-term absence of women represented on banknotes.

The Pride and Prejudice author will be the next face of the note, replacing Charles Darwin, probably in 2017.

Chancellor George Osborne tweeted the move showed "sense and sensibility".

In April, the Bank prompted a high-profile campaign against the prospect of having no female characters, besides the Queen, on the UK's currency.

It had announced that Sir Winston Churchill would be put on the £5 note from 2016, replacing social reformer Elizabeth Fry.

The latest announcement means that women could be absent from newly issued banknotes for up to a year, although the Elizabeth Fry £5 note will still be in circulation.

On Twitter, Mr Osborne wrote: "[Incoming Bank of England governor] Mark Carney's choice of Jane Austen as face of £10 note is great. After understandable row over lack of women, shows sense and sensibility."

Banknotes are redesigned on a relatively frequent basis, in order to maintain security and prevent forgeries.

The decision to replace Elizabeth Fry on the £5 note prompted protests and discussions about female representation on banknotes, but Jane Austen was thought to have already been part of the Bank's plans for the next new note.

Sir Mervyn King, in his last public appearance as governor of the Bank, said the author was "quietly waiting in the wings" to replace Darwin.

Mr Carney started discussions about female representation on banknotes on his first day in office.

The Bank said in a statement that it was "never the Bank's intention" that none of the four characters on banknotes would be a woman.

"Jane Austen certainly merits a place in the select group of historical figures to appear on our banknotes. Her novels have an enduring and universal appeal and she is recognised as one of the greatest writers in English literature," Mr Carney said.

He also announced a review of the selection process for future banknote characters. Jane Austen will be the 17th historical figure to appear on Bank of England notes. The review will be completed by the end of the year.

The pressure was increased on the new governor through protests, an online petition - signed by 35,000 people, and a threat of legal action.

The campaign was led by Caroline Criado-Perez, from Rutland, who was invited to speak to Bank officials about the situation earlier in July.

She described the expected announcement as "a brilliant day for women and a fantastic one for people power".

"We warmly welcome this move from the Bank and thank them for listening to us and taking such positive and emphatic steps to address our concerns," she said.

"To hear Jane Austen confirmed is fantastic, but to hear the process will be comprehensively reviewed is even better.

The money raised for a legal challenge will now be donated to women's charities the Fawcett Society, Women's Aid and Rape Crisis.

Jane Austen, who lived from 1775 to 1817, became one of the country's most celebrated novelists. She was born in Hampshire as one of eight children.

She began to write as a teenager. Her first novel, Sense and Sensibility, appeared in 1811. She described her next novel, Pride and Prejudice, as her "own darling child".

Her other published novels were Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion and Northanger Abbey - the final two of which were published after her death.

Most of her novels were published anonymously.

The portrait of Jane Austen, which will appear on the banknote, is adapted from a sketch drawn by her sister Cassandra Austen. Other features include:

Bank of England notes can be spent throughout the UK. In addition, three banks in Scotland and four in Northern Ireland are authorised to issue banknotes.

[dales]

The SS counterfeited millions of 5 pound notes during WW2 nearly destroying the British economy. Have they learned anything since?

[Daisy]

Lets see the security features in the current Series E £10 note

Intaglio raised printing
Hologram
Watermark
Woven metallic thread
Micro printing
Split duct colour serial numbers
Ultraviolet features

Pretty much the same as the features in the US Banknotes, and there's no problems with counterfeiting in the US is there?

[MajGenl.Meade]

High time for Jane Austen, a true original, to get some top level recognition. We were issued "Pride and Prejudice" in an Eng. Lit. class when I was 14 amidst universal groans. Forced as we were to read the first chapter for a homework assignment, I was hooked and stayed up all night to read the whole book. The sly humour, the exquisite use of language and depiction of character through that language are brilliant gems of literature. Her other works may not shine quite so brightly, although "S+S" comes close, but all are more than worthwhile. Truly she ranks right there alongside Shakespeare as one of the two great English authors.

Meade

PS and those who love P+P might want to try PD James' "Death Comes to Pemberley" for an imaginative filling of the plot holes in the original. PDJ gets the tone very right for the first few chapters although slipping a little as the book goes on (IMO). But a very worthwhile read.

[Guinevere]

A sensible choice! Miss Austen is beloved over on this side of the pond as well. I wrote my Senior thesis (High School) on Jane and P&P and I have read everything she wrote -- some many many times.

And MGM, I mostly agree with your analysis of Death Comes to Pemberley -- the first bits were pretty good, but it slid downhill quickly and I was bored and annoyed by the end.

[Gob]

Hatch's favourite author too, has read her whole works.