Author Topic: The new (eventually ...) £20 note (Read 2665 times)

Shaker · « **on:** April 22, 2016, 07:14:55 PM »

The Bank of England will issue a new £20 note in 2020 with a celebrated figure from British life and culture now revealed, and as a life-long fan I couldn't be happier about the choice

http://goo.gl/Ek0nYf

Rhiannon · « **Reply #1 on:** April 22, 2016, 07:19:33 PM »

I think it's an excellent choice. Really not one to whinge about on diversity grounds.

Shaker · « **Reply #2 on:** April 22, 2016, 07:25:03 PM »

Quote from: Rhiannon on April 22, 2016, 07:19:33 PM

I think it's an excellent choice. Really not one to whinge about on diversity grounds.

No, that does smack of tokenism to me, I'm afraid.

Rhiannon · « **Reply #3 on:** April 22, 2016, 07:29:43 PM »

The lack of women accurately reflects the fact that in the past few had the chance to gain recognition in many fields. History can't be rewritten.

And Turner was a genius.

Shaker · « **Reply #4 on:** April 22, 2016, 07:32:05 PM »

Quote from: Rhiannon on April 22, 2016, 07:29:43 PM

The lack of women accurately reflects the fact that in the past few had the chance to gain recognition in many fields. History can't be rewritten.

And Turner was a genius.

Exactly. Notable women in any field in previous centuries were thin on the ground because of the social climate of the day - we can't change that now. What we can do is celebrate the fact that we've moved on from that and that that situation has changed for the better.

Harrowby Hall · « **Reply #5 on:** April 22, 2016, 08:20:09 PM »

Our greatest painter (by a long way)?

Arguably the greatest landscape artist who ever lived?

The greatest of the Impressionists (even though that concept wasn't born until decades after his death)?

Does Turner have to be a woman to qualify for portrayal on a banknote?

I am all in favour of celebrating women just as much as we celebrate men, but I have no complaint about portraying Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Edward Elgar and now J M W Turner on our banknotes, they were all men of transcendent genius.

Shaker · « **Reply #6 on:** April 22, 2016, 08:28:16 PM »

Quote from: Harrowby Hall on April 22, 2016, 08:20:09 PM

Our greatest painter (by a long way)?

Arguably the greatest landscape artist who ever lived?

The greatest of the Impressionists (even though that concept wasn't born until decades after his death)?

Steady on there sunbeam, steady on. I have a few other names on the shortlist that need to be taken into consideration first!

Quote

Does Turner have to be a woman to qualify for portrayal on a banknote?

No, but you get the impression from some quarters that he was somehow at fault for not having been born female, the laydeez not being sufficiently well represented on banknotes as compared to opposite persons of the contradictory gender.

To be serious (briefly), it's a genuine issue but in 2016 we can't help the fact that notable women in whatever field were scarce until historically recent times. It wasn't right and it wasn't good but it was the spirit of the age and we can't change that. If some Bank of England johnny wants me to supply a list of notable women from more recent/enlightened times who I think ought to be celebrated by appearance on a bank note I'd be only too happy to oblige, for me starting with the criminally unknown Rosalind Franklin, whose work and ultimately tragic but inspiring life ought to be known to the population at large starting with the youngsters in school and bloody well isn't

Quote

I am all in favour of celebrating women just as much as we celebrate men, but I have no complaint about portraying Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Edward Elgar and now J M W Turner on our banknotes, they were all men of transcendent genius.

Hear hear.

L.A. · « **Reply #7 on:** April 22, 2016, 08:33:32 PM »

Quote from: Shaker on April 22, 2016, 07:14:55 PM

The Bank of England will issue a new £20 note in 2020 with a celebrated figure from British life and culture now revealed, and as a life-long fan I couldn't be happier about the choice

http://goo.gl/Ek0nYf

I don't mind trialling a few if the treasury have any samples.

Hope · « **Reply #8 on:** April 23, 2016, 07:36:10 AM »

The wikipedia page on sterling banknotes has an good list of who has been depicted on banknotes over the years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknotes_of_the_pound_sterling#Historical_figures

I have always wondered why we haven't had George Eliot yet. Her works are widely known and respected.

Rhiannon · « **Reply #9 on:** April 23, 2016, 08:17:25 AM »

As much as I enjoyed Adam Bede I'd think Mary Shelley a more interesting choice. But with Jane Austen coming soon I think one female novelist is enough.

In fact writing is the one field where it isn't too difficult to find females from the past worthy of representation.

You could make an argument in favour of Beatrix Potter. Arguably her legacy isn't so much her books - lovely though they are - but the preservation of the Lake District, and even the National Trust as we know it now.

Hope · « **Reply #10 on:** April 23, 2016, 08:18:39 AM »

Quote from: Rhiannon on April 23, 2016, 08:17:25 AM

As much as I enjoyed Adam Bede I'd think Mary Shelley a more interesting choice. But with Jane Austen coming soon I think one female novelist is enough.

In fact writing is the one field where it isn't too difficult to find females from the past worthy of representation.

You could make an argument in favour of Beatrix Potter. Arguably her legacy isn't so much her books - lovely though they are - but the preservation of the Lake District, and even the National Trust as we know it now.

Perfectly good arguments, Rhi.

Gonnagle · « **Reply #11 on:** April 23, 2016, 10:07:17 AM »

Dear Shaker,

Never mind all that gender equality nonsense!! when you look on the work of JMW Turner your thoughts must turn to God, if you think the works of this genius can be explained by evolution tell me!

Atheists shout for evidence, there is your evidence, the evidence is all around you, you just have to turn your God dodging switch off.

Gonnagle.

Leonard James · « **Reply #12 on:** April 23, 2016, 10:18:25 AM »

Quote from: Gonnagle on April 23, 2016, 10:07:17 AM

Dear Shaker,

Never mind all that gender equality nonsense!! when you look on the work of JMW Turner your thoughts must turn to God, if you think the works of this genius can be explained by evolution tell me!

Atheists shout for evidence, there is your evidence, the evidence is all around you, you just have to turn your God dodging switch off.

Gonnagle.

Yes, Gonners, the evidence for evolution is all around us, and the God dodging switch is simply our evolved ability to distinguish between fact and fiction, and should always be left at the on position.

Stranger · « **Reply #13 on:** April 23, 2016, 10:24:39 AM »

Quote from: Gonnagle on April 23, 2016, 10:07:17 AM

...when you look on the work of JMW Turner your thoughts must turn to God, if you think the works of this genius can be explained by evolution tell me!

God isn't an explanation of such genius anyway. In order to explain something you have to say how it came to be. If there is a god, then it already had genius - so genius remains unexplained.

Gonnagle · « **Reply #14 on:** April 23, 2016, 10:39:53 AM »

Dear Leonard,

When you look on a Turner you don't think, that's nice, you think, what the F***, how the F***, your mind goes somewhere else, when you look on The Fighting Temeraire, the feelings that evokes, a old battleship going to the scrapheap, Turner has captured all that hauntingly ghostly feeling of sadness in one painting, but it is also hauntingly ghostly beautiful.

Only one answer Dear Leonard, Turner had his God spot fully turned on.

Gonnagle.

Gonnagle · « **Reply #15 on:** April 23, 2016, 10:43:02 AM »

Dear Stranger,

Genius is unexplained, fair enough, the same as God.

Gonnagle.

Stranger · « **Reply #16 on:** April 23, 2016, 11:20:42 AM »

Quote from: Gonnagle on April 23, 2016, 10:43:02 AM

Genius is unexplained, fair enough, the same as God.

Except, we can tell that genius exists, unlike any gods.

Harrowby Hall · « **Reply #17 on:** April 23, 2016, 12:05:03 PM »

Quote from: Gonnagle on April 23, 2016, 10:39:53 AM

Turner had his God spot fully turned on.

Gonnagle.

Gonners,

Turner had his God spot fully turned on indeed. On his deathbed he is reported to have exclaimed .... "The Sun is God."

Gonnagle · « **Reply #18 on:** April 23, 2016, 12:25:26 PM »

Dear Harrowby,

Course it is! so is the Earth, the Universe, it's all God, but how do we explain Turners genius, or Einstein's, imagination.

Quote

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

But that is only a small part of what makes us God like, made in Gods image.

Gonnagle.

Sebastian Toe · « **Reply #19 on:** April 23, 2016, 12:35:28 PM »

Quote from: Shaker on April 22, 2016, 07:14:55 PM

The Bank of England will issue a new £20 note in 2020 with a celebrated figure from British life and culture now revealed, and as a life-long fan I couldn't be happier about the choice

http://goo.gl/Ek0nYf

Does anyone know if Scorey McScoreface was ever considered? $:-\$

Stranger · « **Reply #20 on:** April 23, 2016, 12:41:39 PM »

Quote from: Gonnagle on April 23, 2016, 12:25:26 PM

...but how do we explain Turners genius, or Einstein's, imagination.

As I pointed out before, evolution is the only explanation on offer.

Leonard James · « **Reply #21 on:** April 23, 2016, 12:43:35 PM »

Quote from: Gonnagle on April 23, 2016, 10:39:53 AM

Dear Leonard,

When you look on a Turner you don't think, that's nice, you think, what the F***, how the F***, your mind goes somewhere else, when you look on The Fighting Temeraire, the feelings that evokes, a old battleship going to the scrapheap, Turner has captured all that hauntingly ghostly feeling of sadness in one painting, but it is also hauntingly ghostly beautiful.

Only one answer Dear Leonard, Turner had his God spot fully turned on.

Gonnagle.

You really are sweet, Gonners, but totally misled.

Our aesthetic sense is simply the result of thousands of generations of humans being impressed by natural beauty, refining and strengthening it by selecting partners that felt the same emotions.

Unfortunately those poor sods who weren't lucky enough to be given the right genes at conception also tended to seek like partners, which is why those less appreciative of beauty still persist to this day.

Gonnagle · « **Reply #22 on:** April 23, 2016, 01:03:16 PM »

Dear Leonard,

And you are infinitely far more sweeter,

Quote

Our aesthetic sense is simply the result of thousands of generations of humans being impressed by natural beauty, refining and strengthening it by selecting partners that felt the same emotions.

So Turner is just the last line in thousands of generations of artistic humans selecting other artistic humans, interesting theory old chap, but even then I can find God in there.

Gonnagle.

Stranger · « **Reply #23 on:** April 23, 2016, 01:22:36 PM »

Quote from: Gonnagle on April 23, 2016, 01:03:16 PM

...but even then I can find God in there.

That will be your HADD (hyperactive agent-detection device).

Leonard James · « **Reply #24 on:** April 23, 2016, 01:56:40 PM »

Quote from: Gonnagle on April 23, 2016, 01:03:16 PM

Dear Leonard,

And you are infinitely far more sweeter,

So Turner is just the last line in thousands of generations of artistic humans selecting other artistic humans, interesting theory old chap, but even then I can find God in there.

Gonnagle.

Of course you can, Gonners, because you have been conditioned to.

Many of us were, but found the way out by recognising the reality of life.

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Author Topic: The new (eventually ...) £20 note (Read 2665 times)

Rhiannon

Rhiannon

Rhiannon