Question for uk members

Butterfly

Butterfly

SF VIP
Location
Albuquerque, New Mexico USA
I've been binge watching Inspector Morse, a BBC program set in Oxford. I've got a couple questions:

1. If a person says (about time) "half seven" does that mean 6:30 or 7:30?

2. About money -- is a "quid" another name for a pound? If not, what is it?

3. One of the episodes, which was about a murder in 1859, refered a lot to a "sovereign" which looked like a big coin. How much us a sovereign? Is it still in use?

4. How many shillings in a pound?

5. Does Australia use the pound, or do they have another unit of money?

Thanks.
 

It means 7.30......( always it will mean 1/2 past the hour)...so half-10 will mean 10.30pm

yes a quid is a slang name for a Pound

No a sovereign is not in use any more not for decades...but it was worth about a £1.

We don't have shillings any more but pre 1971 ( decimilsation) we had 20 shillings to the pound

I believe Australia uses the Australian dollar.
 
1. Half.seven means 7.30.

2. A quid is another name for a pound.
3. Sovereigns are no longer in use....I will have to think about the value...now they are worth lots of money usually!

4.20 shillings in a pound; before we went decimal in.....1972?

5. Australians use the Australian dollar.

i watched a Morse last night; have seen them all before, but they can be good to revisit every so often...and Lewis looks so young!
 

However the sovereign, still pure gold, is still minted, and is still bought and sold.

Much used as a christening gift, or on charm bracelets or necklaces.

My wife has two or three.

Technically it is still legal tender for £1, though the current price is about £200 for a newly minted, 2015, one. Older, and rarer, ones can reach much more than that. The record is over £600k, and even a QEII one from 1953 will fetch over £300k!

Also the shortened version, of the word, "sov" is still used as slang for a pound in Morse country.
 
I knew somebody would know more!
i still have an old penny, 3d bit, sixpence, and half crown, and a silvered half-penny.
nice present; a sovereign..
 
Yes I have loads of old currency too...the sovereign although not used as currency for many, many years is still bought as jewellery or as collectables.. I have a charm bracelet made from sovereigns.
 
I still remember although just barely... seeing things marked up in the shops in 'guineas'..I know it was supposedly 21 shillings...and I remember as a young teen thinking it was a stealth tax, LOL.. ..the way to charge you more for goods and make it sound like less
 
I grew up with pounds, shillings and pence and the arithmetic was very tiresome.

We would get questions like "how many three and a halfpenny postage stamps can I buy for twelve shillings and ninepence and how much change will I receive?" It would keep us busy for ages and we would always have to calculate it twice to make sure we hadn't made a numerical error.

Australia adopted decimal currency in 1966 and it was the beginning of the process of full metrification of our all weights and measures.
An inspired decision, whoever was responsible. No more pounds, ounces, hundredweights, gills, pints, gallons, miles, yards, feet and inches. Good riddance.
 
Funnily enough; although we have decimalised our currency; us older ones, still tend to deal in pounds, (weight) feet, and miles....
 
"I know it was supposedly 21 shillings."

Not supposedly, it still is in the racing fraternity. Horses are still bought and sold in guineas.

Of course, decimalisation was one of the biggest cons ever perpetrated on behalf of big business, major hype with massive profits to be mad at every turn, with prices "rounded up across the board.

Something cost 1/6 in old money, that's seven and a half pence in new money. What a silly figure, round it up to 10 for convenience. Put that across every product and every business in the country and try to calculate the profit.

The only thing necessary for decimation, was to replace the copper coinage and declare that henceforth there would be five pence to the pound.

All other coins remained in use, though no longer The sixpence was two and a half pence, shilling is still in use as the fivepenny piece, the florin is still in use as the tenpenny piece, the half crown worth 12 and a half pence, and the ten shilling note as a fifty pence note.



 
Yes I know Laurie...One of my first jobs after leaving school was working in a Jewellery shop and I remember the tedious and very confusing job of having to change all the price tags from £SD to decimal..


Did you know also when livestock are sold in Guineas...the extra shilling (5p) in every pound is the auctioneers commision?
 
We have prettier bank notes now

Banknotes.jpg
 
Dame Warrigal said:
I grew up with pounds, shillings and pence and the arithmetic was very tiresome.

We would get questions like "how many three and a halfpenny postage stamps can I buy for twelve shillings and ninepence and how much change will I receive?" It would keep us busy for ages and we would always have to calculate it twice to make sure we hadn't made a numerical error.

Australia adopted decimal currency in 1966 and it was the beginning of the process of full metrification of our all weights and measures.
An inspired decision, whoever was responsible. No more pounds, ounces, hundredweights, gills, pints, gallons, miles, yards, feet and inches. Good riddance.
Click to expand...

The US was on its way to metrification during the Carter administration until the extreme right declared that it was all a communist conspiracy.
 
Yes indeed, the grandkids are getting to big and bolshy to go back up the chimneys and there is not much call for tacklers hands these days. Still that nice Mr Squeers has promised the boys a new slate and a single piece of chalk next month.


Someone mentioned about a new candle for the privy but being cynical it were nowt but electioneering chatter, now if we were to get this elec trickery stuff, bless and save us we would have riches beyond measure. What next free health care ? upon my soul it is all to much. :playful:
 

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