Thatcher could be face of new £50 science note
FORMER Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher could appear on the new £50 note, it was revealed yesterday.
The “Iron Lady” is on a list of scientists including codebreaker Alan Turing, physicist Professor Stephen Hawking and engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Bank of England governor Mark Carney said the note will celebrate UK achievement in science. Candidates must be deceased.
The Tory leader read chemistry at Oxford and was a research scientist at J Lyons before becoming Britain’s first female PM.
The late Baroness, whose premiership ran from 1979-1990, died aged 87 after a stroke.
Also nominated is comedy actor Will Hay, a successful Current note will be replaced by polymer one featuring a UK scientist amateur astronomer when not entertaining with classics such as Oh, Mr Porter!
Roger Bannister, the first runner to break the fourminute mile, features for his career in medicine. He died aged 88 in March. Astronomer Sir Patrick Moore, who presented BBC television series The Sky At Night for 56 years until his death in 2013, is also on the list.
Since the selection process was launched earlier this month the Bank has received 174,112 nominations from the public of which 114,000 Chemist...Lady Thatcher met the criteria. There are over 600 men and almost 200 women on the list.
The note will be the last upgraded to plastic polymer. There will be no more paper £20s from 2020.
The new £50 will replace the current one which shows industrial pioneers Matthew Boulton and James Watt.
A shortlist will be drawn up by a committee of prominent scientists and Mr Carney will choose the winner.
A Bank spokesperson said: “This is only the preliminary stage of identifying eligible names for consideration: a nomination has been deemed eligible simply if the character is real, deceased and has contributed to the field of science in the UK in any way.”
Public nominations close on December 14.