New Tenner

Grace Darling spotted the wreck and survivors of the SS Forfarshire on a rocky island near to where she lived and rowed out with her father to rescue 13 survivors - despite the terrible storm

The Governer of the Bank of England's recent announcement that the image of Elizabeth Fry would be dropped from five pound notes in favour of Winston Churchill has caused a bit of a furore as it means that, apart from the Queen, no English bank note will feature a woman.  Feminist agitators have set up an online petition which already has over 25,000 signatures.

They do have a point.  Women are under represented in so many walks of life yet their contribution to society is just as important as Man's.  Just being a good housewife is worthy of recognition and let's not forget the old adage, 'Behind every great man is a great woman',  I am effectively a House Husband now and I can tell you at times it can be a damn sight harder than my old job, the only difference being I am allowed to have sex with my boss which isn't a bad perk at all (not that I would have wanted to have sex with my old boss, who reads this blog and will be mightily relieved).

Good housekeeping aside, there are plenty of women who are worthy of immortalisation on a bank note.  Emmiline Pankhurst?  Without her, women would still be barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen.  If you are going to put Churchill on a bank note, why not Margaret Thatcher?  She was the first female British Prime Minister after all and during her tenure, the two highest offices in the land were held by women.  Put Thatcher on a bank note and we could enjoy the sight of trendy lefties burning their own money.  How about Boudicca?  She had attitude and very nearly stuffed the Romans at their own game and although no contemporary images of her exist, according to the later romantic images, she had great tits.  Perhaps it's her genes that gave the British their fighting spirit, spitting in the face of overwhelming odds. 

Then there is Octavia Hill, the first 'Eco Warrior' and an all round philanthropist who reformed housing and marched thousands of tenement children across beautifully preserved countryside for a breath of fresh air.  A co-founder of the National Trust, without her, much of what we consider British Heritage would have been lost. 

My particular favourite (apart from Boudicca) is Grace Darling.  She embodied, in a life cut so tragically short by TB, the true Community Spirit and, I have to say, feminine instinct, by risking her own life to save others.  Men can be terribly brave when it comes to taking lives, and are even awarded medals for doing so but you need to see how courageous a woman can be when it comes to saving them.  Another reason I prefer Grace Darling is that she was not born into a privileged family,  She was an ordinary person, just like 99% of the British population.  Who better then, to represent the spirit of British womanhood, their courage, their loyalty, their endurance?  And in the face of death, stoicism?

Sadly, now that we are all fascinated by reality TV, Towie, BGT etc. if left to the public imagination, we would end up with a racier, more popular choice:

'Tom!  What are you doing?'
'Just fondling my money, darling'