Bank of England reveals nominees for new face of £20 note
Nominations range from Beatrix Potter to Aleister Crowley.
The public nomination as to who should be the face of the new £20 note has attracted nearly 30,000 suggestions, the Bank of England has said.
The bank wants the next £20 note to celebrate Britain’s achievements in the visual arts and opened up the process of picking someone to the public back in May.
The nominations are now closed and the bank says the public have come up with a varied list of 592 eligible candidates to whittle down.
The winner will replace economist Adam Smith.
In the running
Names in the running many will recognise include fashion designer Alexander McQueen and Thomas Burberry, who founded the iconic Burberry brand in the UK and invented the tough fabric Gabardine used today in suits, overcoats and uniforms.
Well-known film directors Alfred Hitchcock (The Birds, Psycho, Vertigo), Stanley Kubrick (The Shining, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange), Richard Attenborough (Gandhi, The Great Escape, Jurassic Park) and Tony Scott (Top Gun, Beverley Hills Cop, Man on Fire) and actors Larence Olivier, Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel also made the line-up.
Much loved artist and children’s TV presenter Tony Hart, Daleks designer Ray Cusick and Roger Hargreaves, creator of the Mr. Men and Little Miss series were also nominated by the public.
Notable female figures put forward by the public include: author Beatrix Potter; Phyllis Pearsall, the creator of the first A-Z street map of London; Sarah Biffen, a Victorian painter born with no arms or legs; Marie Tussaud, known for her wax sculptures and the Madame Tussauds wax museum she founded in London; Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy, a portrait artist who painted the Queen for her Golden Jubilee; and Pauline Boty, a founder of the British Pop art movement.
More esoteric suggestions include occultist and painter Aleister Crowley, artist and original Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe, and graphic designer Storm Elvin Thorgerson, best known for his work for musicians including Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Peter Gabriel.
Chief Cashier Victoria Cleland said: "I am delighted with the number of nominations we have received, and appreciative of the public’s engagement in this new initiative. The fact that so many visual artists have been put forward underlines the extent of British achievement in the visual arts and reinforces why this field deserves to be recognised on the next £20 note.”
You can view the full list of nominees on the Bank of England website.
Picking a winner
An Advisory Committee will now create a shortlist from the 592 eligible nominations submitted by the public.
The Bank says the decision will be based on the strength of the contribution of the nominees rather than on the number of times they were nominated.
The judges will consider contribution to thought, innovation, leadership, values and society and how they represent the diversity of talent in the UK.
The final decision will be made by Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England.
The winning character will be announced in spring 2016 and the new £20 note will come into circulation within the next three to five years.
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