On this Day 1969: The new 50p coin

On this Day: October 21st, 1969

ATV Midland News reports on the reactions to the newly introduced decimal fifty pence piece at Birmingham Bull Ring Market.

Sue Jay introduces the feature about the 50 pence coin which under decimalisation replaced the 10 shilling note.

Alan Jones vox-pops customers and traders in the Bull Ring market in Birmingham to survey the reactions of customers to the newly introduced 50p coin. The reactions are mostly negative with people complaining that it causes confusion with existing coins.

Decimal Day in the United Kingdom happened on February 15th, 1971, the day the country decimalised its currency of pounds, shillings, and pence. Before this date in the United Kingdom, the British pound was made up of twenty shillings, each of which was made up of twelve pence, a total of 240 pence.

With decimalisation, the pound kept its old value and name, and the only changes were in relation to the subunits. The shilling was abolished, and the pound was subdivided into 100 “new pence” (abbreviated “p”), each of which was worth 2.4 “old pence” (abbreviated “d”).

ATV soap opera Crossroads was praised in parliament for its introduction of a storyline that showed older residents of the fictional Kings Oak village being shown how the new system worked.