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John Lewis Partnership

John Lewis Partnership

The John Lewis Partnership is a major United Kingdom retailer, operating department stores and, through its Waitrose subsidiary, upmarket supermarkets. Unusually, it is a partnership, with the company held in trust on behalf of its employees (called partners) who receive an annual profit distribution which is usually a significant fraction of their annual salary. The partnership is an investor in and an operational partner of the Ocado internet grocery business, which supplies Waitrose brand food.

History

The business was founded in 1864 when John Lewis set up a draper's shop in Oxford Street, London, which developed into a department store. In 1905 he bought the Peter Jones store in Sloane Square. In 1920 his son, John Spedan Lewis, expanded earlier power-sharing policies by sharing the profits the business made among the employees. The democratic nature and profit-sharing basis of the business were developed into a formal partnership structure and Spedan Lewis bequeathed the company to his employees. By May 2005, over 63,000 Partners worked for the John Lewis Partnership. The principle and slogan Never knowingly undersold was adopted in 1925. It was created by Spedan Lewis in 1925 and was applied to the company's Peter Jones store in Sloane Square, London. It stated that if a customer could buy the same item cheaper elsewhere they would refund the difference. Today, the company still honours this pledge, and many of their competitors also offer such a pledge. The principle has been more refined, most notably to exclude online shopping, however they are the only large retailer that will match the price with any UK shop, not restricting it to a local area. The policy is also to monitor local competitors and reduce the shelf edge price if they are being 'undersold'. Staff (Partners) also get paid £2 for every time they notify the company of an occasion where they are being 'undersold'. The shop on Oxford Street was opened in 1960, the original buildings having been bombed. The sculpture Winged Figure by Barbara Hepworth was added in 1962. On 27th April 1933 John Lewis Partnership bought Jessops of Nottingham. This store was the first John Lewis outside London. The store kept the name "Jessops" until 2002, when after a refurbishment the store was renamed as simply John Lewis. The partnership has also purchased a number of other regional department stores, as well as developing stores in new locations. As of 2005 it has plans to open a new department store every year for the next few years, which is probably the most ambitious expansion programme in its history.

Financial performance

Figures in the above table are for 52 week periods to late January and are in British Pounds (millions). The accounts include profits both before and after partnership bonuses. While the partnership bonus takes the place of the dividend which might be paid if John Lewis was a limited company, on the basis of the tax charges disclosed in the accounts, it appears that most or all of it is accepted as tax deductible remuneration by the Inland Revenue. Profit figures before and after the partnership bonus are both shown, but arguably neither of them is strictly comparable to "profit before tax" of a limited company, which is the most widely quoted profit line in the United Kingdom. This is because the group might need to pay higher basic salaries if it was a listed company and therefore did not make an unusually large profit distribution to its staff. Net profit (ie profit after tax) is also shown; this is the profit line normally quoted for US companies. Financial section of John Lewis' website: [http://www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk/TemplatePage.aspx?PageType=ARA&PageID=6].

Department stores

limited company As of December 2005 the partnership operates 27 department stores. Most of these trade as John Lewis but some trade under other names such as Peter Jones, Robert Sayle, Knight & Lee and Caleys. The stores are in a mixture of city centre and regional shopping centre locations. They are generally the largest or second largest department store in their local market. The flagship Oxford Street store in London remains the largest John Lewis outlet in the UK. The stores are moderately upmarket and are perceived as a bastion of the British middle class.

In Greater London


- Brent Cross
- Chelsea (under the Peter Jones name)
- Kingston-upon-Thames
- Oxford Street

In South East England


- Bluewater
- High Wycombe
- Milton Keynes
- Portsmouth (Opens 2009)
- Reading (under the Heelas name until 2001)
- Southampton (under the Tyrell & Green name until 2000)
- Southsea (under the Knight & Lee name)
- Wallingford
- Watford (under the Trewins name until 2001)
- Welwyn Garden City
- Windsor (under the Caleys name)

In South West England


- Bristol

In the East of England


- Cambridge (under the Robert Sayle name) (New store opening in 2007)
- Norwich (under the Bonds name until 2001)
- Peterborough

In the East Midlands


- Leicester (Opens 2007)
- Nottingham (under the Jessops name until 2002)

In the West Midlands


- Cheadle
- Solihull

In Yorkshire and the Humber


- Leeds (Opens 2010)
- Sheffield (under the Cole Brothers name until 2002)

In the North West


- Cheadle, Greater Manchester
- Liverpool (under the George Henry Lee name until 2001)
- Trafford Centre

In the North East


- Newcastle (under the Bainbridge name until 2002)

In Wales


- Cardiff (Opens 2008)

In Scotland


- Aberdeen
- Edinburgh
- Glasgow

In Northern Ireland


- Sprucefield (Opens 2006)

Expansion

John Lewis has a number of new stores in the pipeline. In May 2005 a department store in the Manchester region at the Trafford Centre was opened. In June 2004 John Lewis announced plans to open its first store in Northern Ireland at the Sprucefield Park development, the province's largest out of town shopping centre, located outside Lisburn and ten miles from Belfast. The application was approved in June 2005. It will open in 2006. A store in Leicester will open in 2007, in the Shires West development. [http://www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk/TemplatePage.aspx?PageType=CAT&PageID=38] Cardiff (planned, as part of the St Davids Centre - Phase 2 redevelopment), will open in 2008. Stores will open in Portsmouth in 2009 and Leeds in 2010. John Lewis will also relocate the The Liverpool and Sheffield shops.

Supermarkets

Cardiff The John Lewis Partnership also owns Waitrose, an upmarket supermarket chain which has 173 branches (November 2005) and 27,000 partners. Waitrose trades mainly in London and the South of England, and was originally formed by Wallace Waite, Arthur Rose and David Taylor. The company was taken over by The John Lewis Partnership in 1937. The acquisition of 19 Safeway branches in 2004 greatly increased the size of the company and saw branches open in the North of England for the first time. A further six stores were purchased from Morrisons in Autumn 2005.

External links


- [http://www.john-lewis-partnership.co.uk/ John Lewis Partnership]
- [http://www.memorystore.org.uk/ Memory Store] Category:Retailers of the United Kingdom Category:Department stores Category:Employee-owned companies of the United Kingdom

Department store

A department store is a retail establishment which specializes in selling a wide range of products without a single predominant merchandise line. Department stores usually sell products including apparel, furniture, appliances, and additionally select other lines of products such as paint, hardware, toiletries, cosmetics, photographic equipment, jewelry, toys, and sporting goods. Certain department stores are further classified as discount department stores. Discount department stores commonly have central customer checkout areas, generally in the front area of the store. Department stores are usually part of a retail chain of many stores situated around a country or several countries.

History

retail chain Hudson's Bay Company in Canada was the first store to include departments, however by modern standards it would not be considered a department store because of the size and range of items that were stocked. The first true department store was founded by Aristide Boucicaut in Paris. He founded Bon Marché in 1838, and by 1852 it offered a wide variety of goods in "departments" inside one building. Goods were sold at fixed prices, with guarantees allowing exchanges and refunds. By the end of the 19th century, Georges Dufayel, a French credit merchant, had served up to three million customers and was affiliated with La Samaritaine, a large French department store established in 1870 by a former Bon Marché executive. In New York City in 1846, Alexander Turney Stewart established the Marble Palace on the east-Broadway, between Chambers and Reade streets. He offered European retail merchandise at fixed prices on a variety of dry goods, and advertised a policy of providing "free entrance" to all potential customers. Though it was clad in white marble to look like a Renaissance palazzo, the building's cast iron construction permitted large plate glass windows. In 1862 Stewart built a department store on a full city block at Broadway and 9th Street, opposite Grace Church, with eight floors and nineteen departments of dress goods and furnishing materials, carpets, glass and china, toys and sports equipment, ranged around a central glass-covered court. Within a couple of decades, New York's retail center had moved uptown, forming a stretch of retail shopping from Marble Palace, that was called the "Ladies' Mile". In 1858 Rowland Hussey Macy founded Macy's as a dry goods store. Benjamin Altman and Lord & Taylor soon competed with Stewart as New York's first department stores, later followed by "McCreary's" and, in Brooklyn, "Abraham & Straus" (The Straus family would be in the management of both Macy's and A&S. Similar developments were under way in London (with Liberty & Co) and in Paris (with La Samaritaine) and in Chicago, where department stores sprang up along State Street, notably Marshall Field and Company, which remains the second-largest store in the world (after Macy's). In 1877, Wanamaker's opened in Philadelphia. Philadelphia's John Wanamaker performed a 19th century redevelopment to the former Pennsylvania Railroad terminal in that city, and eventually opened a modern day department store in the building. On March 1, 1869 Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution was opened in Salt Lake City as a new community store that became the first incorporated department store in America in 1870. A new 3-story brick and iron store was built in 1876, noted for its unique architecture and striped awnings. This store was replaced by an enclosed shopping center in 1973, and the new Zion department store preserved the gilt-edged ornate facade of the old store. In 1999 the May Department Stores bought a 14-store ZCMI chain and changed its name to "Meier & Frank", a May property with eight stores in Oregon and Washington. In 1881, Joseph Lowthian Hudson opened a small men's clothing store in Detroit. After 10 years he had 8 stores in the midwest and was the most profitable clothing retailer in the country. In 1893 he began construction of the immense department store at Gratiot and Farmer streets in Detroit. The 25-story tower was added in 1928, and a 12-story addition in 1946, giving the entire complex 49 acres of floor space. In 1954 the company became a suburban shopping center pioneer when it built Northland 13 miles northwest of Detroit. In 1969 it merged with the Dayton Corporation to create Dayton-Hudson headquartered in Minneapolis. George Dayton had founded his Dayton's Daylight store in Minneapolis in 1902 and the AMC cooperative in 1912, built the Southland Shopping Center in 1956, and started the Target discount store chain in 1962. The new corporation closed the flagship Hudson department store in downtown Detroit in 1983, but expanded its other retail operations. It acquired Mervyn's in 1978, Marshall Field's in 1990, and renamed itself the Target Corporation in 2000. By 1890 a new world of retailing had been created as department stores had a clear market position as universal providers. General stores eventually became department stores as small towns became cities. The most prominent department stores emerged from small shops. The department store created several of North America's first large businesses. The department store is also largely responsible for the standard store design seen today, because of its size it required new building materials, glass technology and new heating, amongst other architectural innovations. The store layouts made shopping easier for consumers irrespective of their social or economic background. The department store also offered new customer services never before seen such as restaurants, restrooms, reading rooms, home delivery, wrapping services, store hours, new types of merchandise displays, and so forth. Some department stores leased space to individual merchants, along the lines of the new change in late 17th-century London, but by 1900 the smaller companies were purchased or eventually replaced by the larger companies. In some ways they were very similar to our modern malls, where the property owner has no direct interest in the actual department store itself, other than to collect rent and provide utilities. Today only the most specialized departments are leased out. This could include photography and photo finishing, automotive services, or financial services. However this is rare, even a store's restaurant is usually run by the department store itself today. Before the 1950s the department store held an eminent place in both Canada and Australia, during both the Great Depression and World War II. However, since then they have suffered from strong competition from specialist stores. Most recently the competition has intensified further with the advent of larger scale superstores (Jones et al. 1994; Merrilees and Miller 1997). However competition was not the only reason for the department stores weakening strength; the changing structure of cities also affected them as the compact and centralized 19th century city with its mass transit lines converging on the downtown, was a perfect environment for department store growth.

Discount store

A discount store is a type of department store, which sell products at prices lower than those asked by traditional retail outlets. Most discount department stores offer wide assortments of goods; others specialize in such merchandise as jewelry, electronic equipment, or electrical appliances. Discount department stores are more popular in the United States than other countries. Following World War II, a number of retail establishments in the United States began to pursue a high-volume, low-profit strategy designed to attract price-conscious consumers.

Countries

United States

World War II In the United States, retail brands and companies such as Dillard's, Federated Department Stores, Sears, J.C. Penney, and Nordstrom are considered department stores, while retail brands such as K-Mart and Wal-Mart are discount department stores. Other general merchandise retail establishments that combine a general line of groceries and other product lines characteristic of department stores are considered warehouse clubs or supercenters. Warehouse clubs require a nominal annual membership fee, while supercenters do not. Sam's Club and Costco are examples of warehouse clubs.

United Kingdom

Costco, England]] In 1906, Harry Gordon Selfridge a junior partner in Marshall Field's, left America to set up a department store, Selfridges in London. After it opened in 1909 it stimulated wide-ranging changes to British retail practice. The term "department store" is used somewhat more narrowly in the UK than in the US, generally only being applied to stores with a very wide range of departments situated in city and town centre or indoor shopping centre locations. Examples would include Debenhams, Fenwick, John Lewis and House of Fraser.

See also


- List of department stores
- Distribution
- Depato (Japanese department stores)
- Retailer
- Marketing

References


- Susan P Benson, Counter Cultures: Saleswomen, Managers, and Customers in American Department Stores, 1890-1940 (1988), ISBN 025206013X
- Abelson, Elaine S. When Ladies Go A-Thieving: Middle Class Shoplifters in the Victorian Department Store. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
- Barth, Gunther. "The Department Store ," in City People: The Rise of Modern City Culture in Nineteenth-Century America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.
- Benson, Susan Porter. Counter Culture: Saleswomen, Managers and Customers in American Department Stores, 1890-1940. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1988.
- Ershkowicz, Herbert. John Wanamaker, Philadelphia Merchant. New York: DaCapo Press, 1999.
- Gibbons, Herbert Adams. John Wanamaker. New York: Harper & Row, 1926.
- Hendrickson, Robert. The Grand Emporiums: The Illustrated History of America's Great Department Stores. New York: Stein and Day, 1979.
- Schlereth, Thomas J. Victorian America: Transformations in Everyday Life, 1876-1915. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.
- Spang, Rebecca L. The Invention of the Restaurant: Paris and Modern Gastronomic Culture. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2000. 325 p.

External links


- [http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/soc/shoppingcenter4.html History of The Department Store]
- [http://www.lowermanhattan.info/history/didyouknow/did_you_know_that_62478.asp A.T. Stewart's]
- [http://faculty.quinnipiac.edu/charm/dept.store.pdf The Wonderful World of the Department Store in Historical Perspective: A Comprehensive International Bibliography Partially Annotate, Robert D. Tamilia Ph.D.] — Long detailed paper describing the history of the department store (PDF)
- [http://www.allaboutstuff.com/All_Kinds_of_Trivia/The_First_Department_Store.asp The First Department Store article at allaboutstuff.com ] Category:Distribution, retailing, and wholesaling
- Category:Marketing ko:백화점 ja:百貨店

Supermarket

)]] A supermarket or grocery store is a store that sells a wide variety of food. A supermarket is larger than and more than a grocery store. Most supermarkets also sell a variety of other household products that are consumed regularly, such as alcohol (where permitted), household cleaning products, medicine, clothes, and some sell a much wider range of non-food products. Supermarkets are often part of a chain that owns or controls (sometimes by franchise) other supermarkets located in the same or other towns; this increases the opportunities for economies of scale. In the United States, supermarket chains are often supplied from the distribution centers of a larger business. Supermarkets usually offer products at low prices by reducing margins. Certain products (typically staples such as bread, milk and sugar) are often sold as loss leaders, that is, with negative margins. To maintain a profit, supermarkets attempt to make up for the low margins with a high overall volume of sales, and with sales of higher-margin items. Customers usually shop by putting their products into shopping carts (trolleys) or baskets (self-service) and pay for the products at the check-out. At present, many supermarket chains are trying to reduce labour costs further by shifting to self-service check-out machines, where a group of four or five machines is supervised by a single assistant. A larger full-service supermarket combined with a department store is sometimes known as a hypermarket. Other services that supermarkets may have include cafés, creches, photo development, pharmacies, and/or gas stations.

History

Early retailers did not trust their customers. In many stores, all products had to be fetched by an assistant from high shelves on one side of a counter while the customers stood on the other side and pointed to what they wanted. Also, many foods did not come in the individually wrapped consumer-size packages taken for granted today, so a clerk had to measure out the precise amount desired by the consumer. These practices were obviously labor-intensive and therefore quite expensive. The concept of a self-service grocery store was developed by Clarence Saunders and his Piggly Wiggly stores. A&P was the most successful of the early chains in the United States, having become common in American cities in the 1920s. The general trend in retail since then has been to stack shelves at night and let the customers get their own goods and bring them to the front of the store to pay for them. Although there is a higher risk of shoplifting, the costs of appropriate security measures will be ideally outweighed by the economies of scale and reduced labor costs. According to the Smithsonian Institution, the first true supermarket in the United States was opened by ex-Kroger employee Michael J. Cullen, on August 4, 1930, in a 6,000 square foot (560 m²) former garage in Jamaica, Queens, New York. The store, King Kullen, following King Kong, operated under the slogan "Pile it high. Sell it low." When Cullen died in 1936, there were seventeen stores in operation. Supermarkets proliferated in the United States along with suburban areas after World War II. Supermarkets in the USA are now often co-located with department stores in strip malls and are generally regional rather than national. Kroger is probably the closest thing in the U.S. to a national chain but has preserved most of its regional brands like Ralphs. It was formerly common for supermarkets to give trading stamps. Today, most supermarkets issue store-specific "members cards," "club cards," or "loyalty cards" which are scanned at the register when the customer goes to check-out. Typically, several items are given special discounts if the credit card-like devices are used. In Britain, France and other European countries, the proliferation of out-of-town supermarkets has been blamed for the disappearance of smaller, local grocery stores and for increased dependency on the motor car (and the consequent traffic). In particular, some critics consider the practice of selling loss leaders to be anti-competitive, and are also wary of the negotiating power large retailers have with suppliers. Today supermarkets face price competition from discount retailers such as Wal-Mart (non-union labor and greater buying power) and warehouse stores such as Costco (savings in bulk quantities).

Typical supermarket merchandise

Costco Larger supermarkets in the United States typically sell many different types of items, such as:
- Alcoholic products (where state and/or local laws allow; individual state control as to beer, wine, hard liquor, etc.)
- Electrical items
- Personal financial products (mortgages, credit cards, savings accounts, etc.)
- Pet foods and products
- Car care products
- Baby foods and products
- Beauty products (cosmetics)
- Newspapers, books and magazines, including supermarket tabloids
- Luggage
- DVDs, CDs and videos
- Breakfast cereals
- Confectionery
- Clothing and footwear
- Dairy products Dairy product
- Diet foods
- Medicines and first aid items (mostly over-the-counter, some supermarkets have pharmacies)
- Feminine hygiene products, like maxi pads, tampons, and pantiliners
- Flowers
- Frozen foods
- Fruits and vegetables
- Greeting cards
- Housecleaning products
- Lottery tickets
- Meat
- Non alcoholic beverages, such as refreshments and water
- Personal hygiene and grooming products
- Snacks
- Toys (most supermarkets in the US have toy sections)
- Video rentals (some supermarket chains)
- Western Union money orders and wire transfers Western Union In other countries, the range of products is sometimes more narrowly focused on food products, although the ranges sold are broadening in many countries as average store sizes increase.

See also


- List of supermarkets for chains past and present
- Point of sale
- Distribution
- List of marketing topics
- Asian supermarket
- Marketing
- Retail
- Retailers cooperative
- Shopping trolley
- Shopping hours

Patent


- - Self-serving store -- C. Saunders

Further reading


- William Greer, America the Bountiful: How the supermarket came to main street, Food Marketing Institute, 1986. ISBN 999925568X

References

Anonymous. "The place where supermarketing was born." Mass Market Retailers 19, no. 9 (17 June 2002): 172.

External links


- [http://www.groceteria.com/ groceteria.com] - supermarket history and architecture from the 1920s to the 1970s
- [http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/04/BUG7PE2DKH1.DTL Scrambling for customers], 4 Aug 2005, San Francisco Chronicle Category:Supermarkets category:Distribution, retailing, and wholesaling Category:Marketing Category:Food retailing ja:スーパーマーケット simple:Supermarket

Ocado

left Ocado is an internet based grocery retailer in the United Kingdom. The company was founded during the internet boom by a group of former merchant bankers in partnership with the upmarket Waitrose supermarket chain, and it emphasises this connection in its marketing, despite having a separate brand name. It is not very clear why a new brand name was chosen, when the Waitrose brand is very strong, and marketing the Ocado brand has been very expensive. 46% of Ocado's shares are owned by the John Lewis Partnership which also owns Waitrose which perhaps suggests future growth in non-food products In contrast to rival Tesco.com, Ocado operates a warehouse based model. It aims to compete on quality rather than price. As of early 2005 the company is widely reported to be a success measured against analyst expectations, and to be hoping to list on the London Stock Exchange during the year. Turnover is over £135 million ($260 million) per annum, and it has won several service and quality awards. However it is also reported that it is not yet profitable.

External link


- [http://www.ocado.com Official site]
- [http://www.waitrose.com Waitrose] Category:British supermarkets Category:Internet companies of the United Kingdom

Sloane Square

Sloane Square is a small hard-landscaped square on the boundaries of the fashionable London districts of Belgravia and Chelsea. It is located 1.7 miles (2.8 km) south west of Charing Cross. The square lies at the east end of the trendy King's Road and at the south end of the more conventionally smart Sloane Street. In the early 1980s, it lent its name to the "Sloane Rangers", the young underemployed and ostentatiously well-off members of the upper classes. The Square has two notable buildings: Peter Jones department store and the Royal Court Theatre. The River Westbourne is carried over the tube station in a large iron pipe. As of early 2005 it is proposed to improve the square. This will involve changing the road layout to make it more pedestrian friendly. One option is to create a central crossroads and two open spaces in front of Peter Jones and the Royal Court. Category:Streets of London Category:London squares Category:Kensington & Chelsea

Peter Jones

Peter Jones (June 12, 1920 – April 10, 2000) was an English actor, born at Wem in Shropshire. He was most noted for his lead role in the TV sitcom The Rag Trade and his elegant repartee on the BBC Radio 4 programme, Just a Minute. Jones was also the voice of The Book in the original BBC radio and subsequent television and LP adaptations of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He also narrated Douglas Adams's radio series Last Chance to See. He also had guest starring roles in the British comedy series The Goodies and the courtroom drama Rumpole of the Bailey. In addition to appearing in a number of television series, such as Holby City, Whoops Apocalypse and The Bill, Jones featured in a number of films, including Private's Progress, School for Scoundrels, Chariots of Fire and The Return of the Pink Panther. He was also a talented scriptwriter. His daughter, Selena Carey-Jones, is herself an actress.

External links


- Jones, Peter Jones, Peter Jones, Peter Jones, Peter Jones, Peter Jones, Peter Jones, Peter Jones, Peter

Online shop

Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services over the internet. An online shop, Internet shop, webshop or online store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks-and-mortar retailer or in a shopping mall. It is an electronic commerce application used for B2B or B2C. Online shopping is popular mainly because of its speed and ease of use. Some issues of concern can include fluctuating exchange rates for foreign currencies, local and international laws and delivery methods.

Price comparison

An advantage of shopping online is being able to use the power of the internet to seek out the lowest prices for items or services. For example if you are buying a digital camera you should enter "digital camera" into a search engine or a price search engine. Most price search engines have the advantage of store ratings and reviews. Getting the lowest price is important but it is more important to make sure the merchant or store you are purchasing from is reputable.

Steps when buying online


- Browse product categories using a web browser
- Put items into virtual shopping cart (or market basket). ::Just as in a physical store viewing the contents of the cart can be done at any time. ::Quantaties of products can be changed or deleted.
- Checkout ::Log in or register by choosing a username and a password. ::Enter personal data. :::Billing address :::Shipping address (can be different from the billing address) :::Phone number :::E-Mail address (usually optional) ::Choose means of payment ::Choose delivery speed and method (post, courier and logistics service, etc.)
- Confirm order ::After editing the personal data a confirmation page is displayed so that the online shopper can approve, change or abort the order.
- Logout In addition to a shopping cart system a recurring user could be recognized again by storing a "Cookie" on his computer. That way he can purchase an item by just clicking on it without having to login and enter the credit and shipping information again. Amazon.com was granted the United States Patent Number 5,960,411 for this method - the famous Amazon "One-Click Patent".

Means of payment

Online shoppers commonly use their Credit card for making payments, however some systems enable users to create accounts and pay by alternative means, such as
- Debit card
- All kinds of Electronic money, Ecash (or digital money)
- Cash on delivery (C.O.D.)
- Cheque
- Money transfer / delivery on payment
- Postal money order Once a payment has been accepted the goods or services can either be downloaded from the internet or delivered to the consumer via traditional means.

Security issues


- User and payment data is encrypted by SSL when it is transferred on the Internet.
- Quality seals can be placed on the Shop webpage if it has undergone an independent assessment and meets all requirements of the company issuing the seal. The purpose of these seals is to increase the confidence of the online shoppers; the existence of many different seals foils this effort to a certain extent.
- Privacy of personal information is a big issue. In spite of Privacy Guidelines of the OECD, for example, privacy violations still occur and hamper eCommerce from developing to its full potential.

Setting up a shopping cart system


- Simple systems allow the offline administration of products and categories. The shop is then generated as HTML files and graphics that can be uploaded to a webspace. These systems don't use an online database.
- A high end solution can be bought or rented as a standalone program or as an addition to an ERP program. It is usually installed on the company's own webserver and may integrate very well into the existing supply chain so that ordering, payment, delivery, accounting and warehousing can be automated to a large extent.
- Other solutions allow the user to register and create an online shop on a portal that hosts multiple shops at the same time.
- Open Source solutions can be adapted and installed on a webspace.
- There are also commercial systems that can be tailored to ones needs so that the shop does not have to be created from scratch. By using a framework already existing, software modules for different functionalities required by a webshop can be adapted and combined.

History


- 1990: Tim Berners-Lee wrote "The WorldWideWeb browser" using a NeXT computer.
- 1994: Netscape released the Navigator browser in October under the code name Mozilla. Pizza Hut offered pizza ordering on its Web page. The first online bank opened. Attempts to offer flower delivery and magazine subscriptions online. "Adult" materials were also commercially available very soon. Netscape 1.0 in late 1994 introduced SSL encryption that made transactions secure.
- 1995: Jeff Bezos launched Amazon.com and the first commercial 24 hr. internet only radio station "Radio HK" started broadcasting. Dell and Cisco began to aggressively use Internet for commercial transactions.
- 1996: eBay was founded.
- 1998: Electronic postal stamps can be purchased and downloaded for printing from the Web.
- 1999: business.com was sold for US $7.5 million (purchased 1997 for US $150,000) The peer-to-peer filesharing software "Napster" was launched.
- 1999: The UK's first graphical Internet shopping mall ([http://www.thevirtualmall.co.uk The Virtual Mall]) was launched.
- 2000: The dot-com bust.
- 2001: Merger of AOL and Time Warner.
- 2003: Amazon.com: first-ever full-year profit.

See also


- Bricks and clicks business model
- Business-to-business electronic commerce
- Business-to-consumer electronic commerce
- Electronic business
- Electronic commerce
- Enterprise resource planning
- Internet fraud
- Retailer
- Shopping cart
- Shopping mall
- Online shopping rewards

External links


- [http://www.nettfinds.com/ Shopping safely online]
- [http://jsis.artsci.washington.edu/programs/europe/Netconference/Strauss-RogersonPaper.htm Policies for online privacy]

Barbara Hepworth

Dame Barbara Hepworth (January 10, 1903 – May 20, 1975), born in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, was one of the most important British Artists of the 20th century. She was certainly the pre-eminent female British sculptor and often considered as great a sculptor as her friend and contemporary Henry Moore, if not quite as famous. Barbara Hepworth's full name was Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth, but she and always known as Barbara. She studied Art at Leeds School of Art (where she met and became friends with Henry Moore), at the Royal College of Art, London, and in Italy. One of her most prestigious works was Single Form (1961–1964), a memorial to the UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld, at the United Nations building in New York City. Hepworth married the sculptor John Skeaping (1901-1980), and in 1933 became the second wife of the painter Ben Nicholson; they divorced in 1951. She was made a Dame in 1965. Hepworth died in a fire in her studio in St Ives, Cornwall. Her home and studio are now the Barbara Hepworth Museum. Hepworth's work can be seen in St Ives at the Barbara Hepworth Museum, at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park at West Bretton, West Yorkshire. Examples can also be found at Churchill College and New Hall, Cambridge. In London there is one at Kenwood House, and in Oxford Street one of her large sculptures is attached to the eastern wall of the John Lewis department store. Another sculpture is affixed to the outer wall of a tall office building in St Martin's Lane near Covent Garden.

Selected list of works

Covent Garden
- 1928 Doves — Parian marble
- 1932-33 Seated Figure — lignum vitae
- 1933 Two Forms — alabaster and limestone
- 1934 Mother and Child — Cumberland alabaster
- 1935 Three Forms — Serravezza marble
- 1936 Ball Plane and Hole — lignum vitae, mahogany and oak
- 1940 Sculpture with Colour (Deep Blue and Red) — mixed media
- 1943 Oval Sculpture — cast material
- 1943-44 Wave — wood, paint and strings
- 1944 Landscape Sculpture — wood (cast in bronze in 1961)
- 1946 Pelagos — wood, paint and string
- 1946 Tides — wood and paint1946
- 1949 Operation: Case for Discussion — oil and pencil on pressed paperboard
- 1951 Group I (Concourse) February 4 1951 — Serravezza marble
- 1953 Hieroglyph — ancaster
- 1954-55 Two Figures — teak and paint
- 1955 Oval Sculpture (Delos) — scented guarea wood and paint
- 1955-56 Coré — bronze
- 1956 Orpheus (Maquette) (Version II) — brass and cotton string
- 1956 Stringed Figure (Curlew), Version II — brass and cotton string
- 1958 Cantate Domino — bronze
- 1958 Sea Form (Porthomeor) — bronze
- 1960 Figure for a Landscape — bronze
- 1960 Archaeon — bronze
- 1962–63 Bronze Form (Patmos) — bronze
- 1964 Rock Form (Porthcurno) — Bronze
- 1964 Sea Form (Atlantic) — bronze
- 1966 Figure in a Landscape — bronze on wooden base
- 1966 Four-Square Walk Through — bronze
- 1968 Two Figures — bronze
- 1970 Family of Man — bronze
- 1971 The Aegean Suite — series of prints
- 1971 Summer Dance — painted bronze
- 1972 Minoan Head — marble on wooden base
- 1972 Assembly of Sea Forms — white marble mounted on stainless steel base
- 1973 Conversation with Magic Stones — bronze Hepworth, Barbara Hepworth, Barbara Hepworth, Barbara Hepworth, Barbara Hepworth, Barbara Hepworth, Barbara

1933

1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January


- January 3 - Japanese troops occupy Shanghai
- January 5 - Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins in San Francisco Bay.
- January 15 - Political violence has caused almost 100 deaths in Spain
- January 17 - US Congress votes favorable for Philippines independence, against the view of president Hoover
- January 30 - Edouard Daladier forms a government in France
- January 30 - Adolf Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany by Reich President Paul von Hindenburg.
- January 30 - The first airing of episode 1 of 2,956 episodes of the radio program The Lone Ranger.

February


- February 4 - Mutiny starts on the Dutch pantserschip Zeven Provincien.
- February 6 - The 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution goes into effect.
- February 6-7 - Officers on the USS Ramapo record 34 meters high sea-wave in the Pacific
- February 10 - The New York City-based Postal Telegraph Company introduces the first singing telegram.
- February 15 - In Miami, Florida Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead kills Chicago, Illinois Mayor Anton J. Cermak.
- February 17 - The magazine Newsweek is published for the first time.
- February 17 - The Blaine Act ends Prohibition in the United States.
- February 27 - Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, is set on fire (see: Reichstag fire).

March


- March 1 - Kyriakos Varvaressos becomes Deputy Governor to the Bank of Greece
- March 3 - Mount Rushmore is dedicated.
- March 4 - American President Herbert Clark Hoover is succeeded by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who in reference to the Great Depression, gives his "We have nothing to fear, but fear itself" inauguration speech.
- March 4 Frances Perkins becomes United States Secretary of Labor, first female member of the United States Cabinet.
- March 4 - The Parliament of Austria is suspended because of a quibble over procedure - Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss initiates authoritarian rule by decree (see Austrofascism)
- March 5 - Great Depression: President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a "bank holiday", closing all United States banks and freezing all financial transactions (the 'holiday' ended on March 13).
- March 5 - in German elections, National Socialists gain 43.9% of the votes
- March 9 - Great Depression: The U.S. Congress begins its first 100 days of enacting New Deal legislation.
- March 10 - Earthquake in Long Beach, California kills 117 people.
- March 12 - Great Depression: Franklin Delano Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States. This was also the first of his "Fireside Chats".
- March 20 - Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, is completed - opened March 22
- March 23 - The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act, making Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany.
- March 27 - Japan leaves the League of Nations
- March 31 - The Civilian Conservation Corps is established with the mission to relieve rampant unemployment.

April


- April 1 - The recently elected Nazis under Julius Streicher organize a one-day boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses in Germany, ushering in the series of anti-Semitic acts that will be known as the Holocaust.
- April 3 - Anti-monarchist rebellion in Siam
- April 4 - US airship Akron crashes near New York - 74 dead
- April 5 - International court in the Hague decides that Greenland belongs to Denmark and condemns Norwegian landings on eastern Greenland. Norway submits to the decision
- April 11 - Aviator William Lancaster takes off in England in an attempt to make a speed record to Cape. He vanishes (body is found 1962 in Sahara)
- April 21 - Nazi Germany outlaws kosher ritual shechita
- April 23 - Japanese crown prince Akihito born
- April 26 - Gestapo established.
- April 26 - Editors of Harvard Lampoon steal the Sacred Cod of Massachusetts from the State House. It is returned two days later
- April 27 - Stahlhelm organizations joins the Nazi party
- May - Detection by Karl Jansky of radio waves from the centre of the Milky Way galaxy reported

May


- May 2 - First modern sighting of the Loch Ness Monster.
- May 2 - Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler bans trade unions.
- May 8 - Mohandas Gandhi begins a 3-week hunger strike because of the mistreatment of the lower castes
- May 10 - Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings.
- May 10 - Paraguay declares war on Bolivia
- May 17 - Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort form Nasjonal Samling - the national-socialist party of Norway.
- May 18 - New Deal: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
- May 26 - Nazi party in Germany introduces law to legalize eugenic sterilization
- May 27 - New Deal: The Federal Securities Act is signed into law requiring the registration of securities with the Federal Trade Commission.
- May 27 - The Century of Progress world's fair opens in Chicago, Illinois.

June


- June 5 - The U.S. Congress abrogates the United States' use of the gold standard by enacting a joint resolution (48 Stat. 112) nullifying the right of creditors to demand payment in gold.
- June 6 - The first drive-in theater opened in Camden New Jersey.
- June 17 - In Kansas City, Missouri, Pretty Boy Floyd kills four unarmed FBI agents and captured fugitive Frank Nash in a failed attempt to free Nash. This becomes known as the Union Station Massacre.
- June 21 - All non-Nazi parties forbidden in Germany
- June 25 - Wilmersdorfer Tennishallen delegate convention in Berlin

July


- July 4 - Mohandas Gandhi sentenced to prison
- July 14 - Forming new political parties forbidden in Germany.
- July 20 - 500.000 people demonstrate against anti-Semitism in Hyde Park, London
- July 22 - Wiley Post becomes first person to fly solo around the world, traveling 15,596 miles in 7 days, 18 hours, and 45 minutes.
- July 22 - "Machine-Gun" Kelly and Albert Bates kidnap Charles Urschel, an Oklahoma oilman, and demand $200.000 ransom

August


- August 14 - Loggers cause a forest fire in the Coast Range of Oregon, later known as the first forest fire of the Tillamook Burn. It is extinguished on September 5, after destroying 240,000 acres (971 km²).
- August 30 - Assassination of Theodore Lessing in Marienbad (Mariánské Lázně), Czechoslovakia
- August 30 - Air France begins operations with 250 planes.

September


- September 3 - Alejandro Lerroux forms a new government in Spain.
- September 12 - Leó Szilárd, waiting for a red light on Southampton Row in Bloomsbury, conceives the idea of the nuclear chain reaction.
- September 26 - Tornado destroys the town of Tampico in Mexico.

October


- October 1 - Failed assassination attempt against Englebert Dolfuss only injures him seriously.
- October 12 - The United States Army Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz is acquired by the United States Department of Justice, which plans to incorporate the island into its Bureau of Prisons as a federal penitentiary.
- October 16 - Germany announces intention to leave the League of Nations - officially
- October 17 - Albert Einstein arrived in the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany. October 19

November


- November 4 - In Paris, a burglar tries to rob an antique store wearing an armor suit but is captured.
- November 8 - Great Depression: New Deal - US President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveils the Civil Works Administration, an organization designed to create jobs for more than 4 million of the unemployed.
- November 11 - Dust Bowl: In South Dakota, a very strong dust storm strips topsoil from desiccated farmlands (this is just one of a series of disastrous dust storms that year).
- November 16 - The United States and the Soviet Union establish formal diplomatic relations.
- November 16 - President of Brazil Getulio Vargas names himself dictator

December


- December 5 - The repeal of prohibition in the United States went into effect.
- December 24 - Train crash in Lagny, France - over 200 dead
- December 26 - The Nissan Motor Company was organized in Tokyo, Japan.
- December 26 - FM radio is patented.
- December 29 - Members of the Iron Guard assassinate Ion Gheorghe Duca, prime minister of Romania

Undated


- British Interplanetary Society founded
- The chocolate chip cookie is invented by Ruth Wakefield.
- The United States Federal Government ends Prohibition and outlaws marijuana.
- Failed coup against Franklin Delano Roosevelt in United States (see Smedley Butler)
- London Passenger Transport Board founded.
- Jimmie Angel becomes the first person to see the Angel Falls, they are named after him.
- Nazi Germany forms the Expert Committee on Questions of Population and Racial Policy under Reich Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick.
- Holodomor took place in Ukraine

Births

January


- January 6 - Oleg Makarov, cosmonaut (d. 2003)
- January 6 - Emil Steinberger, Swiss comedian, director, and writer
- January 8 - Charles Osgood, American journalist and commentator
- January 14 - Stan Brakhage, American filmmaker (d. 2003)
- January 16 - Susan Sontag, American author (d. 2004)
- January 17 - Dalida, French singer (d. 1987)
- January 17 - Sadruddhin Aga Khan, French UN High Commissioner for Refugees (d. 2003)
- January 18 - John Boorman, American film director
- January 23 - Chita Rivera, American actress and dancer
- January 25 - Corazon Aquino, President of the Philippines

February


- February 8 - Elly Ameling, Dutch soprano
- February 12 - Costa-Gavras, Greek-born director and writer
- February 13 - Kim Novak, American actress
- February 14 - Madhubala, Indian actress
- February 18 - Yoko Ono, Japanese-born singer and artist, wife of John Lennon
- February 21 - Nina Simone, American singer (d. 2003)
- February 22- Katharine, Duchess of Kent
- February 27 - Raymond Berry, American football player

March


- March 6 - Ted Abernathy, baseball player (d. 2004)
- March 14 - Michael Caine, English actor
- March 14 - Quincy Jones, American music producer and composer
- March 15 - Ruth Bader Ginsburg, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
- March 15 - Roy Clark, American musician
- March 16 - Sandy Weill, American financier and philanthropist
- March 19 - Philip Roth, American author
- March 22 - May Britt, Swedish actress

April


- April 1 - Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- April 5 - Larry Felser, American sports columnist
- April 6 - Roy Goode, British legal academic
- April 12 - Montserrat Caballé, Catalan soprano
- April 12 - Ben Nighthorse Campbell, U.S. Senator
- April 15 - Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (d. 1995)
- April 16 - Joan Bakewell, British broadcaster
- April 19 - Jayne Mansfield, American actress (d. 1967)
- April 25 - Jerry Leiber, American composer
- April 26 - Carol Burnett, American actress, singer, and comedienne
- April 26 - Arno Allan Penzias, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- April 29 - Mark Eyskens, Prime Minister of Belgium

May


- May 3 - James Brown, American musician
- May 3 - Steven Weinberg, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- May 7 - Johnny Unitas, American football player (d. 2002)
- May 10 - Barbara Taylor Bradford, English writer
- May 11 - Louis Farrakhan, American Black Muslim leader
- May 20 - Danny Aiello, American actor
- May 21 - Maurice André, French trumpeter
- May 23 - Joan Collins, English actress
- May 26 - Edward Whittemore, American writer and Central Intelligence agent (d. 1995)
- May 29 - Marc Carbonneau, Canadian terrorist
- May 29 - Helmuth Rilling, German conductor

June


- June 1 - Charles Wilson, American politician
- June 6 - Heinrich Rohrer, Swiss physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- June 8 - Joan Rivers, American comedienne
- June 11 - Gene Wilder, American actor
- June 13 - Tom King, British politician
- June 17 - Harry Browne, American writer and Presidential candidate
- June 19 - Viktor Patsayev, cosmonaut (d. 1971)
- June 23 - Dave Bristol, baseball manager
- June 26 - Claudio Abbado, Italian conductor
- June 29 - John Bradshaw, American theologian and educator

July


- July 7 - Murray Halberg, New Zealand runner
- July 8 - Marty Feldman, English comedian, actor (d. 1982)
- July 15 - Julian Bream, English guitarist and lutenist
- July 15 - Guido Crepax, Italian comics artist (d. 2003)
- July 21 - John Gardner, American novelist (d. 1982)
- July 23 - Bert Convy, American game show host, actor, and singer (d. 1991)

August


- August 1 - Dom DeLuise, American actor and comedian
- August 10 - Doyle Brunson, American poker player
- August 14 - Richard R. Ernst, Swiss chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- August 16 - Stuart Roosa, astronaut (d. 1994)
- August 21 - Janet Baker, English mezzo-soprano
- August 23 - Robert Curl, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- August 29 - Arnold Koller, Swiss Federal Councilor

September-October


- September 1 - Ann Richards, Governor of Texas
- September 2 - Mathieu Kérékou, President of Benin
- September 9 - Michael Novak, American philosopher and author
- September 10 - Yevgeny Khrunov, cosmonaut (d. 2000)
- September 17 - Dorothy Loudon, American actress (d. 2003)
- September 15 - Rafael Frübeck de Burgos, Spanish conductor
- September 25 - Hubie Brown, American basketball coach and broadcaster
- October 9 - Peter Mansfield, British physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

November


- November 3 - Michael Dukakis, American politician and Presidential candidate
- November 3 - Amartya Sen, Indian economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- November 19 - Larry King, talk show host
- November 23 - Krzysztof Penderecki, Polish composer

December


- December 2 - Michael Larrabee, American athlete (d. 2003)
- December 3 - Paul J. Crutzen, Dutch chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- December 6 - Henryk Górecki, Polish composer
- December 9 - Morton Downey, Jr., American television personality (d. 2001)
- December 20 - Jean Carnahan, American politician
- December 23 - Emperor Akihito of Japan
- December 26 - Ugly Dave Grey, Australian television personality

Deaths

January-March


- January 1 - Harriet Brooks, Canadian physicist (b. 1976)
- January 3 - Jack Pickford, Canadian-born actor (b. 1896)
- January 5 - Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States (b. 1872)
- January 7 - Bert Hinkler, Australian pioneer aviator (b. 1892)
- January 31 - John Galsworthy, English writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
- February 12 - Henri Duparc, French composer (b. 1848)
- February 15 - Pat Sullivan, Australian-born director and producer of animated films (b. 1887)
- February 18 - James J. Corbett, American boxer (b. 1866)
- March 6 - Anton Cermak, Mayor of Chicago (assassinated) (b. 1873)
- March 14 - Balto, American sled dog
- March 26 - Eddie Lang, American musician (b. 1902)

April-June


- April 3 - William A. Moffett, U.S. admiral (sinking of the USS Akron) (b. 1869)
- May 24 - Percy C. Mather, missionary
- May 26 - Jimmie Rodgers, American country singer (b. 1897)
- June 2 - Frank Jarvis, American athlete (b. 1878)

July-December


- July 3 - Hipólito Yrigoyen, President of Argentina (b. 1852)
- July 15 - Irving Babbitt, American literary critic (b. 1865)
- July 15 - Freddie Keppard, American jazz musician (b. 1890)
- October 5 - Renée Adorée, French actress (b. 1898)
- November 30 - Arthur Currie, Canadian military leader (b. 1875)
- December 4 - Stefan George, German poet (b. 1868)
- December 8 - Karl Jatho, German airplane pioneer (b. 1873)
- December 25 - Francesc Macià, President of the Generalitat (autonomous government of Catalonia) (b. 1859)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Erwin Schrödinger, Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac
- Chemistry - not awarded
- Physiology or Medicine - Thomas Hunt Morgan
- Literature - Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin
- Peace - Sir Norman Angell (Ralph Lane) Category:1933 ko:1933년 ms:1933 ja:1933年 simple:1933 th:พ.ศ. 2476

British pounds

:GBP redirects here. For other uses, see GBP (disambiguation). :For details of notes and coins, see British coinage and British banknotes. The pound sterling is the official currency of the United Kingdom (UK). It is often simply called the pound, with "pound sterling" used mainly in formal contexts or when it is necessary to distinguish the unit of currency from others that have the same name (the term British pound is also often used for this purpose). The slang term quid is very common in the UK. The currency in general is sometimes called just sterling (e.g. "payment must be in sterling"). The pound was originally the value of one pound (weight) of sterling silver (hence "pound sterling"). The sign for the pound is the pound sign, £ (or rarely just "L"). Both symbols derive from libra, the Latin word for "pound". The ISO 4217 currency code is GBP (Great Britain Pound). Occasionally the abbreviation UKP is seen, but this is incorrect. The pound sterling is one of the world's most widely traded currencies, along with the United States dollar, the euro, and the Japanese yen.

Subdivisions

yen, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1, £2]] £2 £2 One pound is divided into 100 pence, the singular of which is "penny". The symbol for the penny is "p"; hence an amount such as 50p is often pronounced "fifty pee" rather than "fifty pence". Prior to decimalisation in 1971, each pound was divided into 240 pence — although it was usually expressed as being divided into twenty shillings, with each shilling equal to twelve pence. The symbol for the shilling was "/" or "s" — not from the first letter of the word, but rather from the Latin word solidus. The symbol for the penny was "d", from the French word denier, which in turn was from the Latin word denarius. (The solidus and denarius were Roman coins.) The multiples involved in the pre-decimal currency were such that amounts such as a pound or a shilling had many factors into which they could be exactly divided. However, as these monetary amounts decreased in spending power, and their subdivision therefore became a less important issue, it was decided instead to introduce decimal currency in order to simplify arithmetic. After Decimal Day, the value of one penny was therefore different from its pre-decimalisation value. For the first few years after 1971, the new type of penny was commonly referred to as a "new penny". Coins for denominations of ½p, 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p and 50p all bore the name NEW PENCE (or NEW PENNY) until 1982, when the inscription changed to HALF PENNY, ONE PENNY, TWO PENCE, FIVE PENCE and so on. The old 1/ and 2/ coins were equivalent in value to 5p and 10p respectively, and as such these coins remained valid within the decimal system until the 5p and 10p coins were each later replaced with smaller versions in the early 1990s.

Legal tender and regional issues

Laws of legal tender are uniquely complex in the UK. In England and Wales, banknotes issued by the Bank of England are legal tender, meaning that they must be accepted in payment of a debt. In Scotland and Northern Ireland, no banknotes are legal tender, and each bank which issues banknotes does so in the form of its own 'promissory notes'. Scottish and Northern Irish notes are sometimes rejected by shops when used in England. Scottish and Northern Irish notes' designs are also different from the English notes' designs. The one pound coin also has many varied designs on the reverse side, which differ from year to year with new designs appearing; however, all of these are Royal Mint coins and of equivalent legality. The nature of legal tender is even more restricted in Scotland — only Royal Mint coins are legal tender, and even then the use of smaller coins is limited (the five and ten pence coins are only legal tender to a value of five pounds, for example). However, one and two pound coins are legal tender to an indefinite amount. This was not always the case, as during World War II the Scottish banknotes were made legal tender by the Currency (Defence) Act 1939; this status was withdrawn on January 1 1946. To further complicate matters, some notes of the Bank of England were until recently legal tender in Scotland and Northern Ireland. This status only applied to notes under a value of five pounds, so following the withdrawal of the Bank of England one pound note in 1985, no circulating notes were covered by this clause. All commonly circulating British coins are legal tender throughout the UK, as are the rarely seen five pound and twenty-five pence ("crown") coins. Several gold coins issued by the Mint are still legal tender, though as they have a bullion value far greater than their face value they are never used in circulation and tend to be kept by collectors. Gibraltar and the islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Saint Helena, the Falkland Islands and the Isle of Man, which are not part of the United Kingdom, also issue their own currencies, which are fixed to the value of sterling. None of the regional currencies are legal tender in England or in other regions, but they are commonly accepted by large businesses and banks, or are sometimes accepted unknowingly- for example, many vending machines cannot distinguish between British coins and those from outside the UK. An exchange commission may be charged if used at a bank or a large business. Such currencies tied to the Pound Sterling are known as sterling zone currencies. During the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries, a large number of British dominions and colonies were members of the sterling zone. :See : British banknotes, Isle of Man pound, Guernsey Pound, Jersey pound, Gibraltar pound, Falkland pound, Saint Helenian pound

Value against other currencies

The pound is now freely bought and sold on the foreign exchange markets around the world, and its value relative to other currencies therefore fluctuates (rising when traders buy pounds, falling when traders sell pounds). It has traditionally been among the highest-valued of all base currency units in the world.
- Historic exchange rates (since 1990) are given at Economy of the United Kingdom#Exchange rates
- Current wholesale exchange rates between sterling and other currencies can be viewed [http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/market/rates.asp?Region=0&Compare=3 here].

History

Before sterling


- In Anglo-Saxon times, small silver coins known as sceats were used in trade: these were derived from Frisian examples, and weighed about 20 grains (c. 1.3 g).
- King Offa of Mercia c. AD 790 introduced a silver penny of 22.5 grains (c. 1.5 g). Two hundred and forty of the