United Kingdom: a hedgehog and an owl will replace Winston Churchill and Jane Austen on bank notes

Hedgehog and owl will appear on English banknotes instead of Winston Churchill, Jane Austen and other British personalities, the Bank of England announced Thursday, after the controversy sparked by the choice to favor images of nature. The puffin, the barn owl, the ground bumblebee and the European hedgehog were chosen from 18 options by 500,000 Britons following a consultation organized this summer by the British central bank.

A first public consultation last year identified British flora and fauna as the central images of the new series of bank notes. The announcement of this project had provoked the ire of part of the British political class, outraged by the potential of replacing the former British Prime Minister on the 5 pound sterling notes with a badger or an otter.

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“We will now get to work on the design”

The novelist Jane Austen, the painter William Turner and the mathematician Alan Turing will also gradually disappear from 10, 20 and 50 pound notes. “We will now move on to design, test and produce the notes, combining the visuals announced today with cutting-edge security features and the latest advances in materials science,” detailed Rhys Phillips, the next head of note issuance at the BoE, in a comment attached to the press release.

This process is expected to take several years, after which the new banknotes will be put into circulation. And they will continue to display the portrait of King Charles III, while those with the image of Queen Elizabeth II will remain valid.