Hot Millions 1968 British Movie With Decimal Pound 50 New Pence Newspaper Article

Hot Millions 1968 British movie with Decimal Pound 50 New Pence newspaper article

"Hot Millions" is a 1968 British crime caper comedy. Marcus Pendleton (Peter Ustinov) is released from prison, passes himself off as a computer expert named Caesar Smith, is hired by the London office of a large American company, and uses computers to send company checks to fictitious businesses.

Early in the film Marcus reads a newspaper article mentioning computers.


Newspaper article from the film

A newspaper page with two articles appears. One article is titled "A Computer Magnate Lord Chivas Austin to Bermuda today" and the other article is titled "Seven-sided c[oins] replace 10s n[otes]"

The Lord Chivas Austin article is fictional but the second article about the coins is real.

The first part of the text of the coins article:

The first seven-sided coin in the world will go into circulation in Britain in October, 1969 to replace the 10s [shillings] note. Its denomination will be 50 new pence. Made of cupro nickel, this "silver" coin will have a diameter of 30 millimetres and weigh 13 1/2 grams, putting it about midway in size and weight between a 2s [two shilling] piece and a half-crown [2-1/2 shillings].

Mr. H. G. Conway, a director of Rolls-Royce and a member of the Decimal Currency Board, put forward the idea of using this shape which is called an "equilateral curve heptagon." It has a constant diameter and will roll, making it suitable for coin-operated machines.

The 50 new pence coins were eventually minted from 1969 to 1981 to the specifications in the article.


Britain 50 New Pence 1981
Copper-nickel, 30.0 mm, 13.5 gm

There are also Italian coins in the film, "some with birds and some with trees on 'em".