Winston Churchill cashes in on British vote
- On eve of new bank-note being released, public demands statesman is put on notes
On the eve of Adam Smith replacing Edward Elgar on the new £20 note, it’s revealed that three-quarters of Brits have no idea who Adam Smith is - or what the Scottish economist’s achievements were. Britons have instead called for classic British icons Winston Churchill and Emmeline Pankhurst to be immortalised on our money, according to research by Virgin Money.
Britain’s greatest statesman, orator and Second World War leader Winston Churchill won more than 52% of the vote, comfortably topping the male list. He swept the board, beating other much-respected greats including Stephen Hawking (8%), John Lennon (7%) and Spike Milligan (7%).
Tony Blair (0.9%) and his successor-in-waiting Gordon Brown (0.6%) - both could certainly do with borrowing some popularity from Sir Winston; only rock star junkie Pete Doherty (0.2%) kept them off the bottom of the table.
First in the female list is Emmeline Pankhurst (26%), who led the movement to win the right for women to vote and would no doubt welcome the current Equalities Review. She topped the list of females finishing just ahead of Diana, Princess of Wales (23%), with Jane Austen (12%), Margaret Thatcher (11%) and Beatrix Potter (9%) also polling highly.
Interestingly, current girlfriend of Prince William and our possible future Queen, Kate Middleton scraped only 0.2% of the vote. Astonishingly, she was even less popular than Big Brother loudmouth and much-maligned Jade Goody (1%) and page 3 glamour girl Keeley Hazell (1%)!
One in ten Brits believe Smith, ‘the father of economics’ who will appear on notes from 13 March, was a politician and 15% think he was an artist. Some more bizarre guesses on Smith’s claim to fame included that he was a footballer, a landscape gardener or ‘brother of John Smith – the beer maker’.
Jason Wyer-Smith of Virgin Money, who conducted the research, comments ‘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?’
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Some famous quotes on money from those in the listWinston Churchill: “Saving is a fine thing. Especially when your parents have done it for you."
Spike Milligan: “Money can't buy you happiness but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery”
Emmeline Pankhurst: "Equal pay for equal work, equal marriage and divorce laws, the same rights over children for both parents, equality of rights and opportunities in public service, and a system of maternity benefits."
John Lennon: “I don't care too much for money, money can't buy me love."
Jane Austen: “Business, you know, may bring money, but friendship hardly ever does.”
Margaret Thatcher: “No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions - he had money too”
| Male | Female | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Percentage | Name | Percentage |
| Sir Winston Churchill | 52.4% | Emmeline Pankhurst | 25.9% |
| Stephen Hawkin | 7.7% | Diana, Princess of Wales | 22.8% |
| John Lennon | 7.5% | Jane Austen | 12.5% |
| Spike Milligan | 6.8% | Margaret Thatcher | 10.5% |
| Charlie Chaplin | 4.9% | Judi Dench | 5.4% |
| Bobby Moore | 4.4% | Mo Mowlam | 2.5% |
| Ant and Dec | 4.3% | Helen Mirren | 2.4% |
| John Peel | 3.7% | Kate Winslett | 1.6% |
| Sir Ian McKellen | 2.1% | Barbara Windsor | 1.6% |
| David Beckham | 1.7% | Kate Moss | 1.0% |
| Sir Alan Sugar | 1.6% | Keeley Hazell | 0.9% |
| Simon Cowell | 1.3% | Jade Goody | 0.9% |
| Tony Blair | 0.9% | Victoria Beckham | 0.6% |
| Gordon Brown | 0.6% | Kate Middleton | 0.2% |
| Pete Doherty | 0.2% | ||
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For more information and images, contact Reema Babakhan or Emily Eve at Frank PR – reemababakhan@frankpr.it or emilyeve@frankpr.it or 0207 693 6999Notes to editors
- The Adam Smith £20 note will be introduced by the Bank of England from 13 March
- The Governor of the Bank of England makes the final decision on who appears on new banknotes. “The Bank have celebrated the lives of eminent British personalities on the back of their notes since 1970. It is usual practice to consider a number of probable candidates all of whom have been selected because of their indisputable contribution to their particular field of work and about whom there exists sufficient material on which to base a banknote design”
- Survey of 1,267 UK adults was undertaken by tickbox, an independent mark research organisation
- Virgin Money is Virgin’s financial services arm and was established in 1995.
- Virgin Money has over two million customers and offers a wide range of financial products across lending (e.g. credit cards and personal loans), savings (e.g. deposits, investments and pensions) and protection (e.g. life insurance, home insurance and car insurance) to the UK market.
Virgin Money Personal Financial Service Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Registered office: Discovery House, Whiting Road, Norwich NR4 6EJ. Registered in England No. 3072766. Entered on the Financial Services Authority's register number 179271.
