The UK’s first female PM, a Muslim war hero and David Jason among suggestions to appear on polymer note

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The announcement that the Bank of England is to introduce a redesigned polymer £50 note has sparked speculation as to who might feature on it. The Bank says it will seek public nominations via “a character selection process”.

Campaigners have already begun backing their favourites. The political blog Guido Fawkes has started to petition for Margaret Thatcher to be the face of the UK’s highest denomination note. The petition, which features a mock-up of how the note might look, has already attracted more than 11,000 signatures.

The Leave.EU lobby group is also backing Thatcher to be the face of the fifty, while the Labour MP for East Hull, Karl Turner, has suggested a counter-petition to oppose the suggestion.

One social media user suggested that putting Thatcher on the £50 note might at least stop Conservative students burning notes in front of homeless people.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Noor Inayat Khan has emerged as a candidate to be featured on the new note. Photograph: The Khan Family/BBC

A leading alternative is Noor Inayat Khan. Moscow-born Khan was a spy for Britain in occupied France during the second world war, having joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. She was captured and tortured by the Nazis before being killed at Dachau concentration camp at the age of 30. She was posthumously awarded the George Cross.

She would be the first Muslim, indeed the first member of any ethnic minority group to feature on a Bank of England note. Political figures including Sayeeda Warsi and the transport minister Nusrat Ghani are in favour of featuring Khan, and a petitionhas already attracted more than 3,500 signatures.

Given that this is the nation that voted to name a ship Boaty McBoatface, however, allowing the public to choose the face of the new £50 note is fraught with risk, and social media users have not been slow to come forward with some more leftfield suggestions. A campaign to have the England defender Harry Maguire riding a unicorn pictured on the note is also gaining momentum.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A mock-up of a £50 note featuring England’s Harry Maguire. Photograph: Jonny Sharples/Change.org

The Leicester City player was pictured riding an inflatable unicorn while England were relaxing during World Cup training in the summer, and Jonny Sharples, who started the petition, has mocked up how the note might look. Over 35,000 people have backed the idea so far, more than Thatcher and Khan combined.

Maguire’s England teammate Kyle Walker joined in the fun, posting a mock-up of a £5 note featuring himself suffering from cramp during the World Cup, which became a widely shared image at the time.

Kyle Walker (@kylewalker2) Make it happen England! I’ll be happy on a fiver. Plus a bigger amount needs a bigger head... https://t.co/JjuSEiwTBG pic.twitter.com/0puk94xyRO

The actor John Challis, who played Boycie in Only Fools And Horses, has nominated his co-stars David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst in character as Del Boy and Rodney dressed as Batman and Robin.

The unlikely choice of Lisa Scott-Lee from Steps also found a surprising backer in the BBC’s technology correspondent Chris Fox.

Chris Fox (@thisisFoxx) Wales is under-represented on our currency. My shout for the new £50 note. pic.twitter.com/2VCnSKeP5B

Media brands have also co-opted the wave of humorous suggestions. Social media managers at Sony and Good Morning Britain posted mock-ups of the One Direction star Louis Tomlinson and the TV presenters Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The social media team at Good Morning Britain mocked up a note featuring Susanna Reid. Photograph: Good Morning Britain/Twitter

Fellow ITV presenter Philip Schofield has also been put forward.

Phillip Schofield Memes (@SchofeReacts) schofe for the new face of £50 note pic.twitter.com/vdb5x88ifE

However popular the online petition in his favour proves, Harry Maguire riding a unicorn is unlikely to make the final cut. Bank of England guidelines suggest avoiding fictional characters and people who are still living, the latter with the exception of the monarch of course.

Other more serious suggestions include Mary Seacole, who was voted the greatest black Briton in 2004, and who has been backed by the Labour MP Wes Streeting.

Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) The new £50 note would be a great way to recognise and celebrate the life of Mary Seacole, who was voted the greatest black Briton. https://t.co/SoRedjuryO

Clement Atlee and Stephen Hawking may also be in the frame.

Fifty-pound notes were first produced in 1725. Production ceased in 1943 and they were only reintroduced into regular circulation in 1981, since when they have featured the architect Christopher Wren and the 17th century Bank of England governor Sir John Houblon. The current note features Matthew Boulton and James Watt, whose steam engines led to the mechanisation of factories and mills.

The Bank is yet to set a date for the new note to go into circulation. It has only said that it will be after the new polymer £20 is introduced in 2020, featuring the painter JMW Turner.