UK’s 2016 coins to feature Bard plays, Beatrix Potter

Images representing Shakespeare plays and Beatrix Potter tales will be among those featuring on new coins in the UK in 2016 to give a snapshot of the country over the past 1,000 years, the Royal Mint said on Friday.

The histories, comedies and tragedies of Shakespeare will be depicted on £2 coins, 400 years after his death. A 50 pence coin will honour Helen Beatrix Potter to mark the 150 years since her birth, while another commemorates the Battle of Hastings, 950 years ago. Potter was an English author, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist best known for her children’s books featuring animals such as those in The Tale of Peter Rabbit. A picture of the Great Fire of London will be embossed onto a £2 coin to mark the event’s 350th anniversary.

The coins are meant to give a snapshot of Britain over the past 1,000 years. The Royal Mint’s five-year programme to mark the centenary of World War I will continue with a £2 coin remembering the community pride that fuelled the rise of the “Pals” battalions.