News of the issue of a new type of £10 note caused me to look, properly this time, at one of the (relatively) new fivers. The ones whose reverse sides are graced with the portrait of Winston Churchill.
Here he is:
Among other things, Sir Winston is noted for his dry, acerbic wit. In fact, lurking on a bookshelf in our lounge we have a whole book of his aphorisms: “The Wit of Sir Winston”. Its pages teem with astute observations, wry ripostes and pointed put-downs.
So why, I wonder, did the Bank of England in their wisdom choose, as an example of the great man’s one-liners, the quote etched beneath him here?
I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat
Does some unknown dark humourist stalk the corridors of the Bank of England?
Are they teasing us – perhaps alluding to the nature of money itself – with a secret that the rest of us can only intuit?
