Bank of England unveils designs for Alan Turing £50 note

The Bank of England has unveiled designs for a polymer £50 note that will enter circulation in June, featuring Enigma codebreaker Alan Turing.

Following its unveiling, the new £50 note will enter circulation on Alan Turing’s birthday, 23rd June 2021, bringing the design and security features of UK’s largest value banknote in line with the £5, £10 and £20 denominations.

Security features on the new note are similar to other polymer notes in circulation, including holograms, see-through winders and foil patches. A tactile feature, as on the £10 and £20 notes, will also feature to aid identification by those with visual impairments. Paper £50 notes will remain in circulation; a six month warning will be given prior to the date when they can no longer be accepted by retailers.

Commenting on the new note, Governor Andrew Bailey said:

There’s something of the character of a nation in its money, and we are right to consider and celebrate the people on our banknotes. So I’m delighted that our new £50 features one of Britain’s most important scientists, Alan Turing. Turing is best known for his codebreaking work at Bletchley Park, which helped end the Second World War. However in addition he was a leading mathematician, developmental biologist, and a pioneer in the field of computer science. He was also gay, and was treated appallingly as a result. By placing him on our new polymer £50 banknote, we are celebrating his achievements, and the values he symbolises.”

Codebreaker Alan Turing will join Winston Churchill, Jane Austen and JMW Turner on the banknotes, continuing the tradition of depicting British figures of historical or cultural importance. The mathematician will become the first LGBT+ person to feature on a Bank of England banknote; the rainbow flag will fly above the bank’s Threadneedle Street building in London to mark the occasion.

Born in West London in 1912, Alan Turing is most well known for his work at Bletchley Park during the Second World War that enabled the decipherment of German coded transmissions. After the war, he worked on the development of early computers with the National Physical Laboratory and University of Manchester. In 1952, he was convicted of gross indecency for his relationship with a man, and sentenced to chemical castration in lieu of a prison sentence. He committed suicide aged 41 shortly after his conviction. Alan Turing was posthumously pardoned for the conviction in 2013.

To mark the release of the new £50 note, the Bank of England has partnered with Bletchley Park’s successor organisation, GCHQ. The agency has set a series of 12 puzzles named the Turing Challenge, to showcase the complex problem solving challenges faced by wartime codebreakers and GCHQ’s present day analysts.

Director of GCHQ Jeremy Fleming said:

Alan Turing’s appearance on the £50 note is a landmark moment in our history. Not only is it a celebration of his scientific genius which helped to shorten the war and influence the technology we still use today, it also confirms his status as one of the most iconic LGBT+ figures in the world. Turing was embraced for his brilliance and persecuted for being gay. His legacy is a reminder of the value of embracing all aspects of diversity, but also the work we still need to do to become truly inclusive.”