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\n\tThe Bank of England (BOE) announced last week that the next generation of banknotes it will issue will feature depictions of wildlife native to the UK, rather than historical figures, including painter J.M.W. Turner.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe decision comes after the BOE held a consultation in July 2025 asking the public to vote on six categories that could appear on the forthcoming notes, according to various criteria, which include that it \u201csymbolises the UK,\u201d \u201cresonates with the public,\u201d \u201cis not divisive,\u201d and \u201cis enduring.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe BOE received more than 44,000 responses to the consultation, with people being able to select multiple options in their responses, as well as suggesting their own. In the vote, 60 percent of respondents selected \u201cNature\u201d as one of their preferred themes for the new banknotes. \u201cArchitecture and Landmarks\u201d received 56 percent, while \u201cNotable Historical Figures\u201d received 38 percent and \u201cArts, Culture and Sport\u201d getting 30 percent.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI was delighted by the level of public engagement during our banknote theme consultation\u00a0last year,\u201d Victoria Cleland, the BOE\u2019s chief cashier, said in a statement. \u201cThe response underlines how important banknotes remain to people. The key driver for introducing a new banknote series is always to increase counterfeit\u00a0resilience, but it also provides an opportunity to celebrate different aspects of the UK.\u00a0Nature is a great choice from a banknote authentication perspective and means we can\u00a0showcase the UK\u2019s rich and varied wildlife on the next series of banknotes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWhile the introduction of wildlife to the banknotes will be different, each note will continue to have an image of the British monarch, as well as a representation of each of the UK\u2019s four constituent countries: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
\n\tTo select which depictions of UK wildlife will appear on the banknotes, the BOE has empaneled six experts to create a list of wildlife that will then be voted on as part of a public consultation this summer. (The public will be able to suggest additional wildlife once the consultation opens.)<\/p>\n
\n\tThe BOE has not said when the new notes will appear, saying only that they will appear in \u201ca few years\u201d and that the \u201ccomplexity of banknotes means it is a\u00a0detailed, multi-year process to design, test and print them, ensuring they are high-quality,\u00a0resilient and accessible,\u201d per a release.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe six experts include wildlife broadcasters Gordon Buchanan, Miranda Krestovnikoff, and Nadeem Perera; professors Steve Ormerod (Cardiff University) and Dawn Scott (Nottingham Trent University); and Katy Bell, a senior conservationist at the nonprofit Ulster Wildlife.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe wildlife of the UK is not separate from our culture,\u201d Perera said in a statement. \u201cIt sits in our football crests, our\u00a0folklore, our coastlines and our childhoods. Giving it space on something as symbolic as\u00a0our currency feels both overdue and significant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe selected depictions will eventually replace the following historical figures: former prime minister Winston Churchill (\u00a35), author Jane\u00a0Austen (\u00a310), mathematician Alan Turing (\u00a350), and Turner (\u00a320), who bequeathed around 100 of his finished paintings, as well as hundreds of unfinished ones, watercolors, and drawings, to the British nation upon his death in 1851. Turner is also the namesake of the annual Turner Prize, awarded to a contemporary artist by Tate each year.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe BOE has issued banknotes since its founding in 1694, with historical figures first appearing on them in 1970. The first current G series notes, the \u00a35 note of Churchhill, were first introduced in 2016, with a polymer printing replacing the long-standing paper cotton ones. The Turner \u00a320 note first went into circulation in February 2020.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe forthcoming banknotes will also \u201cincorporate the\u00a0latest anti-counterfeiting technology,\u201d the BOE said in a release, adding that it had \u201cjudged that wildlife images would be most effective for\u00a0developing banknotes with security features that are easy for the public to recognise and\u00a0distinguish.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-1201959953.jpeg?w=1024″] The Bank of England (BOE) announced last week that the next generation of banknotes it will issue will feature depictions of wildlife native to the UK, rather than historical figures, including painter J.M.W. Turner. The decision comes after the BOE held a consultation in July 2025 asking the public to vote on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-1830002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1830002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1830002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1830002\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1830002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1830002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1830002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}