TOI correspondent in London: Winston Churchill and Jane Austen, who were unpopular in India for their roles in the 1943 Bengal Famine, will no longer appear on British banknotes and will be replaced by British wildlife.Churchill currently features his quote “I have offered nothing but blood, toil, tears and sweat” on the £5 note, while Austin has on the £10 note: “I declare that after all there is no pleasure like reading!” JMW Turner appears on the £20 note and Alan Turing appears on the £50 note.The Bank of England announced on Wednesday that a nature theme had emerged as the winner following a public consultation on design themes for the next series of banknotes. The monarch will continue to appear on the front.“Within the nature theme, the majority of responses from respondents referred to native British wildlife. The bank also believes that wildlife imagery is most effective for developing banknotes with security features,” the bank said. This means hedgehogs, badgers and puffins could replace the historic figures introduced in 1970.The bank will conduct a second consultation this summer to gather public input on which wildlife will be featured.Alex Burghart MP, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said: “It is deeply frustrating that under Labour, our national heroes have been deemed too ‘divisive’ to appear on banknotes. Most countries celebrate their history. Ours should be too.”“Children don’t know enough about our own history and national heroes. This makes the situation worse,” said Ameer Kotecha, a former British diplomat in Gujarat.
