The introduction of decimal coinage to the UK was a long while coming. But the transition was surprisingly smooth.
James and Audrey Callaghan shopping in an experimental decimal coinage supermarket, 12 May 1967 © Albert McCabe/Hulton Getty Images.
The UK abandoned its ancient coinage of pounds, shillings and pence (£sd) 50 years ago. A new decimal currency was introduced on 15 February 1971: D-Day. A jingle publicising the new coinage in the BBC’s Decimal Five series proclaimed that ‘Decimalisation will change your lives’. The replacement of the familiar half crowns (2s/6d), bobs (1s), tanners (6d) and more was a change that affected everyone: from shoppers struggling to understand the newfangled coins to schoolchildren thankful that tricky currency calculations had disappeared for good.
