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Prior to decimalisation in 1971, there were 12 pence (written as 12d) in a shilling (written as 1s or 1/-) and 20 shillings in a pound, written as £1 (occasionally "L" was used instead of the pound sign, £). There were therefore 240 pence in a pound. For example, 2 pounds 14 shillings and 5 pence could have been written as £2 14s 5d or £2/14/5
Amounts over a pound are normally spoken thus: "five pounds forty". A value with less than ten pence over the pound is sometimes spoken like this: "one pound and a penny", "three pounds and fourpence". The slang term "bit" has almost disappeared from use completely, although in Scotland a fifty pence is sometimes referred to as a "ten bob bit".
A sampler in the Guildhall Museum of Rochester illustrates the conversion between pence and shillings and shillings and pounds. Old till in Ireland, with "shortcut" keys in various £sd denominations (lower numbers) and their "new pence" equivalent (upper numbers) Toy coin, which teaches children the value of a shilling
Prior to 1971, the United Kingdom had been using the pounds, shillings, and pence currency system. Decimalisation was announced by Chancellor James Callaghan on 1 March 1966; one pound would be subdivided into 100 pence, instead of 240 pence as previously was the case. [9] This required new coins to be minted, to replace the pre-decimal ones.
Sterling (ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. [3] The pound is the main unit of sterling, [4] [c] and the word pound is also used to refer to the British currency generally, [7] often qualified in international contexts as the British pound or the pound sterling. [4]
With decimalisation, the pound kept its old value and name in each currency, but the shilling was abolished, and the pound was divided into 100 new pence (abbreviated to "p"). In the UK, the new coins initially featured the word “new”, but in due course this was dropped. Each new penny was worth 2.4 old pence ("d.") in each currency.
Converts the pre-1971 subunits of the pound sterling to its modern decimal subunits. Also supports conversion of guineas (21 shillings) and marks (13s 4d; or 160d); if the main units (pounds, shillings, and pence), guineas, and marks are all used at once it returns the (decimalised) sum of all units.
The British decimal two pence coin (often shortened to 2p in writing and speech) is a denomination of sterling coinage equalling 2 ⁄ 100 of a pound. Since the coin's introduction on 15 February 1971, the year British currency was decimalised , its obverse has featured four profiles of Queen Elizabeth II . [ 1 ]