Artist LS Lowry is leading the nominations for famous Salfordians who could replace economist Adam Smith on the £20 note.
The Bank of England is searching for a leading (deceased) figure in the world of visual arts to replace the Scot – who wrote The Wealth of Nations – on the reverse of the note.
It means artists, sculptors, printmakers, designers, craftspeople, ceramicists, architects, fashion designers, photographers, and filmmakers are eligible.
Readers can nominate their own favourites online here until 19 July 2015.
On our 11,000-strong Facebook group, SalfordOnline.com readers have put forward a great array of famous faces who they think would fit the bill.
Among the recommendations are: the Bard of Salford John Cooper Clarke, Factory Records label boss and music impresario Tony Wilson, socialist songwriter Ewan MacColl, who this year was honoured on the centenary of his birth, Happy Mondays dancer and would-be politician Bez, the actors Albert Finney and Ben Kingsley, Salford’s greatest living artist Harold Riley, footballer Paul Scholes and even the local legend that is Vinegar Vera!
Of these only Tony Wilson, who died in 2007 and Ewan MacColl, who passed away in 1989, would be suitable for the honour.
Sadly, some of the city’s most famous scientists will not grace the £20 note.
In an ideal world we would like to have seen Salford physicist James Prescott Joule, who determined the unit of energy, get the honour, or even the Monton man John Henry Poynting who in the 1850s calculated the mass of the earth.
Watch: John Henry Poynting: The Monton man who weighed the world
However, there is one prominent playwright we think should be printed on the new note: Salford legend Shelagh Delaney, who this year was finally honoured with a plaque at her former Duchy home.
As the writer behind the 1958 classic A Taste of Honey she fits the criteria and would be a great addition to the line up considering that women rarely figure on banknotes, other than prison reformer Elizabeth Fry whose portrait adorns the current £5 note.
If you’ve been inspired by this article we would love to hear more suggestions.
Comment here, email editor@Salfordonline.com, tweet us @SalfordOnline or join the conversation on Facebook.
