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1860 bronze farthing, depicting Britannia

Beginning in 1860, Britain replaced its copper coinage with bronze pieces. The existing copper coins (principally the penny, the halfpenny and the farthing) were seen as too large and heavy. Thomas Graham, the master of the Mint, persuaded William Gladstone, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to replace them. Gladstone secured authorising legislation and a vote of funds in Parliament. Leonard Charles Wyon of the Royal Mint was tasked with rendering designs for the new coinage. He produced an obverse for the new coins depicting Queen Victoria, who modelled for him. The reverse featured Britannia (pictured). With the aid of two outside firms, the Royal Mint struck enough of the new bronze coins that it began calling in the copper pieces in 1861, a process complete after 1877, although less than half in terms of value of the extant coppers were paid in. The new coins remained current until the run-up to decimalisation in 1971, except for the farthing, which was demonetised from 1 January 1961. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Emperor Yingzong of Ming

... that Emperor Yingzong of Ming (pictured) abolished the practice of concubines committing suicide following an emperor's death?
... that FlexiRide bus services have no fixed route, operating only when passengers book a trip?
... that Sri Jumahaliah Hanifa was the first woman to be the dean of the University of Indonesia's law school?
... that two-thirds of the six-week budget allocated to the filming of a Doctor Who episode was used up in only three days?
... that despite being rivals since the 1920s, the 2010 NFC Championship Game was only the second time the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers had ever met in the playoffs?
... that the then–prime minister of New Zealand said that the greatest impact of the December 2011 Christchurch earthquakes was on mental health?
... that sprinter Ng Ka Yee set four Hong Kong records in 1988 ahead of competing in that year's Olympics?
... the 2025 student elections at 15 constituent campuses of Tribhuvan University could not be held due to political conflicts between student organizations?
... that Fromage was described as "the cheesiest board game of all time"?

In the news

Air India Boeing 787-8 in 2014

Air India Flight 171 (aircraft pictured) crashes in Ahmedabad, India, killing more than 260 people.
The Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson dies at the age of 82.
A shooting at a secondary school in Graz, Austria, leaves eleven people dead.
At the Tony Awards, Purpose wins the Best Play and Maybe Happy Ending wins the Best Musical.
Prime Minister of Mongolia Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene resigns after weeks of protests.

On this day

June 13

USS Jeannette

1525 – Martin Luther married Katharina von Bora, beginning the practice of clerical marriage in Protestantism.
1881 – The Jeannette expedition to reach the North Pole from the Pacific Ocean via the Bering Strait came to an end when the USS Jeannette (pictured) was finally crushed and sank after having been trapped in ice for almost two years.
1952 – Soviet aircraft shot down a Swedish military plane carrying out signals-intelligence gathering operations, followed three days later by the shootdown of a second plane searching for the first one.
1969 – Preston Smith, Governor of Texas, signed a law converting a research arm of Texas Instruments into the University of Texas at Dallas.
2013 – Some of the closest advisors and collaborators of Czech prime minister Petr Nečas were arrested for corruption.

Henry Middleton (d. 1784)
Manuel Marques de Sousa, Count of Porto Alegre (b. 1804)
Charles Algernon Parsons (b. 1854)
Fran Allison (d. 1989)

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From today's featured list

Hongwu Emperor

The emperors of the Ming dynasty ruled over China proper from 1368 to 1644 during the late imperial era of China (960–1912). The Ming dynasty, which succeeded the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty and preceded the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, was founded by the peasant rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang, known as the Hongwu Emperor (pictured). All Ming emperors were of the House of Zhu. After 1644, members of the dynasty continued to rule a series of rump states, commonly known as the Southern Ming, in southern China until 1662. The longest-reigning emperor of the dynasty was the Wanli Emperor (reigned 1572–1620), who ruled for 48 years; the shortest-reigning was his successor, the Taichang Emperor, who ruled for only 29 days in 1620. The Ming emperor, following a practice established in the Zhou dynasty, was known as the "Son of Heaven". He was viewed as the intermediary between humans and heaven, and was responsible for conducting numerous rituals to honor the supreme deities who safeguarded the empire. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Challenger 2 is a third-generation British main battle tank. As of 2025, it is in service with the British Army, the Royal Army of Oman, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The tank was designed by Vickers Defence Systems in 1986 as an extensive redesign of the company's earlier Challenger 1. More than 400 Challenger 2 tanks were built between 1990 and 2002. This photograph, taken in 2014, shows a Challenger 2 tank firing a practice squash-head round at the Castlemartin Training Area in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Photograph credit: Si Longworth

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