title: Christopher Plummer

text: He was the narrator for "The Gospel of John". Plummer appeared as a presenter in the CPAC documentary series "The Prime Ministers" in 2004. He appeared in the third episode, "John Abbott" (as Plummer is Abbott's great-grandson). In 2011, he appeared in the feature-length documentary "The Captains". The film, written and directed by William Shatner, sees Shatner interview Plummer at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival Theatre where they talk about their young careers, long lasting friendship, and Plummer's role as Chang in "". The film references that Shatner, two years Plummer's junior, was the other's understudy in a production of "Henry V" at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. When Plummer had fallen ill, Shatner took the stage, earning his first big break. Plummer voiced Arngeir, speaker for the Greybeards, in the video game "".


title: Christopher Plummer

text: At the age of 89, he appeared in a leading role in "Departure", a 2019 Canadian-British TV series by Global for NBCUniversal about the disappearance of a trans-Atlantic flight. Plummer was set to return to "Departure" for season 2. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Canadian travel lockdown, he would film his parts from his home in Connecticut, instead of venturing to Toronto, in 2020 and 2021. He completed his filming for the second season shortly before his death.


title: Christopher Plummer

text: Plummer wrote for the stage, television and concert-hall. He and Sir Neville Marriner rearranged William Shakespeare's "Henry V" with Sir William Walton's music as a concert piece. They recorded the work with Marriner's chamber orchestra the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. He performed it and other works with the New York Philharmonic and symphony orchestras of London, Washington, D.C., Cleveland, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax. With Marriner, he made his Carnegie Hall debut in his own arrangements of Mendelssohn's incidental music to "A Midsummer Night's Dream".


title: Christopher Plummer

text: Plummer was married three times. His first wife was actress Tammy Grimes, whom he married in 1956. Their marriage lasted four years, and they had a daughter together, actress Amanda Michael. He was next married to Patricia Lewis, a journalist, from May 4, 1962, until their divorce in 1967. Three years after his second divorce, Plummer married actress Elaine Taylor on October 2, 1970. They lived in Weston, Connecticut. Plummer had no children with either his second or third wives.


title: Christopher Plummer

text: Plummer's memoir, "In Spite of Myself", was published by Alfred A. Knopf in November 2008. He was a patron of Theatre Museum Canada. He was a member of The Players social club in New York City.


title: Christopher Plummer

text: Plummer died at his home in Weston, on February 5, 2021, at the age of 91. According to Taylor, he died two and a half weeks after a fall that resulted in a blow to the head. A statement released by the family announced that Plummer had died peacefully with Taylor by his side.


title: Christopher Plummer

text: Following the announcement of his death, his "The Sound of Music" co-star Julie Andrews paid tribute:


title: Christopher Plummer

text: Others who paid tribute to Plummer included Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Katherine Langford, Rian Johnson, Chris Evans and Don Johnson (who all collaborated with him on "Knives Out"), as well as William Shatner, Anne Hathaway, Elijah Wood, Vera Farmiga, Ed Asner (his costar in "Up" who also died in 2021), Ridley Scott, Spike Lee, Simon Pegg, Antonio Banderas, Leonard Maltin, Daniel Dae Kim, George Takei, Russell Crowe (his costar in "The Insider" and "A Beautiful Mind"), Bruce Greenwood and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.


title: Christopher Plummer

text: In 1968, he was invested as Companion of the Order of Canada, at the time among Canada's highest civilian honours. In 2001, he received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts. He was made an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts at New York's Juilliard School and has received honorary doctorates from the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, McGill University, the University of Western Ontario, the University of Ottawa, and most recently the University of Guelph. Plummer was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1986 and into Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto in 1998. He was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Actor's Branch from 2007.


title: Rebel Wilson

text: Rebel Melanie Elizabeth Wilson (born Melanie Elizabeth Bownds; 2 March 1980) is an Australian actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. After graduating from the Australian Theatre for Young People in 2003, Wilson began appearing as Toula in the SBS comedy series "Pizza" (2003–2007, 2019) and later appeared in the sketch comedy show "The Wedge" (2006–2007). She wrote, produced and starred in the musical comedy series "Bogan Pride" (2008). Shortly after moving to the United States, Wilson appeared in the comedy films "Bridesmaids" and "A Few Best Men", both in 2011.


title: Rebel Wilson

text: In 2012, Wilson appeared in the comedy films "What to Expect When You're Expecting", "Struck by Lightning," and "Bachelorette," which led to "Variety" naming her one of their "Top Ten Comics to Watch for 2013". She played the role of Fat Amy in the musical comedy "Pitch Perfect" film series (2012–2017), which earned her several award nominations and wins, including the MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance and a Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress. In 2016, she appeared in the films "How to Be Single" and "Grimsby".


title: Rebel Wilson

text: Wilson wrote and starred in "Super Fun Night" (2013), a television sitcom that aired for one season on ABC. In 2019, she starred in her first lead role as Natalie in "Isn't It Romantic", and appeared as Penny Rust in "The Hustle" and Jennyanydots in "Cats". For playing Fraulein Rahm in the drama film "Jojo Rabbit" (2019), Wilson was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. In 2022, she starred in the Netflix comedy film "Senior Year", also serving as a producer.


title: Rebel Wilson

text: Wilson was born on 2 March 1980 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Her parents are professional dog handlers; her mother is an international dog show judge, and breeds and shows beagles professionally. Wilson grew up in the suburbs of Kenthurst, Parramatta and Castle Hill. She attended the independent Tara Anglican School for Girls as a boarder. She completed her Higher School Certificate in 1997, achieving a ranking of 99.3, including second place in the state in Food Technology. Wilson joined the debating team and a teacher encouraged her to enter Tournament of Minds which she credits for helping her come out of her shell. Wilson worked at a cinema in Castle Hill in her younger years, but quit after patrons recognised her after the showing of her first movie, "Fat Pizza".


title: Rebel Wilson

text: Wilson has three siblings: sisters Liberty and Annaleise (who uses the name "Annarchi") and a brother, who uses the name "Ryot". Liberty and Ryot appeared on the first season of "The Amazing Race Australia" in 2011, where they were the first team eliminated. Wilson has stated that, according to her grandmother, her great-aunt was Lillian Disney, who was married to Walt Disney until his death in 1966. Wilson stood by this belief in court, despite there being no evidence to support the claim; it continues to be disputed by genealogist Dale Sheridan.


title: Rebel Wilson

text: Wilson's first career choice was mathematics. She told "The Sydney Morning Herald", "I was very academic at high school and was always good with numbers." She attended the University of New South Wales, graduating in 2009 with Bachelor of Arts (Theatre and Performance Studies) and Bachelor of Laws degrees. She planned to be a lawyer, but decided against corporate life and went to the United States to act. A former Rotary International youth ambassador for Australia, she was based in South Africa for one year, where she contracted malaria. She has spoken of malaria-induced hallucinations, where she saw herself as an actress who had won an Oscar, convincing her to pursue an acting career.


title: Rebel Wilson

text: Wilson studied at the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP). In 2003 she moved to New York after winning the ATYP International scholarship, which was funded by Nicole Kidman. While in New York, Wilson trained with The Second City. She appeared with the Sydney Theatre Company and performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. She first came to the public's attention in 2002 with her stage musical "The Westie Monologues", which she wrote, starred in and produced in Sydney. Her follow-up stage productions, which she wrote, produced and starred in include "Spunks" and "Confessions of an Exchange Student".


title: Rebel Wilson

text: In Australia, Wilson is most known for her roles as Toula on the SBS comedy series "Pizza" and as various characters including Lucy, Fat Mandi and Karla Bangs on the sketch comedy series "The Wedge". She played an "Australian Idol" mad schoolgirl in a series of Telstra advertisements shown during "Australian Idol" from 2004 to 2005. She also had roles in the feature films "Fat Pizza" and "Ghost Rider".


title: Rebel Wilson

text: In 2008, Wilson created, wrote, produced and starred in the musical comedy series "Bogan Pride" on SBS One and also starred in the improvisational Nine Network series "Monster House". In 2009 Wilson won the Tropfest Best Actress award for her role in the film "Bargain". She has made appearances on the improvisational comedy show "Thank God You're Here" and the comedy game show "Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation". She performed stand-up on the television special "The Breast Darn Show In Town" and guest starred in the Seven Network drama "City Homicide" and performed improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles.


title: Rebel Wilson

text: After moving to the United States, Wilson signed to talent and literary agents William Morris Endeavor. Wilson's next film role came in the Judd Apatow film, "Bridesmaids", in which she played Brynn, the sister of Matt Lucas' character. The role was written especially for her. Wilson then appeared in the CBS sitcom "Rules of Engagement" and on the Comedy Central series, "Workaholics". She co-hosted the 2010 ARIA Music Awards and performed at the inaugural "Variety"’s Power of Comedy event in Los Angeles with Lucas and Russell Brand. In early 2011, Wilson filmed "A Few Best Men" at Fox Studios Australia. She also filmed a role in "Small Apartments". Wilson was named one of "Variety" magazine's "Top Ten Comics to Watch for 2011." In 2012, Wilson had a role in the ensemble comedy "What to Expect When You're Expecting", as Janice, and co-starred in the indie film "Struck By Lightning".


title: Rebel Wilson

text: On 19 August 2011, Borys Kit of "The Hollywood Reporter" reported that Wilson had replaced Casey Wilson in "Bachelorette". In 2012, Wilson voiced a character in "" and played Fat Amy in "Pitch Perfect". For the latter role, she received critical acclaim and earned various award nominations, including Best Supporting Actress from the San Diego Film Critics Society and Best Actress in a Comedy from the Broadcast Film Critics Association. She won the MTV Movie Award for Best Actor in a Movie and shared the Best Musical Moment award with her "Pitch Perfect" co-stars. Wilson was also nominated for MTV Movie Award for Best Performance. Wilson later won the Choice Movie Actress: Comedy award for "Pitch Perfect" at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards. She had also been nominated for Choice Comedian at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards.


title: Rebel Wilson

text: In January 2012, Michael Ausiello of TVLine announced that Wilson would be writing and starring in "Super Fun Night", a comedy that follows three friends on a quest to have fun every Friday night. The pilot was picked up by CBS and Conan O'Brien became one of the executive producers. The pilot was later turned down by CBS, but the ABC network picked up the project. A series was ordered and the show began broadcasting on 2 October 2013. The series was cancelled after one season. Wilson played Robin Peck in Michael Bay's "Pain & Gain" (2013). She hosted the 2013 MTV Movie Awards on 14 April 2013.


title: Rebel Wilson

text: In March 2014, the American satellite television network Dish Network launched a marketing campaign for its Hopper DVR featuring Wilson as the voice of the eponymous computer animated kangaroo. Wilson reprised her role in the sequels "Pitch Perfect 2" (2015) and "Pitch Perfect 3" (2017). She also made a cameo in the television comedy "Pompidou". Wilson joined the voice cast for "Kung Fu Panda 3"; however, in September 2015, she was replaced with Kate Hudson. Wilson next appeared in the ensemble comedy "How to Be Single", released in February 2016. Nigel M. Smith of "The Guardian" wrote, "Wilson is the standout, nailing every pratfall she's dealt, but "How to Be Single" doesn't make strong use of her character." Wilson also appeared in the action comedy "Grimsby". On 14 February 2016, Wilson presented the nominations for the Best Supporting Actor category at the 69th British Academy Film Awards. Wilson is one of sixty celebrities who make a cameo in "".


title: Rebel Wilson

text: Wilson appeared as Ursula, the sea witch, in an all-star concert version of "The Little Mermaid" at the Hollywood Bowl on 3 June 4 June, and 6 June 2016. She made her West End debut in the musical "Guys and Dolls" in the role of Miss Adelaide from 28 June to 21 August 2016. She received positive reviews. Wilson played LeFou in a production of "Beauty and the Beast: Live in Concert" at the Hollywood Bowl on 25–26 May 2018. She also appeared on the cover of "Vogue Australia" for the first time.


title: Rebel Wilson

text: Wilson starred in two 2019 comedies. The first, "Isn't It Romantic", was released in February, and is about a woman (Wilson) who wakes up in a literal romantic comedy, despite the character's hate for the genre; the film is Wilson's first solo lead role and her first ever producer credit. In May, Wilson starred alongside Anne Hathaway in "The Hustle", a female-centred remake of the 1988 comedy film "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels". Wilson also co-produced the latter film. Wilson plays twins Doreen and Dolores Bognor in Australian drama series "Les Norton". Towards the end of 2019, Wilson played Fraulein Rahm in Taika Waititi's dark comedy drama "Jojo Rabbit", and Jennyanydots in the musical film "Cats".


title: Rebel Wilson

text: Wilson hosted the dog styling competition "Pooch Perfect" for Seven Network. The show features professional dog stylists competing over a number of challenges for a $100,000 prize. She also hosted the ABC's version of "Pooch Perfect" in the United States, which was cancelled after one season. Wilson stars in the Netflix comedy film "Senior Year", released in May 2022. She plays a woman who, after waking from a 20-year coma, returns to high school to earn the prom queen crown she feels she deserves. Wilson will appear in her first non-comedy film role in "The Almond and the Seahorse", which is an adaptation of Kaite O'Reilly's stage play of the same name.


title: Rebel Wilson

text: In 2014, it was rumoured that Wilson would appear in a remake of "Private Benjamin". That same year, it was also rumoured that she had been cast in "The Social Life" alongside Amanda Seyfried. In 2018, it was announced that Wilson was to produce and star in a feature film adaptation of the Image Comics comic book "Crowded".


title: Rebel Wilson

text: In 2013, Wilson created a plus-size T-shirt collection named after her "Fat Mandi" character in "The Wedge" featuring images of donuts and cupcakes. In 2017, Wilson launched a plus-sized clothing range called Rebel Wilson x Angels on the heels of a collaboration with Torrid.


title: Rebel Wilson

text: Wilson and her "Bridesmaids" co-star, British actor Matt Lucas, lived together in West Hollywood, from September 2012 until 2015.


title: Rebel Wilson

text: In July 2015, Wilson stated her support for stricter American gun laws following the 2015 Lafayette shooting, stating, "I don't like getting political but America you really have to follow Australia's example in gun laws. I don't remember a mass shooting in Australia since they overhauled the gun laws. It seems like every week in America there's a shooting. I just want people to be safe, especially people that are doing one of my favorite things in the world—going out to the movies to have fun."


title: Rebel Wilson

text: In 2014, Wilson paid $3.75 million for her Sydney harbourside home. The 1900s freestanding Victorian house underwent $900,000 of renovations. Wilson also settled on a Balmain investment apartment, a conversion of a historic mansion. The New York-inspired terrace home took three years to complete. Wilson paid $1.88 million off the plan in 2015 for the two-bedroom apartment.


title: Rebel Wilson

text: As her 40th birthday approached, Wilson made the decision to freeze her eggs which spurred on her effort to make healthy life changes. She has polycystic ovarian syndrome, and suffers from emotional eating due to pressures of fame. On 7 November 2022, she announced on Instagram the birth of her first child, a daughter born via surrogacy.


title: Rebel Wilson

text: Wilson publicly came out on Instagram in June 2022, revealing her relationship with Ramona Agruma while posting on Instagram, "I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince… but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess." She chose to announce her relationship with Arguma to pre-empt an article by Andrew Hornery of "The Sydney Morning Herald" that would have outed her. While "Herald" editor Bevan Shields initially defended Hornery in the face of widespread backlash, Hornery later admitted to having made mistakes, and the original article was deleted.


title: Rebel Wilson

text: An advocate for body positivity, Wilson has been a role model for larger women. "There's a lot of pressure on women, especially younger women, to conform to the thin body image", she told the Associated Press. "Not everyone can be that way and no one should be ashamed of how they look or suffer bullying and other forms of abuse because of their size and shape."


title: Rebel Wilson

text: Throughout her career, Wilson has been known for her plus-sized figure and would often play to it in her acting work with characters such as "Fat Amy". In a 2013 interview with "Hunger Magazine", Wilson stated "As long as I look like this, I'm going to make fat jokes. All comedians have to use their physicality, so I use my size." Wilson said that her agency signed her almost on the spot because they had nobody on their books like her.


title: Rebel Wilson

text: Wilson felt lucky to have her body type and stated that people in the industry would tell her not to lose weight. "For me, I think it's about being comfortable in your own skin. I never want to be too unhealthy, because that's bad. You just want to be comfortable with who you are at whatever size", she said. In 2016 Wilson said that she felt bigger girls did better in comedy because they are easier to laugh at and used that to her advantage.


title: Rebel Wilson

text: In July 2011, Wilson became a spokesperson for weight loss and nutrition company Jenny Craig in Australia. In January 2012, Wilson told "The Daily Telegraph" that she had lost since signing up to the program. In February 2013, she confirmed that she had ended her agreement with Jenny Craig the previous year.


title: Rebel Wilson

text: Wilson asserted that the producers of "Pitch Perfect" had refused to let her lose any more weight during filming, as her contract stated she must stay the same size. She said that once her film commitments were over, she would start her diet again to reach her target weight of .


title: Rebel Wilson

text: In her 2020 "year of health", Wilson made it her mission to lose and did so by November 2020. Wilson stated that she has always been confident in how she looked, but now feels "super confident".


title: Rebel Wilson

text: In May 2015, Australian magazine "Woman's Day" published a story claiming that Wilson had been misleading about her birth name, age, and upbringing. Wilson had previously said in interviews that she was raised by dog-training "bogan" parents in the ghetto of Sydney, spent a year in Zimbabwe, climbed into a cage with a leopard, got caught in a shoot-out and then struck down by a severe strain of malaria from a mosquito in Mozambique where, from her intensive care bed, she envisioned herself winning an Oscar and rapping her acceptance speech. Her age was also incorrectly given as 29 (when it was actually 35), which she would later admit was something she chose not to correct. "Woman's Day" called all of this into question and claimed that Wilson had, on the contrary, a "very normal, upper-middle-class upbringing" and "added a touch of 'fantasy' to the life she led before becoming a household name". The story was picked up by several other publications including "The Sydney Morning Herald", "People" magazine, the "Chicago Tribune" and "The Huffington Post". Most notably, Wilson's true birth date was confirmed through business records filed with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, which were obtained by "The Sydney Morning Herald".


title: Rebel Wilson

text: On 16 May 2016, Wilson said print and online articles in "Woman's Day", the Australian "Women's Weekly", "NW" and "OK!" magazines made her out to be a serial liar. According to a defamation writ filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria, Wilson said her reputation and credit had suffered and she had been humiliated and embarrassed. She also sued for special damages, claiming she missed out on roles and other ones were terminated because of the articles. Wilson was represented by Matthew Collins QC. On 15 June 2017, a six-person jury ruled in Wilson's favour, finding that publisher Bauer Media Group had indeed wrongly painted the actress as a serial liar, and that publishing the articles was likely to have caused harm to her career.


title: Rebel Wilson

text: On 13 September 2017, Wilson was awarded in damages. Wilson's lawyer Richard Leder, said "Today's verdict is a significant record—it's about four times the highest previous verdict in a defamation case in Australia." In June 2017, Wilson tweeted "Any dollars I receive will go to charity, scholarships or invested into the Aussie film industry to provide jobs."


title: Rebel Wilson

text: Bauer Media appealed the amount of the damages. On 14 June 2018, Bauer Media won its appeal and the damages were reduced to $600,000, meaning that she had to pay back A$4.1m and A$60,000 in interest. She also had to cover 80% of what Bauer spent on its appeal. Wilson announced her intention to appeal the decision, and lodged an appeal with the High Court on 11 July 2018. The High Court refused the application on 16 November 2018.


title: Windows 11

text: Windows 11 is the latest major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system, released in October 2021. It is a free upgrade to its predecessor, Windows 10 (2015), available for any Windows 10 devices that meet the new Windows 11 system requirements.


title: Windows 11

text: Windows 11 features major changes to the Windows shell influenced by the canceled Windows 10X, including a redesigned Start menu, the replacement of its "live tiles" with a separate "Widgets" panel on the taskbar, the ability to create tiled sets of windows that can be minimized and restored from the taskbar as a group, and new gaming technologies inherited from Xbox Series X and Series S such as Auto HDR and DirectStorage on compatible hardware. Internet Explorer (IE) has been replaced by the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge as the default web browser like its predecessor, Windows 10, and Microsoft Teams is integrated into the Windows shell. Microsoft also announced plans to allow more flexibility in software that can be distributed via Microsoft Store, and to support Android apps on Windows 11 (including a partnership with Amazon to make its app store available for the function).


title: Windows 11

text: Citing security considerations, the system requirements for Windows 11 were increased over Windows 10. Microsoft only officially supports the operating system on devices using an eighth-generation Intel Core CPU or newer (with some minor exceptions), AMD Ryzen CPU based on Zen+ microarchitecture or newer, or a Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 ARM system-on-chip or newer, with UEFI secure boot and Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 supported and enabled (although Microsoft may provide exceptions to the TPM 2.0 requirement for OEMs). While the OS can be installed on unsupported processors, Microsoft does not guarantee the availability of updates. Windows 11 removed support for 32-bit x86 CPUs and devices which use BIOS firmware.


title: Windows 11

text: Windows 11 received a mixed reception at launch. Pre-release coverage of the operating system focused on its stricter hardware requirements, with discussions over whether they were legitimately intended to improve the security of Windows or as a ploy to upsell customers to newer devices, and over e-waste associated with the changes. Upon release, it was praised for its improved visual design, window management, and a stronger focus on security, but was criticized for various modifications to aspects of its user interface which were seen as worse than its predecessor.


title: Windows 11

text: At the 2015 Ignite conference, Microsoft employee Jerry Nixon stated that Windows 10 would be the "last version of Windows", a statement that Microsoft confirmed was "reflective" of its view. The operating system was considered to be a service, with new builds and updates to be released over time.


title: Windows 11

text: In October 2019, Microsoft announced "Windows 10X", a future edition of Windows 10 designed exclusively for dual-touchscreen devices such as the then-upcoming Surface Neo. It featured a modified user interface designed around context-sensitive "postures" for different screen configurations and usage scenarios, and changes such as a centered taskbar and updated Start menu without Windows 10's "live tiles". Legacy Windows applications would also be required to run in "containers" to ensure performance and power optimization. Microsoft stated that it planned to release Windows 10X devices by the end of 2020.


title: Windows 11

text: In May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Panos Panay Microsoft's chief product officer for Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office stated that "as we continue to put customers' needs at the forefront, we need to focus on meeting customers where they are now", and announced that Windows 10X would only launch on single-screen devices at first, and that Microsoft would "continue to look for the right moment, in conjunction with our OEM partners, to bring dual-screen devices to market".


title: Windows 11

text: In October 2020, reports emerged that Microsoft was working on a user interface refresh for Windows 10 codenamed "Sun Valley", scheduled to be included in a late-2021 feature update codenamed "Cobalt". Internal documentation stated that the aim for "Sun Valley" was to "reinvigorat[e]" the Windows user interface and make it more "fluid", with a more consistent application of WinUI, while reports suggested Microsoft planned to adapt UI elements seen in Windows 10 X. In January 2021, it was reported that a job listing referring to a "sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows" had been posted by Microsoft.


title: Windows 11

text: By December 2020, Microsoft had begun to implement and announce some of these visual changes and other new features on Windows 10 Insider Preview builds, such as new system icons (which also included the replacement of shell resources dating back as far as Windows 95), improvements to Task View to allow changing the wallpaper on each virtual desktop, x86-64 emulation on ARM, and adding the Auto HDR feature from Xbox Series X.


title: Windows 11

text: On May 18, 2021, Head of Windows Servicing and Delivery John Cable stated that Windows 10X had been canceled and that Microsoft would be "accelerating the integration of key foundational 10X technology into other parts of Windows and products at the company".


title: Windows 11

text: At the Microsoft Build 2021 developer conference, CEO and chairman Satya Nadella teased about the existence of the next generation of Windows during his keynote speech. According to Nadella, he had been self-hosting it for several months. He also teased that an official announcement would come very soon. Just a week after Nadella's keynote, Microsoft started sending invitations for a dedicated Windows media event at 11 am ET on June 24, 2021. Microsoft also posted an 11-minute video of Windows start-up sounds to YouTube on June 10, 2021, with many people speculating both the time of the Microsoft event and the duration of the Windows start-up sound video to be a reference to the name of the operating system as Windows 11.


title: Windows 11

text: On June 24, 2021, Windows 11 was officially announced at a virtual event hosted by Chief Product Officer Panos Panay. According to Nadella, Windows 11 is "a re-imagining of the operating system". Further details for developers such as updates to the Microsoft Store, the new Windows App SDK (code-named "Project Reunion"), new Fluent Design guidelines, and more were discussed during another developer-focused event on the same day.


title: Windows 11

text: The Windows 11 name was accidentally released in an official Microsoft support document in June 2021. Leaked images of a purported beta build of Windows 11's desktop surfaced online later on June 15, 2021, which were followed by a leak of the aforementioned build on the same day. The screenshots and leaked build show an interface resembling that of the canceled Windows 10X, alongside a redesigned out-of-box experience (OOBE) and Windows 11 branding. Microsoft would later confirm the authenticity of the leaked beta, with Panay stating that it was an "early weird build".


title: Windows 11

text: At the June 24 media event, Microsoft also announced that Windows 11 would be released in "Holiday 2021". Its release will be accompanied by a free upgrade for compatible Windows 10 devices through Windows Update. On June 28, Microsoft announced the release of the first preview build and SDK of Windows 11 to Windows Insiders.


title: Windows 11

text: On August 31, 2021, Microsoft announced that Windows 11 was to be released on October 5, 2021. The release would be phased, with newer eligible devices to be offered the upgrade first. Since its predecessor Windows 10 was released on July 29, 2015, more than six years earlier, this is the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft Windows operating systems, beating the time between Windows XP (released on October 25, 2001) and Windows Vista (released on January 30, 2007).


title: Windows 11

text: The first television commercial for Windows 11 premiered during the 2021 NFL Kickoff Game on September 9, 2021; it was intended to showcase a "feeling of immersion and fluidity", with imagery of operating system features and Xbox Game Studios' "Halo Infinite". Other promotional campaigns on release day included the Burj Khalifa in Dubai being illuminated with imagery of the Windows 11 logo and default "Bloom" wallpaper, and Mikey Likes It ice cream parlors in New York City distributing free cups of "Bloomberry" ice cream.


title: Windows 11

text: Microsoft officially released Windows 11 on October 4, 2021, at 2:00 p.m. PT, as an opt-in, in-place upgrade through either the Windows 11 Installation Assistant application (which can perform the upgrade, or generate an ISO image or USB install media), or via Windows Update in a phased rollout; Microsoft anticipated that Windows 11 would be available via Windows Update to all eligible devices by mid-2022. New installations of Windows 10 on eligible hardware may present an option to upgrade during the OOBE. Retail copies of Windows 11 (consisting of a license key and USB flash drive) were released on May 9, 2022, and digital licenses became available via Microsoft Store on July 28, 2022.


title: Windows 11

text: Windows 11, the first major Windows release since 2015, builds upon its predecessor by revamping the user interface to follow Microsoft's new Fluent Design guidelines. The redesign, which focuses on ease of use and flexibility, comes alongside new productivity and social features and updates to security and accessibility, addressing some of the deficiencies of Windows 10.


title: Windows 11

text: The Microsoft Store, which serves as a unified storefront for apps and other content, is also redesigned in Windows 11. Microsoft now allows developers to distribute Win32, progressive web applications, and other packaging technologies in the Microsoft Store, alongside Universal Windows Platform apps. Microsoft also announced plans to allow third-party application stores (such as Epic Games Store) to distribute their clients on Microsoft Store. Windows 11 supports x86-64 software emulation on ARM-based platforms.


title: Windows 11

text: The collaboration platform Microsoft Teams is integrated into the Windows 11 user interface, and is accessible via the taskbar. Skype will no longer be bundled with the OS by default.


title: Windows 11

text: Microsoft claims performance improvements such as smaller update sizes, faster web browsing in "any browser", faster wake time from sleep mode, and faster Windows Hello authentication.


title: Windows 11

text: Windows 11 ships with the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge web browser (for compatibility with Google Chrome web browser), and does not include or support Internet Explorer. Its rendering engine MSHTML (Trident) is still included with the operating system for backwards compatibility reasons, and Edge can be configured with Group Policy to render whitelisted websites in "IE Mode" (which still uses IE's rendering engine MSHTML, instead of Blink layout engine). Windows 11 is the first version of Windows since the original retail release of Windows 95 to not ship with Internet Explorer.


title: Windows 11

text: The updated Xbox app, along with the Auto HDR and DirectStorage technologies introduced by the Xbox Series X and Series S, will be integrated into Windows 11; the latter requiring a graphics card supporting DirectX 12 and an NVMe solid-state drive.


title: Windows 11

text: A redesigned user interface is present frequently throughout the operating system, building upon Fluent Design System; translucency, shadows, a new color palette, and rounded geometry are prevalent throughout the UI. A prevalent aspect of the design is an appearance known as "Mica", described as an "opaque, dynamic material that incorporates theme and desktop wallpaper to paint the background of long-lived windows such as apps and settings". Much of the interface and start menu takes heavy inspiration from the now-canceled Windows 10X. The Segoe UI font used since Windows Vista has been updated to a variable version, improving its ability to scale between different display resolutions.


title: Windows 11

text: The taskbar's buttons are center-aligned by default, and it is permanently pinned to the bottom edge of the screen; it cannot be moved to the top, left, or right edges of the screen as in previous versions of Windows without manual changes to the registry. The notifications sidebar is now accessed by clicking the date and time, with other Quick Actions toggles, as well as volume, brightness, and media playback controls, moved to a new settings pop-up displayed by clicking on the system tray. The "Widgets" button on the taskbar displays a panel with Microsoft Start, a news aggregator with personalized stories and content (expanding upon the "news and interests" panel introduced in later builds of Windows 10). Microsoft Teams is similarly integrated with the taskbar, with a pop-up showing a list of recent conversations.


title: Windows 11

text: The Start menu has been significantly redesigned, replacing the "live tiles" used by Windows 8.x and 10 with a grid of "pinned" applications, and a list of recent applications and documents. File Explorer was updated to replace its ribbon toolbar with a more traditional toolbar, while its context menus have been redesigned to move some tasks (such as copy and paste) to a toolbar along the top of the menu, and hide other operations under an overflow menu.


title: Windows 11

text: Task View, a feature introduced in Windows 10, features a refreshed design, and supports giving separate wallpapers to each virtual desktop. The window snapping functionality has been enhanced with two additional features; hovering over a window's maximize button displays pre-determined "Snap Layouts" for tiling multiple windows onto a display, and tiled arrangement of windows can be minimized and restored from the taskbar as a "snap group". When a display is disconnected in a multi-monitor configuration, the windows that were previously on that display will be minimized rather than automatically moved to the main display. If the same display is reconnected, the windows are restored to their prior location.


title: Windows 11

text: On October 21, 2021, Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) became available to Beta channel builds of Windows 11 for users in the United States, which allows users to install and run Android apps on their devices. Users can install Android apps through any source using the APK file format. An Amazon Appstore client for Microsoft Store is also available. The Windows Subsystem for Android and Amazon Appstore became available to Release channel users in the United States on February 15, 2022, in Windows 11 Release build 22000.527 released that same day.


title: Windows 11

text: WSA is based on the Intel Bridge runtime compiler; Intel stated that the technology is not dependent on its CPUs, and will also be supported on x86-64 and ARM CPUs from other vendors.


title: Windows 11

text: As part of the minimum system requirements, Windows 11 only runs on devices with a Trusted Platform Module 2.0 security coprocessor. According to Microsoft, the TPM 2.0 coprocessor is a "critical building block" for protection against firmware and hardware attacks. In addition, Microsoft now requires devices with Windows 11 to include virtualization-based security (VBS), hypervisor-protected code integrity (HVCI), and Secure Boot built-in and enabled by default. The operating system also features hardware-enforced stack protection for supported Intel and AMD processors for protection against zero-day exploits.


title: Windows 11

text: Like its predecessor, Windows 11 also supports multi-factor authentication and biometric authentication through Windows Hello.


title: Windows 11

text: Windows 11 is available in two main editions; the Home edition, which is intended for consumer users, and the Pro edition, which contains additional networking and security features (such as BitLocker), as well as the ability to join a domain. Windows 11 Home may be restricted by default to verified software obtained from Microsoft Store ("S Mode"). Windows 11 Home requires an internet connection and a Microsoft account in order to complete first-time setup. In February 2022, it was announced that this restriction will also apply to Windows 11 Pro in the future.


title: Windows 11

text: Windows 11 SE was announced on November 9, 2021, as an edition exclusively for low-end devices sold in the education market; it is intended as a successor to Windows 10 S, and also competes primarily with ChromeOS. It is designed to be managed via Microsoft Intune, and has changed based on feedback from educators to simplify the user interface and reduce "distractions", such as Snap Layouts not containing layouts for more than two applications at once, all applications opening maximized by default, and Widgets being removed. It is bundled with applications such as Microsoft Office for Microsoft 365, "Minecraft Education Edition", and Flipgrid, while OneDrive is used to save files by default. Windows 11 SE does not include Microsoft Store; third-party software is provisioned or installed by administrators. To target organizations migrating from Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge is configured by default to enable the installation of extensions from the Chrome Web Store.


title: Windows 11

text: The Windows Insider program carries over from Windows 10, with pre-release builds divided into "Dev" (unstable builds used to test features for future feature updates), "Beta" (test builds for the next feature update; relatively stable in comparison to Dev channel), and "Release Preview" (pre-release builds for final testing of upcoming feature updates) channels.


title: Windows 11

text: Before the launch of Windows 11, OEMs (as well as mobile operators) and businesses were offered two options for device imaging: Component-Based Servicing lp.cab files (for the languages to be preloaded on the first boot) and Local Experience Pack .appx files (for the languages available for download on supported PCs). The 38 fully-localized Language Pack (LP) languages were available as both lp.cab and .appx packages, while the remaining 72 partially-localized Language Interface Pack (LIP) languages were only available as .appx packages.


title: Windows 11

text: With Windows 11, that process has changed. Five new LP languages were added — Catalan, Basque, Galician, Indonesian, and Vietnamese — bringing the total number of LP languages to 43. Furthermore, these 43 languages can only be imaged using lp.cab packages. This is to ensure a fully supported language-imaging and cumulative update experience.


title: Windows 11

text: The remaining 67 LIP languages that are LXP-based will move to a self-service model, and can only be added by Windows users themselves via the Microsoft Store and Windows Settings apps, not during the Windows imaging process. Any user, not just admins, can now add both the display language and its features, which can help users in business environments, but these exact options for languages (both LP and LIP) still depend on the OEM and mobile operator.


title: Windows 11

text: These languages are either preloaded or available for download, depending on the OEM, region of purchase, and mobile operator.


title: Windows 11

text: For each of the manufacturers listed, Yes is displayed if the language is supported or available for download in at least one region, and No is displayed if it is not supported in any region.


title: Windows 11

text: The following languages are available for download on all 2021 and newer Surface devices regardless of the region:


title: Windows 11

text: These additional languages are available for download exclusively in their respective markets, in addition to the above languages:


title: Windows 11

text: The basic system requirements of Windows 11 differ significantly from Windows 10. Windows 11 only supports 64-bit systems such as those using an x86-64 or ARM64 processor; IA-32 processors are no longer supported. Thus, Windows 11 is the first consumer version of Windows not to support 32-bit processors (although Windows Server 2008 R2 was the first version of Windows NT to not support them). The minimum RAM and storage requirements were also increased; Windows 11 now requires at least 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. S mode is only supported for the Home edition of Windows 11. As of August 2021, the officially supported list of processors includes Intel Coffee Lake (eighth generation Intel Core) CPUs and later, AMD Zen+ CPUs/APUs and later (which include the "AF" revisions of Ryzen 1000 CPUs, which are underclocked Zen+ CPUs that supplant Ryzen 1000 parts that could no longer be manufactured due to a change in process), and Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 and later. The compatibility list includes the Intel Core i7-7820HQ, a seventh-generation processor used by the Surface Studio 2, although only on devices that shipped with DCH-based drivers.


title: Windows 11

text: Legacy BIOS is no longer supported; a UEFI system with Secure Boot and a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 security coprocessor is now required. The TPM requirement in particular has led to confusion as many motherboards do not have TPM support, or require a compatible TPM to be physically installed onto the motherboard. Many newer CPUs also include a TPM implemented at the CPU level (with AMD referring to this as "fTPM", and Intel referring to it as "Platform Trust Technology" [PTT]), which might be disabled by default and require changing settings in the computer's UEFI firmware, or an UEFI firmware update that changes the default settings to reflect these requirements.


title: Windows 11

text: Original equipment manufacturers (OEM) can still ship computers without a TPM 2.0 coprocessor upon Microsoft's approval. Devices with unsupported processors are not blocked from installing or running Windows 11; however, a clean install or upgrade using ISO installation media must be performed as Windows Update will not offer an upgrade from Windows 10. Additionally, users must also accept an on-screen disclaimer stating that they will not be entitled to receive updates, and that damage caused by using Windows 11 on an unsupported configuration are not covered by the manufacturer's warranty.


title: Windows 11

text: Some third-party software may refuse to run on configurations of Windows 11 that do not comply with the hardware security requirements, with Riot Games' multiplayer game "Valorant" (which uses it to strictly enforce its kernel-level anti-cheat component) being the first such example.


title: Windows 11

text: Reception of Windows 11 upon its reveal was positive, with critics praising the new design and productivity features. However, Microsoft was criticized for creating confusion over the minimum system requirements for Windows 11. The increased system requirements (compared to those of Windows 10) initially published by Microsoft meant that up to 60 percent of existing Windows 10 PCs were unable to upgrade to Windows 11, which has faced concerns that this will make the devices electronic waste.


title: Windows 11

text: Microsoft has not specifically acknowledged this when discussing the cutoff, it was also acknowledged that the sixth and seventh generation of Intel Core processors were prominently afflicted by CPU-level security vulnerabilities such as Meltdown and Spectre, and that newer CPUs manufactured since then had increased mitigations against the flaws.


title: Windows 11

text: Speaking to IT news outlet CRN, a dozen independent solution providers all felt that they “believe Windows 11 will be a meaningful step up in security, and they agree with Microsoft’s strategy of putting security first.”


title: Windows 11

text: Research Vice President of Gartner Stephen Kleynhans felt that Microsoft was "looking at the entire stack from the hardware up through the applications and the user experience and trying to make the entire stack work better and more securely.


title: Windows 11

text: Andrew Cunningham of "Ars Technica" praised the improvements to its visual design (describing the new "Mica" appearance as reminiscent of the visual appearance of iOS and macOS, and arguing that Microsoft had "[made] a serious effort" at making the user-facing aspects of Windows 11 more consistent visually), window management, performance (assessed as being equivalent to if not better than Windows 10), other "beneficial tweaks", and its system requirements having brought greater public attention to hardware security features present on modern PCs. Criticism was raised towards Widgets' lack of support for third-party content (thus limiting it to Microsoft services only), regressions in taskbar functionality and customization, the inability to easily select default applications for common tasks such as web browsing (now requiring the user to select the browser application for each file type individually), and Microsoft's unclear justification for its processor compatibility criteria. Cunningham concluded that "as I've dug into [Windows 11] and learned its ins and outs for this review, I've warmed to it more", but argued that the OS was facing similar "public perception" issues to Windows Vista and Windows 8. However, he noted that 11 did not have as many performance issues or bugs as Vista had upon its release, nor was as "disjointed" as 8, and recommended that users who were unsure about the upgrade should stay on Windows 10 in anticipation of future updates to 11.


title: Windows 11

text: Tom Warren of "The Verge" described Windows 11 as being akin to a house in the middle of renovations, but that "actually using Windows 11 for the past few months hasn't felt as controversial as I had expected"—praising its updated user interface as being more modern and reminiscent of iOS and ChromeOS, the new start menu for feeling less cluttered than the Windows 10 iteration, updates to some of its stock applications, and Snap Assist. Warren noted that he rarely used the Widgets panel or Microsoft Teams, citing that he preferred the weather display that later versions of Windows 10 offered, and didn't use Teams to communicate with his friends and family. He also acknowledged the expansion of Microsoft Store to include more "traditional" desktop applications. However, he felt that Windows 11 still felt like a work in progress, noting UI inconsistencies (such as dark mode and new context menu designs not being uniform across all dialogues and applications, and the modern Settings app still falling back upon legacy Control Panel applets for certain settings), regressions to the taskbar (including the inability to move it, drag files onto taskbar buttons to focus the corresponding application, and the clock only shown on the primary display in multi-monitor configurations), and promised features (such as dynamic refresh rate support and a universal microphone mute button) not being present on the initial release. Overall, he concluded that "I wouldn't rush out to upgrade to Windows 11, but I also wouldn't avoid it. After all, Windows 11 still feels familiar and underneath all the UI changes, it's the same Windows we've had for decades."


title: Windows 11

text: "PC World" was more critical, arguing that Windows 11 "sacrifices productivity for personality, but without cohesion", commenting upon changes such as the inability to use local "offline" accounts on Windows 11 Home, regressions to the taskbar, a "functionally worse" start menu, Microsoft Teams integration having privacy implications and being a ploy to coerce users into switching to the service, File Explorer obscuring common functions under unclear icons, using "terribly sleazy" behaviors to discourage changing the default web browser from Microsoft Edge, and that the OS "anecdotally feels less responsive, slower, and heavier than Windows 10." It was concluded that Windows 11 "feels practical and productive, but less so than its predecessor in many aspects", while its best features were either "hidden deeper within", required specific hardware (DirectStorage, Auto HDR) or were not available on launch (Android app support).


title: Pound sterling

text: Sterling (abbreviation: stg; ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound (sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and the word "pound" is also used to refer to the British currency generally, often qualified in international contexts as the British pound or the pound sterling.


title: Pound sterling

text: Sterling is the world's oldest currency that is still in use and that has been in continuous use since its inception. It is currently the fourth most-traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar, the euro, and the Japanese yen. Together with those three currencies and Renminbi, it forms the basket of currencies which calculate the value of IMF special drawing rights. As of mid-2021, sterling is also the fourth most-held reserve currency in global reserves.


title: Pound sterling

text: The Bank of England is the central bank for sterling, issuing its own banknotes, and regulating issuance of banknotes by private banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sterling banknotes issued by other jurisdictions are not regulated by the Bank of England; their governments guarantee convertibility at par. Historically, sterling was also used to varying degrees by the colonies and territories of the British Empire.


title: Pound sterling

text: "Sterling" is the name of the currency as a whole while "pound" and "penny" are the units of account. This is analogous to the distinction between "renminbi" and "yuan" when discussing the official currency of the People's Republic of China.


title: Pound sterling

text: There are various theories regarding the origin of the word "sterling". "The Oxford English Dictionary" states that the "most plausible" etymology is a derivation from the Old English "steorra" for "star" with the added diminutive suffix "-ling", to yield "little star". The reference is to the silver penny used in Norman England in the twelfth century, which bore a small star.


title: Pound sterling

text: Another argument, according to which the Hanseatic League was the origin of both its definition and manufacture as well as its name is that the German name for the Baltic is "Ostsee", or "East Sea", and from this the Baltic merchants were called "Osterlings", or "Easterlings". In 1260, Henry III granted them a charter of protection and land for their Kontor, the Steelyard of London, which by the 1340s was also called "Easterlings Hall", or Esterlingeshalle. Because the League's money was not frequently debased like that of England, English traders stipulated to be paid in pounds of the "Easterlings", which was contracted to "'sterling". The OED dismisses this theory as unlikely, since the stressed first syllable would not have been elided.


title: Pound sterling

text: Encyclopædia Britannica states the (pre-Norman) Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had silver coins called "sterlings" and that the compound noun "pound sterling" was derived from a pound (weight) of these sterlings.


title: Pound sterling

text: The currency sign for the pound unit of sterling is , which (depending on typeface) may be drawn with one or two bars: the Bank of England has exclusively used the single bar variant since 1975. Historically, a simple capital (in the historic black-letter typeface, formula_1) placed before the numerals, or an italic "l." after them, was used in newspapers, books and letters. The Royal Mint was still using this style of notation as late as 1939. The glyphs and may occasionally be encountered. Use of the letter for pound derives from medieval Latin documents: "L" was the abbreviation for , the Roman pound (weight), which in time became an English unit of weight defined as the tower pound. A "pound sterling" was literally a tower pound (weight) of sterling silver. In the British pre-decimal (duodecimal) currency system, the term £sd (or Lsd) for pounds, shillings and pence referred to the Roman , "solidus", and "denarius".


title: Pound sterling

text: Notable style guides recommend that the pound sign be used without any abbreviation or qualification to indicate sterling (e.g., £12,000). Notations with a more explicit sterling abbreviation such as "£ [...] stg." (e.g., £12,000 stg.), "£stg." (e.g., ), "stg" or "STG" (e.g., Stg. 12,000 or STG 12,000), or the ISO 4217 code "GBP" (e.g., 12,000 GBP) may be seen, but are not usually used unless disambiguation is absolutely necessary.


title: Pound sterling

text: The ISO 4217 currency code for sterling is "GBP", formed from the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for the United Kingdom, "GB", and the first letter of "pound". Banking and finance often use the abbreviation "stg" or the pseudo-ISO code "STG". The Crown Dependencies use their own abbreviations which are not ISO codes but may be used like them: GGP (Guernsey pound), JEP (Jersey pound) and IMP (Isle of Man pound). Stock prices are often quoted in pence, so traders may refer to penny sterling, GBX (sometimes GBp), when listing stock prices.


title: Pound sterling

text: The exchange rate of sterling against the US dollar is referred to as "cable" in the wholesale foreign exchange markets. The origins of this term are attributed to the fact that from the mid-19th century, the sterling/dollar exchange rate was transmitted via transatlantic cable.


title: Pound sterling

text: Historically almost every British coin had a widely recognised nickname, such as "tanner" for the sixpence and "bob" for the shilling. Since decimalisation these have mostly fallen out of use except as parts of proverbs.


title: Pound sterling

text: A common slang term for the pound unit is "quid" (singular and plural, except in the common phrase "quids in!"). The term may have come via Italian immigrants from "scudo", the name for a number of currency units used in Italy until the 19th century; or from Latin 'quid' via the common phrase "quid pro quo", literally, "what for what", or, figuratively, "An equal exchange or substitution". The term "nicker" (also singular and plural) may also refer to the pound.


title: Pound sterling

text: The currency of all the Crown Dependencies and most British Overseas Territories is either sterling or is pegged to sterling at par. These are Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Saint Helena and the British Antarctic Territory, and Tristan da Cunha.


title: Pound sterling

text: Some British Overseas Territories have a local currency that is pegged to the U.S. dollar or the New Zealand dollar. The Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (in Cyprus) use the euro.


title: Pound sterling

text: Since decimalisation on Decimal Day in 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 pence (denoted on coinage, until 1981, as "new pence"). The symbol for the penny is "p"; hence an amount such as 50p (£0.50) properly pronounced "fifty pence" is often pronounced "fifty pee" /fɪfti piː/. The old sign "d" was not reused for the "new penny" in order to avoid confusion between the two units. A decimal halfpenny (p, worth 1.2 old pennies) was issued until 1984 but was withdrawn due to inflation.


title: Pound sterling

text: Before decimalisation in 1971, the pound was divided into 20 shillings, and each shilling into 12 pence, making 240 pence to the pound. The symbol for the shilling was ""s"." not from the first letter of "shilling", but from the Latin "solidus". The symbol for the penny was ""d".", from the French "denier", from the Latin "denarius" (the solidus and denarius were Roman coins). A mixed sum of shillings and pence, such as 3 shillings and 6 pence, was written as "3/6" or "3"s". 6"d"." and spoken as "three and six" or "three and sixpence" except for "1/1", "2/1" etc., which were spoken as "one and a penny", "two and a penny", etc. 5 shillings, for example, was written as "5"s"." or, more commonly, "5/–" (five shillings, no pence).


title: Pound sterling

text: Various coin denominations had, and in some cases continue to have, special names, such as florin (2/–), crown (5/–), half crown (2/6"d"), farthing ("d"), sovereign (£1) and guinea ("q.v."). See Coins of the pound sterling and List of British coins and banknotes for details.


title: Pound sterling

text: By the 1950s, coins of Kings George III, George IV and William IV had disappeared from circulation, but coins (at least the penny) bearing the head of every British monarch from Queen Victoria onwards could be found in circulation. Silver coins were replaced by those in cupro-nickel in 1947, and by the 1960s the silver coins were rarely seen. Silver/cupro-nickel shillings (from any period after 1816) and florins (2 shillings) remained legal tender after decimalisation (as 5p and 10p respectively) until 1990 and 1993 respectively, but are now officially demonetised.


title: Pound sterling

text: The pound sterling emerged after the adoption of the Carolingian monetary system in England . Here is a summary of changes to its value in terms of silver or gold until 1914.


title: Pound sterling

text: The pound was a unit of account in Anglo-Saxon England. By the ninth century it was equal to 240 silver pence.


title: Pound sterling

text: The accounting system of dividing one pound into twenty shillings, a shilling into twelve pence, and a penny into four farthings was adopted from that introduced by Charlemagne to the Frankish Empire (see livre carolingienne). The penny was abbreviated to "d", from "denarius", the Roman equivalent of the penny; the shilling to "s" from solidus (later evolving into a simple /); and the pound to "L" (subsequently £) from "Libra" or "Livre".


title: Pound sterling

text: The origins of sterling lie in the reign of King Offa of Mercia (757–796), who introduced a "sterling" coin made by physically dividing a Tower pound (5,400 grains, 349.9 grams) of silver into 240 parts. In practice, the weights of the coins were not consistent, 240 of them seldom added up to a full pound; there were no shilling or pound coins and these units were used only as an accounting convenience.


title: Pound sterling

text: Halfpennies and farthings worth and penny respectively were also minted, but small change was more commonly produced by cutting up a whole penny.


title: Pound sterling

text: The early pennies were struck from fine silver (as pure as was available). In 1158, a new coinage was introduced by King Henry II (known as the "Tealby penny"), with a Tower Pound (5,400 grains, 349.9 g) of 92.5% silver minted into 240 pennies, each penny containing 20.82 grains (1.349 g) of fine silver. Called sterling silver, the alloy is harder than the 99.9% fine silver that was traditionally used, and sterling silver coins did not wear down as rapidly as fine silver ones.


title: Pound sterling

text: The introduction of the larger French "" coins in 1266, and their subsequent popularity, led to additional denominations in the form of groats worth four pence and half groats worth two pence. A gold penny weighing twice the silver penny and valued at 20 silver pence was also issued in 1257 but was not successful.


title: Pound sterling

text: The English penny remained nearly unchanged from 800 and was a prominent exception in the progressive debasements of coinage which occurred in the rest of Europe. The Tower Pound, originally divided into 240 pence, devalued to 243 pence by 1279.


title: Pound sterling

text: During the reign of King Edward III, the introduction of gold coins received from Flanders as payment for English wool provided substantial economic and trade opportunities but also unsettled the currency for the next 200 years. The first monetary changes in 1344 consisted of


title: Pound sterling

text: The resulting gold-silver ratio of 1:12.55 was much higher than the ratio of 1:11 prevailing in the Continent, draining England of its silver coinage and requiring a more permanent remedy in 1351 in the form of


title: Pound sterling

text: These gold nobles, together with half-nobles (40 pence) and farthings or quarter-nobles (20 pence), would become the first English gold coins produced in quantity.


title: Pound sterling

text: The exigencies of the Hundred Years' War during the reign of King Henry IV resulted in further debasements toward the end of his reign, with the English penny reduced to 15 grains sterling silver (0.899 g fine silver) and the half-noble reduced to 54 grains (3.481 g fine gold). The gold-silver ratio went down to .


title: Pound sterling

text: After the French monetary reform of 1425, the gold half-noble (th pound, 40 pence) was worth close to one Livre Parisis (French pound) or 20 sols, while the silver half-groat (2 pence, fine silver 1.798 g) was worth close to 1 sol parisis (1.912 g). Also, after the Flemish monetary reform of 1434, the new Dutch florin was valued close to 40 pence while the Dutch stuiver (shilling) of 1.63 g fine silver was valued close to 2 pence sterling at 1.8 g. This approximate pairing of English half-nobles and half-groats to Continental "livres" and "sols" persisted up to the 1560s.


title: Pound sterling

text: The Great Bullion Famine and the Great Slump of the mid-15th century resulted in another reduction in the English penny to 12 grains sterling silver (0.719 g fine silver) and the introduction of a new half-angel gold coin of 40 grains (2.578 g), worth th pound or 40 pence. The gold-silver ratio rose again to . The reduction in the English penny approximately matched those with the French "sol Parisis" and the Flemish "stuiver"; furthermore, from 1469 to 1475 an agreement between England and the Burgundian Netherlands made the English groat (4-pence) mutually exchangeable with the Burgundian "double patard" (or 2-"stuiver") minted under Charles the Rash.


title: Pound sterling

text: 40 pence or th pound sterling made one Troy Ounce (480 grains, 31.1035 g) of sterling silver. It was approximately on a par with France's livre parisis of one French ounce (30.594 g), and in 1524 it would also be the model for a standardised German currency in the form of the Guldengroschen, which also weighed 1 German ounce of silver or .


title: Pound sterling

text: The last significant depreciation in sterling's silver standard occurred amidst the 16th century influx of precious metals from the Americas arriving through the Habsburg Netherlands. Enforcement of monetary standards amongst its constituent provinces was loose, spending under King Henry VIII was extravagant, and England loosened the importation of cheaper continental coins for exchange into full-valued English coins. All these contributed to The Great Debasement which resulted in a significant rd reduction in the bullion content of each pound sterling in 1551.


title: Pound sterling

text: The troy ounce of sterling silver was henceforth raised in price by 50% from 40 to 60 silver pennies (each penny weighing 8 grains sterling silver and containing fine silver). The gold half-angel of 40 grains ( fine gold) was raised in price from 40 pence to 60 pence (5 shillings or pound) and was henceforth known as the Crown.


title: Pound sterling

text: Prior to 1551, English coin denominations closely matched with corresponding sol (2"d") and livre (40"d") denominations in the Continent, namely:


title: Pound sterling

text: After 1551 new denominations were introduced, weighing similarly to 1464-issued coins but increased in value times, namely:


title: Pound sterling

text: The silver basis of sterling remained essentially unchanged until the 1816 introduction of the Gold Standard, save for the increase in the number of pennies in a troy ounce from 60 to 62 (hence, 0.464 g fine silver in a penny). Its gold basis remained unsettled, however, until the gold guinea was fixed at 21 shillings in 1717.


title: Pound sterling

text: The guinea was introduced in 1663 with guineas minted out of 12 troy ounces of 22-karat gold (hence, 7.6885 g fine gold) and initially worth £1 or 20 shillings. While its price in shillings was not legally fixed at first, its persistent trade value above 21 shillings reflected the poor state of clipped underweight silver coins tolerated for payment. Milled shillings of full weight were hoarded and exported to the Continent, while clipped, hand-hammered shillings stayed in circulation (as Gresham's law describes).


title: Pound sterling

text: In the 17th century, English merchants tended to pay for imports in silver but were generally paid for exports in gold. This effect was notably driven by trade with the Far East, as the Chinese insisted on payments for their exports being settled in silver. From the mid-17th century, around of silver were received by China, principally from European powers, in exchange for Chinese tea and other goods. In order to be able to purchase Chinese exports in this period, England initially had to export to other European nations and request payment in silver, until the British East India Company was able to foster the indirect sale of opium to the Chinese.


title: Pound sterling

text: Domestic demand for silver bullion in Britain further reduced silver coinage in circulation, as the improving fortunes of the merchant class led to increased demand for tableware. Silversmiths had always regarded coinage as a source of raw material, already verified for fineness by the government. As a result, sterling silver coins were being melted and fashioned into "sterling silverware" at an accelerating rate. An Act of the Parliament of England in 1697 tried to stem this tide by raising the minimum acceptable fineness on wrought plate from sterling's 92.5% to a new Britannia silver standard of 95.83%. Silverware made purely from melted coins would be found wanting when the silversmith took his wares to the assay office, thus discouraging the melting of coins.


title: Pound sterling

text: During the time of Sir Isaac Newton, Master of the Mint, the gold guinea was fixed at 21 shillings (£1/1/-) in 1717. But without addressing the problem of underweight silver coins, and with the high resulting gold-silver ratio of 15.2, it gave sterling a firmer footing in gold guineas rather than silver shillings, resulting in a de facto gold standard. Silver and copper tokens issued by private entities partly relieved the problem of small change until the Great Recoinage of 1816.


title: Pound sterling

text: The Bank of England was founded in 1694, followed by the Bank of Scotland a year later. Both began to issue paper money.


title: Pound sterling

text: In 1707, the kingdoms of England and Scotland merged into the Kingdom of Great Britain. In accordance with the Treaty of Union, the currency of Great Britain was sterling, with the pound Scots soon being replaced by sterling at the pegged value.


title: Pound sterling

text: In 1801, Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland were united to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. However, the Irish pound was not replaced by sterling until January 1826. The conversion rate had long been £13 Irish to £12 sterling. In 1928, six years after the Anglo-Irish Treaty restored Irish autonomy within the British Empire, the Irish Free State established a new Irish pound, pegged at par to sterling.


title: Pound sterling

text: Sterling circulated in much of the British Empire. In some areas it was used alongside local currencies. For example, the gold sovereign was legal tender in Canada despite the use of the Canadian dollar. Several colonies and dominions adopted the pound as their own currency. These included Australia, Barbados, British West Africa, Cyprus, Fiji, British India, the Irish Free State, Jamaica, New Zealand, South Africa and Southern Rhodesia. Some of these retained parity with sterling throughout their existence (e.g. the South African pound), while others deviated from parity after the end of the gold standard (e.g. the Australian pound). These currencies and others tied to sterling constituted the core of the sterling area.


title: Pound sterling

text: The original English colonies on mainland North America were not party to the sterling area because the above-mentioned silver shortage in England coincided with these colonies' formative years. As a result of equitable trade (and rather less equitable piracy), the Spanish milled dollar became the most common coin within the English colonies.


title: Pound sterling

text: During the American War of Independence and the Napoleonic wars, Bank of England notes were legal tender, and their value floated relative to gold. The Bank also issued silver tokens to alleviate the shortage of silver coins. In 1816, the gold standard was adopted officially, with silver coins minted at a rate of 66 shillings to a troy pound (weight) of sterling silver, thus rendering them as "token" issues (i.e. not containing their value in precious metal). In 1817, the sovereign was introduced, valued at 20/–. Struck in 22‑carat gold, it contained 113 grains or of fine gold and replaced the guinea as the standard British gold coin without changing the gold standard.


title: Pound sterling

text: By the 19th century, sterling notes were widely accepted outside Britain. The American journalist Nellie Bly carried Bank of England notes on her 1889–1890 trip around the world in 72 days. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many other countries adopted the gold standard. As a consequence, conversion rates between different currencies could be determined simply from the respective gold standards. £1 sterling was equal to US$4.87 in the United States, Can$4.87 in Canada, ƒ12.11 in Dutch territories, F 25.22 in French territories (or equivalent currencies of the Latin Monetary Union), 20ℳ 43₰ in Germany, Rbls 9.46 in Russia or K 24.02 in Austria-Hungary. After the International Monetary Conference of 1867 in Paris, the possibility of the UK joining the Latin Monetary Union was discussed, and a Royal Commission on International Coinage examined the issues, resulting in a decision against joining monetary union.


title: Pound sterling

text: The gold standard was suspended at the outbreak of First World War in 1914, with Bank of England and Treasury notes becoming legal tender. Before that war, the United Kingdom had one of the world's strongest economies, holding 40% of the world's overseas investments. But after the end of the war, the country was highly indebted: Britain owed £850 million (about £ today) with interest costing the country some 40% of all government spending. The British government under Prime Minister David Lloyd George and Chancellor of the Exchequer Austen Chamberlain tried to make up for the deficit with a deflationary policy, but this only led to the Depression of 1920–21.


title: Pound sterling

text: By 1917, production of gold sovereigns had almost halted (the remaining production was for collector's sets and other very specific occasions), and by 1920, the silver coinage was debased from its original .925 fine to just .500 fine. That was due to a drastic increase in silver prices from an average 27/6"d". [£1.375] per troy pound in the period between 1894 and 1913, to 89/6"d". [£4.475] in August 1920.


title: Pound sterling

text: To try to resume stability, a version of the gold standard was reintroduced in 1925, under which the currency was fixed to gold at its pre-war peg, but one could only exchange currency for gold bullion, not for coins. On 21 September 1931, this was abandoned during the Great Depression, and sterling suffered an initial devaluation of some 25%.


title: Pound sterling

text: Since the suspension of the gold standard in 1931, sterling has been a fiat currency, with its value determined by its continued acceptance in the national and international economy.


title: Pound sterling

text: In 1940, an agreement with the US pegged sterling to the US dollar at a rate of £1 = US$4.03. (Only the year before, it had been US$4.86.) This rate was maintained through the Second World War and became part of the Bretton Woods system which governed post-war exchange rates.


title: Pound sterling

text: Under continuing economic pressure, and despite months of denials that it would do so, on 19 September 1949 the government devalued the pound by 30.5% to US$2.80. The 1949 sterling devaluation prompted several other currencies to be devalued against the dollar.


title: Pound sterling

text: In 1961, 1964, and 1966, sterling came under renewed pressure, as speculators were selling pounds for dollars. In summer 1966, with the value of the pound falling in the currency markets, exchange controls were tightened by the Wilson government. Among the measures, tourists were banned from taking more than £50 out of the country in travellers' cheques and remittances, plus £15 in cash; this restriction was not lifted until 1979. Sterling was devalued by 14.3% to £1 = US$2.40 on 18 November 1967.


title: Pound sterling

text: Until decimalisation, amounts in sterling were expressed in pounds, shillings, and pence, with various widely understood notations. The same amount could be stated as 32"s". 6"d"., 32/6, £1. 12"s". 6"d"., or £1/12/6. It was customary to specify some prices (for example professional fees and auction prices for works of art) in guineas (abbr: gn. or gns.), although guinea coins were no longer in use.


title: Pound sterling

text: Formal parliamentary proposals to decimalise sterling were first made in 1824 when Sir John Wrottesley, MP for Staffordshire, asked in the House of Commons whether consideration had been given to decimalising the currency. Wrottesley raised the issue in the House of Commons again in 1833, and it was again raised by John Bowring, MP for Kilmarnock Burghs, in 1847 whose efforts led to the introduction in 1848 of what was in effect the first decimal coin in the United Kingdom, the florin, valued at one-tenth of a pound. However, full decimalisation was resisted, although the florin coin, re-designated as "ten new pence", survived the transfer to a full decimal system in 1971, with examples surviving in British coinage until 1993.


title: Pound sterling

text: John Benjamin Smith, MP for Stirling Burghs, raised the issue of full decimalisation again in Parliament in 1853, resulting in the Chancellor of the Exchequer, William Gladstone, announcing soon afterwards that "the great question of a decimal coinage" was "now under serious consideration". A full proposal for the decimalisation of sterling was then tabled in the House of Commons in June 1855, by William Brown, MP for Lancashire Southern, with the suggestion that the pound sterling be divided into one thousand parts, each called a "mil", or alternatively a farthing, as the pound was then equivalent to 960 farthings which could easily be rounded up to one thousand farthings in the new system. This did not result in the conversion of sterling into a decimal system, but it was agreed to establish a Royal Commission to look into the issue. However, largely due to the hostility to decimalisation of two of the appointed commissioners, Lord Overstone (a banker) and John Hubbard (Governor of the Bank of England), decimalisation in Britain was effectively quashed for over a hundred years.


title: Pound sterling

text: However, sterling was decimalised in various British colonial territories before the United Kingdom (and in several cases in line with William Brown's proposal that the pound be divided into 1,000 parts, called mils). These included Hong Kong from 1863 to 1866; Cyprus from 1955 until 1960 (and continued on the island as the division of the Cypriot pound until 1983); and the Palestine Mandate from 1926 until 1948.


title: Pound sterling

text: Later, in 1966, the UK Government decided to include in the Queen's Speech a plan to convert sterling into a decimal currency. As a result of this, on 15 February 1971, the UK decimalised sterling, replacing the shilling and the penny with a single subdivision, the "new penny", which was worth 2.4"d". For example, a price tag of £1/12/6. became . The word "new" was omitted from coins minted after 1981.


title: Pound sterling

text: With the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system, sterling floated from August 1971 onwards. At first, it appreciated a little, rising to almost US$2.65 in March 1972 from US$2.42, the upper bound of the band in which it had been fixed. The sterling area effectively ended at this time, when the majority of its members also chose to float freely against sterling and the dollar.


title: Pound sterling

text: James Callaghan became Prime Minister in 1976. He was immediately told the economy was facing huge problems, according to documents released in 2006 by the National Archives. The effects of the failed Barber Boom and the 1973 oil crisis were still being felt, with inflation rising to nearly 27% in 1975. Financial markets were beginning to believe the pound was overvalued, and in April that year "The Wall Street Journal" advised the sale of sterling investments in the face of high taxes, in a story that ended with "goodbye, Great Britain. It was nice knowing you". At the time the UK Government was running a budget deficit, and the Labour government at the time's strategy emphasised high public spending. Callaghan was told there were three possible outcomes: a disastrous free fall in sterling, an internationally unacceptable siege economy, or a deal with key allies to prop up the pound while painful economic reforms were put in place. The US Government feared the crisis could endanger NATO and the European Economic Community (EEC), and in light of this the US Treasury set out to force domestic policy changes. In November 1976, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced the conditions for a loan, including deep cuts in public expenditure.


title: Pound sterling

text: The Conservative Party was elected to office in 1979, on a programme of fiscal austerity. Initially, sterling rocketed, moving above £1 to US$2.40, as interest rates rose in response to the monetarist policy of targeting money supply. The high exchange rate was widely blamed for the deep recession of 1981. Sterling fell sharply after 1980; at its lowest, £1 stood at just US$1.03 in March 1985, before rising to US$1.70 in December 1989.


title: Pound sterling

text: In 1988, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson, decided that sterling should "shadow" the Deutsche Mark (DM), with the unintended result of a rapid rise in inflation as the economy boomed due to low interest rates.


title: Pound sterling

text: Following German reunification in 1990, the reverse held true, as high German borrowing costs to fund Eastern reconstruction, exacerbated by the political decision to convert the Ostmark to the D–Mark on a 1:1 basis, meant that interest rates in other countries shadowing the D–Mark, especially the UK, were far too high relative to domestic circumstances, leading to a housing decline and recession.


title: Pound sterling

text: On 8 October 1990 the Conservative government (Third Thatcher ministry) decided to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), with £1 set at DM 2.95. However, the country was forced to withdraw from the system on "Black Wednesday" (16 September 1992) as Britain's economic performance made the exchange rate unsustainable. The event was also triggered by comments by Bundesbank president Helmut Schlesinger who suggested the pound would eventually have to be devalued.


title: Pound sterling

text: "Black Wednesday" saw interest rates jump from 10% to 15% in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the pound from falling below the ERM limits. The exchange rate fell to DM 2.20. Those who had argued for a lower GBP/DM exchange rate were vindicated since the cheaper pound encouraged exports and contributed to the economic prosperity of the 1990s.


title: Pound sterling

text: In 1997, the newly elected Labour government handed over day-to-day control of interest rates to the Bank of England (a policy that had originally been advocated by the Liberal Democrats). The Bank is now responsible for setting its base rate of interest so as to keep inflation (as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI)) very close to 2% per annum. Should CPI inflation be more than one percentage point above or below the target, the Governor of the Bank of England is required to write an open letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer explaining the reasons for this and the measures which will be taken to bring this measure of inflation back in line with the 2% target. On 17 April 2007, annual CPI inflation was reported at 3.1% (inflation of the Retail Prices Index was 4.8%). Accordingly, and for the first time, the Governor had to write publicly to the UK Government explaining why inflation was more than one percentage point higher than its target.


title: Pound sterling

text: In 2007, Gordon Brown, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, ruled out membership in the eurozone for the foreseeable future, saying that the decision not to join had been right for Britain and for Europe.


title: Pound sterling

text: On 1 January 2008, with the Republic of Cyprus switching its currency from the Cypriot pound to the euro, the British sovereign bases on Cyprus (Akrotiri and Dhekelia) followed suit, making the Sovereign Base Areas the only territory under British sovereignty to officially use the euro.


title: Pound sterling

text: The government of former Prime Minister Tony Blair had pledged to hold a public referendum to decide on the adoption of the Euro should "five economic tests" be met, to increase the likelihood that any adoption of the euro would be in the national interest. In addition to these internal (national) criteria, the UK would have to meet the European Union's economic convergence criteria (Maastricht criteria) before being allowed to adopt the euro. The Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government (2010–2015) ruled out joining the euro for that parliamentary term.


title: Pound sterling

text: The idea of replacing sterling with the euro was always controversial with the British public, partly because of sterling's identity as a symbol of British sovereignty and because it would, according to some critics, have led to suboptimal interest rates, harming the British economy. In December 2008, the results of a BBC poll of 1,000 people suggested that 71% would vote no to the euro, 23% would vote yes, while 6% said they were unsure. Sterling did not join the Second European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II) after the euro was created. Denmark and the UK had opt-outs from entry to the euro. Theoretically, every EU nation but Denmark must eventually sign up.


title: Pound sterling

text: As a member of the European Union, the United Kingdom could have adopted the euro as its currency. However, the subject was always politically controversial, and the UK negotiated an opt-out on this issue. Following the UK's withdrawal from the EU, on 31 January 2020, the Bank of England ended its membership of the European System of Central Banks, and shares in the European Central Bank were reallocated to other EU banks.


title: Pound sterling

text: Sterling and the euro fluctuate in value against one another, although there may be correlation between movements in their respective exchange rates with other currencies such as the US dollar. Inflation concerns in the UK led the Bank of England to raise interest rates in late 2006 and 2007. This caused sterling to appreciate against other major currencies and, with the US dollar depreciating at the same time, sterling hit a 15-year high against the US dollar on 18 April 2007, with £1 reaching US$2 the day before, for the first time since 1992. Sterling and many other currencies continued to appreciate against the dollar; sterling hit a 26-year high of £1 to US$2.1161 on 7 November 2007 as the dollar fell worldwide. From mid-2003 to mid-2007, the pound/euro rate remained within a narrow range (€1.45 ± 5%).


title: Pound sterling

text: Following the global financial crisis in late 2008, sterling depreciated sharply, declining to £1 to US$1.38 on 23 January 2009 and falling below £1 to €1.25 against the euro in April 2008. There was a further decline during the remainder of 2008, most dramatically on 29 December when its euro rate hit an all-time low at €1.0219, while its US dollar rate depreciated. Sterling appreciated in early 2009, reaching a peak against the euro of £1 to €1.17 in mid-July. In the following months sterling remained broadly steady against the euro, with £1 valued on 27 May 2011 at €1.15 and US$1.65.


title: Pound sterling

text: On 5 March 2009, the Bank of England announced that it would pump £75 billion of new capital into the British economy, through a process known as quantitative easing (QE). This was the first time in the United Kingdom's history that this measure had been used, although the Bank's Governor Mervyn King suggested it was not an experiment.


title: Pound sterling

text: The process saw the Bank of England creating new money for itself, which it then used to purchase assets such as government bonds, secured commercial paper, or corporate bonds. The initial amount stated to be created through this method was £75 billion, although Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling had given permission for up to £150 billion to be created if necessary. It was expected that the process would continue for three months, with results only likely in the long term. By 5 November 2009, some £175 billion had been injected using QE, and the process remained less effective in the long term. In July 2012, the final increase in QE meant it had peaked at £375 billion, then holding solely UK Government bonds, representing one third of the UK national debt.


title: Pound sterling

text: The result of the 2016 UK referendum on EU membership caused a major decline in sterling against other world currencies as the future of international trade relationships and domestic political leadership became unclear. The referendum result weakened sterling against the euro by 5% overnight. The night before the vote, sterling was trading at £1 to €1.30; the next day, this had fallen to £1 to €1.23. By October 2016, the exchange rate was £1 to €1.12, a fall of 14% since the referendum. By the end of August 2017 sterling was even lower, at £1 to €1.08. Against the US dollar, meanwhile, sterling fell from £1 to $1.466 to £1 to $1.3694 when the referendum result was first revealed, and down to £1 to $1.2232 by October 2016, a fall of 16%.


title: Pound sterling

text: In September 2022, under the influence of inflation and tax cuts funded by borrowing, sterling's value reached an all-time low of just over $1.03.


title: Pound sterling

text: The Bank of England had stated in 2009 that the decision had been taken to prevent the rate of inflation falling below the 2% target rate. Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, had also suggested there were no other monetary options left, as interest rates had already been cut to their lowest level ever (0.5%) and it was unlikely that they would be cut further.


title: Pound sterling

text: The inflation rate rose in following years, reaching 5.2% per year (based on the Consumer Price Index) in September 2011, then decreased to around 2.5% the following year. After a number of years when inflation remained near or below the Bank's 2% target, 2021 saw a significant and sustained increase on all indices: , RPI had reached 7.1%, CPI 5.1% and CPIH 4.6%.<ref name="ONS 15/12/21"></ref>


title: Pound sterling

text: The silver penny (plural: "pence"; abbreviation: "d") was the principal and often the only coin in circulation from the 8th century until the 13th century. Although some fractions of the penny were struck (see farthing and halfpenny), it was more common to find pennies cut into halves and quarters to provide smaller change. Very few gold coins were struck, with the gold penny (equal in value to 20 silver pennies) a rare example. However, in 1279, the "groat", worth 4"d", was introduced, with the half groat following in 1344. 1344 also saw the establishment of a gold coinage with the introduction (after the failed gold florin) of the "noble" worth six shillings and eight pence (6/8"d") (i.e. 3 nobles to the pound), together with the half and quarter noble. Reforms in 1464 saw a reduction in value of the coinage in both silver and gold, with the noble renamed the "ryal" and worth 10/– (i.e. 2 to the pound) and the "angel" introduced at the noble's old value of 6/8"d".


title: Pound sterling

text: The reign of Henry VII saw the introduction of two important coins: the shilling (abbr.: "s"; known as the "testoon", equivalent to twelve pence) in 1487 and the pound (known as the "sovereign", abbr.: "£" before numerals or ""l"." after them, equivalent to twenty shillings) in 1489. In 1526, several new denominations of gold coins were added, including the "crown" and "half crown", worth five shillings ("5/–") and two shillings and six pence ("2/6", "two and six") respectively. Henry VIII's reign (1509–1547) saw a high level of debasement which continued into the reign of Edward VI (1547–1553). This debasement was halted in 1552, and new silver coinage was introduced, including coins for 1"d", 2"d", 3d, 4"d" and 6"d", 1/–, 2/6"d" and 5/–. In the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603), silver "d" and "d" coins were added, but these denominations did not last. Gold coins included the half-crown, crown, angel, half-sovereign (10/–) and sovereign (£1). Elizabeth's reign also saw the introduction of the horse-drawn screw press to produce the first "milled" coins.


title: Pound sterling

text: Following the succession of the Scottish King James VI to the English throne, a new gold coinage was introduced, including the "spur ryal" (15/–), the "unite" (20/–) and the "rose ryal" (30/–). The "laurel", worth 20/–, followed in 1619. The first base metal coins were also introduced: tin and copper farthings. Copper halfpenny coins followed in the reign of Charles I. During the English Civil War, a number of siege coinages were produced, often in unusual denominations.


title: Pound sterling

text: Following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the coinage was reformed, with the ending of production of hammered coins in 1662. The "guinea" was introduced in 1663, soon followed by the , 2 and 5 guinea coins. The silver coinage consisted of denominations of 1"d", 2"d", 3"d", 4"d" and 6"d", 1/–, 2/6"d" and 5/–. Due to the widespread export of silver in the 18th century, the production of silver coins gradually came to a halt, with the half crown and crown not issued after the 1750s, the 6"d" and 1/– stopping production in the 1780s. In response, copper 1"d" and 2"d" coins and a gold guinea (7/–) were introduced in 1797. The copper penny was the only one of these coins to survive long.


title: Pound sterling

text: To alleviate the shortage of silver coins, between 1797 and 1804, the Bank of England counterstamped Spanish dollars (8 reales) and other Spanish and Spanish colonial coins for circulation. A small counterstamp of the King's head was used. Until 1800, these circulated at a rate of 4/9"d" for 8 reales. After 1800, a rate of 5/– for 8 reales was used. The Bank then issued silver tokens for 5/– (struck over Spanish dollars) in 1804, followed by tokens for 1/6"d" and 3/– between 1811 and 1816.


title: Pound sterling

text: In 1816, a new silver coinage was introduced in denominations of 6"d", 1/–, 2/6"d" (half-crown) and 5/– (crown). The crown was only issued intermittently until 1900. It was followed by a new gold coinage in 1817 consisting of 10/– and £1 coins, known as the half sovereign and sovereign. The silver 4"d" coin was reintroduced in 1836, followed by the 3"d" in 1838, with the 4"d" coin issued only for colonial use after 1855. In 1848, the 2/– "florin" was introduced, followed by the short-lived double florin in 1887. In 1860, copper was replaced by bronze in the farthing (quarter penny, "d"), halfpenny and penny.


title: Pound sterling

text: During the First World War, production of the sovereign and half-sovereign was suspended, and although the gold standard was later restored, the coins saw little circulation thereafter. In 1920, the silver standard, maintained at .925 since 1552, was reduced to .500. In 1937, a nickel-brass 3"d" coin was introduced; the last silver 3"d" coins were issued seven years later. In 1947, the remaining silver coins were replaced with cupro-nickel, with the exception of Maundy coinage which was then restored to .925. Inflation caused the farthing to cease production in 1956 and be demonetised in 1960. In the run-up to decimalisation, the halfpenny and half-crown were demonetised in 1969.


title: Pound sterling

text: , the oldest circulating coins in the UK are the 1p and 2p copper coins introduced in 1971. No other coins from before 1982 are in circulation. Prior to the withdrawal from circulation in 1992, the oldest circulating coins usually dated from 1947: although older coins were still legal tender, inflation meant that their silver content was worth more than their face value, so they tended to be removed from circulation and hoarded. Before decimalisation in 1971, a handful of change might have contained coins over 100 years old, bearing any of five monarchs' heads, especially in the copper coins.


title: Pound sterling

text: The first sterling notes were issued by the Bank of England shortly after its foundation in 1694. Denominations were initially handwritten on the notes at the time of issue. From 1745, the notes were printed in denominations between £20 and £1,000, with any odd shillings added by hand. £10 notes were added in 1759, followed by £5 in 1793 and £1 and £2 in 1797. The lowest two denominations were withdrawn after the end of the Napoleonic wars. In 1855, the notes were converted to being entirely printed, with denominations of £5, £10, £20, £50, £100, £200, £300, £500 and £1,000 issued.


title: Pound sterling

text: The Bank of Scotland began issuing notes in 1695. Although the pound Scots was still the currency of Scotland, these notes were denominated in sterling in values up to £100. From 1727, the Royal Bank of Scotland also issued notes. Both banks issued some notes denominated in guineas as well as pounds. In the 19th century, regulations limited the smallest note issued by Scottish banks to be the £1 denomination, a note not permitted in England.


title: Pound sterling

text: With the extension of sterling to Ireland in 1825, the Bank of Ireland began issuing sterling notes, later followed by other Irish banks. These notes included the unusual denominations of 30/– and £3. The highest denomination issued by the Irish banks was £100.


title: Pound sterling

text: In 1826, banks at least from London were given permission to issue their own paper money. From 1844, new banks were excluded from issuing notes in England and Wales but not in Scotland and Ireland. Consequently, the number of private banknotes dwindled in England and Wales but proliferated in Scotland and Ireland. The last English private banknotes were issued in 1921.