Scruples

Thinking about decimalisation (see my last post) has made me think about the much  wider change in British society when we moved away from the old imperial measurements to the metric system.  The first thing I can remember changing was the way temperatures were expressed.  The old measurement was Fahrenheit but about sixty years ago we changed to Centigrade or Celsius, like scientists had been using for years.  We use Celsius for all temperatures now whether it's how hot an oven is or how cold a January day.  

Distance used to be expressed in terms of inches, feet, yards, but there were other measurements too - as a child I learnt about barleycorns, chains, furlongs, fathoms and rods and doubtless many more which I have forgotten.  When I lived in Nigeria fabric was sold in fathoms and I still think of my feet as size 7, a size based on barleycorns.

Weights were another gem.  In everyday usage we had ounces, pounds and stones but there were also such wonderful units as scruples, hundredweights and quarters.  My Doctor now weighs me in kilos but I still think of my weight in terms of stones and pounds.

There is one very important exception to all this decimalisation - draught beer is still sold in pints.

And many Brits still think of things in feet, inches, pounds just as we have done for hundreds of years.  

But I know of no-one who could tell me the weight of a scruple!

It's 1.296 grams, or 20 grains.  (I had to check!)  3 scruples make one dram and eight drams make one ounce

D-Day

 

Yesterday marked the fiftieth anniversary of D-day, or Decimal Day for British coinage.  And today I found this souvenir wallet of "new money".  

15th January 1971 was a Monday morning and that day I decided to buy a sandwich on my way to work just so I could try out the new currency.  The idea was to pay with a higher value note or coin in "Old money" (£sd) and to receive change in new pence.  Initially prices were in "np" but as the new money came into wider use the "n" was dropped and labels were in £ and p as they are today.  

The changeover took about six months and was met with some resistance by older people but everyone had to use "new" money eventually.

We gained simplicity that day but we lost things as well.  I remember paying for stuff with bobs, tanners and dodgers.  That's one shilling, six penny and three penny coins (or pieces) to many of you.  I can also remember recognising the appearance of the Kings and Queens of the United Kingdom because I had seen them on our coinage.  

1971 coins above, 2021 coins below

Our coins have changed since 1971.  The half pence piece and two-and-a-half pence coins are no longer in use.  The 5p and 10p coins we use now are smaller than those first decimal coins.

How long will it be before we no longer have cash?  I don't look forward to that day.

Birthdays

Our Bill

St George

Four hundred years of The Bard!  I wonder what Mary Arden thought she was unleashing on the world when she gave birth four hundred and fifty two years ago?  She could not have imagined how that mewling and puking scrap of humanity would make an impact on all the English speaking world once he had finished creeping unwillingly to school, come to man's estate and had made the world his stage.  Four hundred and fifty two years ago today (or thereabouts!) he was born, four hundred years ago today he died on England's national day, St George's Day.  So cry God for England, Willy and St George!

Elizabeth II - Bond Girl!

The big birthday this week though was a ninetieth, that of Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Mountbatten-Windsor.  What an amazing woman!  Seeing photographs of her or television footage one would guess at someone in her sixties or at most, in her seventies.  I still smile when I think about the Olympic opening ceremony.  Her birthday celebrations will be going on for several months so I don't feel too bad at being slightly late in saying, Happy Birthday, Ma'am.

And in my own family we have been celebrating a special lady too.  Auntie Hettie was 91 this week.  For most people she isn't as important as either William S or Elizabeth R but for me she is one tremendous gal.  

Name that anniversary

It's been quite a year for centennials.

18th June  was the Octocentenary of the sealing of Magna Carta in 1215;

14th November will see the Tricentenary of the Battle of Preston when the Jacobite Rebellion under the Old Pretender was ended in 1715;

18th June was the Bicentenary of the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 and thus the end of the Napoleonic Wars;

and 16th September was the Centenary of the first meeting of the Women's Institute in the UK at Llanfairpwllgwynyll. 

But today is the Sexcentenary of the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. 

I wonder what 2015 will be remembered for?