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Decimalisation In 1971

Have to agree with Big Gee, the Euro conversion was the biggest scam out - we used to go to Zante Greece regularly and had been in the October before the Euro and then went again the following early summer and you could see where the price in drachma had just had a decimal point put in to make it euros - so what had been a 300 drachma ball ( about 75p) was then a 3 euro ball ( about 1.40) and most things followed suit. We haven't been for a while now as it is so expensive compared to when we used to go.
Sue
 
I agree with you Sue about it being a scam - it was well known that in Spain food and drink was cheap (that was the birth of the lager lout) but it's not the same now, food and drink abroad are about the same as in England. I don't think there is such a thing as a cheap holiday any more.
 
Time was, prior to the Euro, when we would run a private one-car "Booze Cruise" to Calais, in and out in a day, and save a fortune compared with UK prices. Those days are over. Not just the Euro, but the abolition of Duty Free within the EC put paid to that. Europe used to be cheap - not any more, sad to say.

G
 
You do wonder if it was worth it.
Considering the so called easier calculations, the smaller coinage - against the hidden costs of inflation.

I don't think many older people think it was.
The price of butter has has gone through the roof the last few years, but thats another inflation story and maybe another thread.
 
Stephen0002002 said:
You do wonder if it was worth it.
Click to expand...

Yes because the old system made so much sense.

12 pennies to a shilling

20 shilings in a pound

240 pennies in the pound.

Try working out your finances on a computer spreadsheet using the old system.

With business now global it was VITAL we moved from the old system into a decmal system. If we had not then many companies may not have moved here or done business here as it would play havoc with their finacial accounting, which is all done on computer nowadays.
 
Decimalisation in 1971 was a century overdue. We were the only country in the industrialised western world which didn't have the decimal system. I can remember going out of my head trying to convert French francs to £.s.d under the old system. It was an anachronism and a nightmare.

I think it should also be put into perspective just what decimalisation did for us (or didn't do). Yes, there were rip-offs, but it wasn't responsible for the 18% mortgage-rate that came along in the later 1970's, or inflation running at over 20%. I can remember getting an annual salary-increase of 23% that just about kept me ahead of inflation. All of that was nothing to do with decimalisation - not even the price of butter can be blamed on that. It was down to far wider issues, and did not apply just to this country. As I said earlier, the Euro was far and away a bigger rip-off for this and other European countries than UK decimalisation ever was.

Enough from me!

G
 
This was our unique culture, millions of young men died to keep this culture unique to us!!, like walking, cycling, driving, on the Left, and given that Australia, Ireland, Hong Kong, and various other country's used Stirling £sd system, I say again the greatest confidence trick played on a nation ever, just like the EEC membership all based on lies.
paul
 
I don't think young men fought and died just so they could walk, cycle,and drive on the left. you'll find there was a bigger issue at stake than that.
Nick
 
Paul I was based in Hong Kong in the 50's, it was not £sd it was HK dollars and cents, 16 dollars to 1 pound stirling. I personally prefer the decimal system, so simple. Eric
 
In my opinion some progress is good, and the point I was making was that this country was different to most others and the wars fought were for "OUR CULTURE", that's what wars are about. The decimal system was devised and forced on occupied European country's by Napoleon Bonaparte in around 1801/2, as a direct challenge to our trading ability as a Nation. I know for certain some shops had old stock at 6d stirling, and then sold them at 6p new money nearly 80% profit and it happened everywhere, and mainly older people were totally ripped off, it was handled badly my the Government of the day, and was implemented without any reference to the British peoples wish's on the subject.
paul
 
There's no way of defending it ... Decimalisation was the biggest con trick ever played on the people of the UK until Political Correctness was invented. By DECREASING the basic number of units, prices could be hiked rapidly. My Granny would play up over a Farthing rise in the Co-Op, how she'd fare over 30 or 40 pence rises each day god knows. Also, with smaller basic units, Inflation would soar as the M0 figure (Money in Circulation) ran out of control. Gov'ts of all hues have known this, but, as they and their financier cronies are making fortunes, keep quiet. The recent Bank Scandal and the Euro Crisis prove this point.
Take fuel ... by quoting in Gallons, the Public would not stand for massive Tax rises, but reduce it to Litres, and it seems more acceptable. If, like me, you started using a vehicle when Petrol was 5/- a Gallon, then went to 35p, via 55p to 85p a gallon, and stayed there for decades, you'd think this wasn't too bad. But ... within weeks of the Litre changeover, Petrol was 85p a Litre! People still thought of 85p a gallon in round terms and it was accepted. The Price of a barrel of Brent Crude is roughly a 100th divisor down to pump prices. Thus if A Barrel is 85$ then petrol at the pump,. allowing for good profits all round should be 85p a gallon, however, the Gov't is now taking over 80% in direct Tax.
To stay out of the Euro has proved a godsend for the UK. Many of the EU countries are now seeking to return to their own currencies in order to regain control of their economies...

One size does NOT fit all...........
 
Just a quick one to follow.......

On D-Day in 1971, the old lady in our corner shop just inverted the 'd' signs by the sweets to read 'p' ...!

After 12 years of School, studying the Imperial system, 120 teenagers sat down to their 1971 Mock 'O' level Maths paper in my Sutton Coldfield School. When they turned the paper over it was all Decimal, with words no-one knew. The Teachers envigilating insisted on the pupils doing it, many walked out. It was a minor scandal, hushed up heavily by the Education Authority and the School. They then had 2 months to forget 12 years of learning and re-learn decimal terms.
 
Excellent points made, interesting thread. Makes you use the grey matter and lets you see other peoples point of view.

Was the extra effort of moving to a decimal system .... all worth it ?

I make no apologies for still thinking in imperial (inches and gallons) first.
Infact I'm rather proud of the fact ( but maybe that sounds old fashioned ).

I may be nostalgic but isn't there something romantic about the Franc, Lira, Dracma ?
I wonder how many millions of Europeans would gladly go back to their own pre-euro currency ?

I would not really prefer to go back to £sd - got used to decimal but maybe some ppl would !

Interesting ... that we got the foot from the cubit and the Egyptians.
And we (possibly) got the decimal from Uncle Napoleon B.

But ... whats coming next .... Binary ? .... from Microsoft ??
(gosh - maybe, sometimes you just have to draw the line) ?

As a species we will eventually adopt another system (basing this on the track record above)
And when that changes ....... will the current decimal lovers attempt to stick to there decimal guns ?

Thank you for your comments - all excellently made.
 
Stephen I still think in feet and inches, pints and pounds and ounces, but I use both decimal and imperial measurements. It depends on what recipe, for instance I am using, and at the moment I am knitting, but using the inches instructions rather than the centimetres. I think that European countries in a way lost their indentity converting to the Euro, it was always nice to have a few francs or lira or pesetas left on return from holiday (in fact I still do have some!!), much more exciting than cents and euros.

I can still add up, etc, using £sd, but don't think I would personally like to re-convert back to those days. I don't think it does to look back too much, nostalgia is OK, but hankering after the past too much can make one look like a dinosaur!
 
Stephen
One of the reasons for introduction of a new system of measures hwen originally suggested in the mid 1800s was because some of the so-called "standards" varied depending on where you are. In a report on decimalization from the Birmingham Post on 20.9.1862, partly shoen below, examples were given


differing_measures_in_different_places.jpg
 
Slightly off topic, but I wonder how many have noticed that copper and silver coinage up to the value of 10p are no longer made of bronze or cupro-nickel. Test your change with a magnet and you'll find that the more recently minted coins contain iron!

I was still an engineering apprentice at the time of the '71 change and so also had to deal with exams changing over to the ISO system. At the time I accepted all of this and its second nature now, but when I look back I do wonder whether it was really worth doing. Many experts have said that the way that the coinage decimalisation was carried out was seriously flawed and that having a new unit based on 10 shillings would have been much easier to understand and would probably have confused people less.

As far as the change to other units goes, we seem, after 40 years to have neither one thing or the other. Okay we have our litres, kilos and engineering is all ISO, but we still drive in miles, quaff pints and measure our hat size in inches!
 
The images of a leaflet in the first posts on this thread are missing. So here's a short, to the point, conversion table from the Woolworth museum site.

My personal favourite was a 2/6d, half crown - remember the excitement of getting one of these weighty coins in my Christmas stocking. And if you were lucky to get a present of a ten bob note, well, the world was your oyster ! Viv.

image.jpeg
 
I was running the village 'open all hours' shop at the time, we had a demo at the wholesalers and then just got on with it, didn't find it too difficult................and then along came VAT. :(
 
farmerdave said:
Decimalisation Day was 15th February 1971. Therefore 50 years ago today. Hope everyone is getting used to the "new" currency. Dave.
Click to expand...
I remember my first trip back to the UK in 1968. They had some sort of 'easing in' where a shilling was to be equal to what would become 5p. I wasn't very familiar with what was going on in the UK at the time, but quickly became aware of the inflationary implications. So 12p was to become 5p...Since I had became used to decimal currency in Canada, it struck me that a less inflationary move would have been to use the 10 bob note as the pound, the half crown would become a quarter (25p)...and the pennies would only be inflated to 1.2p instead of 2.4p.
Dave A
 
I remember the 10 bob note was put forward as the new unitary pound, but rejected as pounds didn't change and most of the rest was in effect "tiddlers". I think that big business had a say in that. Over hear in Greece, supermarkets have always rounded to the nearest 5 cents (or lepta as they are known in Greece) and I and many others always reject anything below 5 cents in change. It's not worth the hole it wears in your trouser pocket.

Maurice :cool:
 
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