Will Jane Austen grace the UK's 10 pound note?
Will the British be asking their friends to lend them a Jane Austen?
According to Sir Mervyn King, who is retiring as governor of the Bank of England, the famous author is merely 鈥渨aiting in the wings鈥� to appear on the country鈥檚 currency and could be the new face to grace the 10 pound note.
However, King鈥檚 replacement Mark Carney will have the final word on the decision. Carney takes up the post July 1.
Some commentators suggest that the idea of featuring Austen on bank notes is being floated in an attempt to placate Brits unhappy with the decision to take Elizabeth Fry, a prison reformer, off the five pound note and replace her with Winston Churchill in 2015. Apart from Queen Elizabeth II, Fry is the only woman currently appearing on the country鈥檚 money. (Fry was one of two women who had ever appeared on currency apart from the Queen, the other being Florence Nightingale).
Almost 30,000 people have signed a petition on asking that a woman besides the Queen appear on bank notes and feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez has threatened to sue the Bank for not upholding the country鈥檚 2010 Equality Act.
Famous British citizens appear for 10 to 20 years on money before being cycled out in favor of another historical figure.
The possibility of Austen appearing on money (if she appeared on the 10 pound note, she would edge out current face Charles Darwin) has been received mostly positively.
鈥淚t is not the question of whether she is a woman or not, but she seems to me the greatest English writer apart from Shakespeare,鈥� John Mullan, an English professor at University College London, told the .
However, writer Susie Boniface was not impressed by the idea.
鈥淚f ever there were a reason to abandon money altogether it is [this],鈥� she wrote. 鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing wrong with Austen 鈥� she wrote perfectly good books, was a woman trapped by her class and found a voice that still resonates. Good on her, but she didn鈥檛 change the world.鈥� Boniface suggested scientist Rosalind Franklin, writer Mary Wollstonecraft, or mathematician Ada Lovelace as possible substitutes.
But Victoria McNally, a writer for the website , was so won over by the Austen money idea that she asked when 鈥渢he U.S. [is] gonna step up its game?鈥�
鈥淏etween this and Canada鈥檚 dinosaur coins, why is everybody else鈥檚 money so much cooler than ours?鈥� she asked. 鈥淐ome on, USA, get with the times!鈥�
