Churchill preferred on UK banknotes
Britons want former prime minister Winston Churchill on their banknotes, a survey shows.An overwhelming 52 per cent of respondents in a survey by Virgin Money favoured the statesman as the man they would most like to see immortalised on banknotes.The second world war leader did somewhat better than current prime minister Tony Blair, who won just 0.9 per cent of the male contenders' vote.Mr Blair was even beaten by Celebrity Big Brother contestant Jade Goody, whose one per cent of the female vote comes despite her facing allegations of racist behaviour against Bollywood film star Shilpa Shetty.More serious contenders include suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst and Princess Diana, who took 26 per cent and 23 per cent of the female list respectively. Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher scored 10.5 per cent.Featuring high on the male list are physicist Stephen Hawking (7.7 per cent), musician John Lennon (7.5 per cent) and comedian Spike Milligan (6.8 per cent)."Brits work hard enough to earn their money so perhaps we should all have more of a say on who’s faces we see when we spend it?" asked Jason Wyer-Smith of Virgin Money.Today's poll comes one day before the Bank of England introduces a new £20 note featuring groundbreaking economist Adam Smith, replacing the banknotes showing composer Edward Elgar.
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