When did Britain last change its currency system?
When did Britain last change its currency system?
15 February 1971
Decimal Day, when the pound went from 240 pence to 100
Before that a pound was twenty shillings and a shilling twelve pence, so a pound was 240 pence — a system with the practical advantage of dividing evenly by two, three, four, six, eight and twelve, and the practical disadvantage of requiring everyone to do it. Banks closed for four days to convert. The old sixpence remained legal tender as two and a half new pence until 1980.
- What
- Decimal Day, when the pound went from 240 pence to 100
- When
- 15 February 1971
- Category
- Countries and borders
- Could this change?
- Not in any foreseeable way. The event is closed.
Countries and borders
| Question | When |
|---|---|
| When did a country last join the United Nations? | 14 July 2011 |
| When was the US Constitution last amended? | 7 May 1992 |
| When did the US flag last change? | 4 July 1960 |
| When was a US state last admitted? | 21 August 1959 |
| When did a European country last change calendar? | 1923 |
| When did the size of the US Supreme Court last change? | 1869 |
| When did the Union Jack last change? | 1 January 1801 |
This page gives a date and never a "years ago". These pages are built as static files, so a computed interval would freeze at build time and quietly become wrong — which on a reference site is worse than making the reader do the subtraction.
Common questions
- When did Britain last change its currency system?
- 15 February 1971 — Decimal Day, when the pound went from 240 pence to 100.
- What happened?
- Before that a pound was twenty shillings and a shilling twelve pence, so a pound was 240 pence — a system with the practical advantage of dividing evenly by two, three, four, six, eight and twelve, and the practical disadvantage of requiring everyone to do it. Banks closed for four days to convert. The old sixpence remained legal tender as two and a half new pence until 1980.
Related pages
- When did a country last join the United Nations? 14 July 2011
- When was the US Constitution last amended? 7 May 1992
- When did the US flag last change? 4 July 1960
- When was a US state last admitted? 21 August 1959
- When did a European country last change calendar? 1923
- When did the size of the US Supreme Court last change? 1869
- When was the US Constitution last amended? Also 7 May 1992
- When was Halley's Comet last visible? Also 9 February 1986
- When did the prime meridian last move? Also 1984
- When was the metre last redefined? Also 1983
- When did a human last walk on the Moon? Also 14 December 1972
- When did the US flag last change? Also 4 July 1960
- Everything, most recent first 36 last occurrences
Sources
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)