Last batch of rare final Queen Elizabeth II £1 coins entering circulation
The Royal Mint said the last of the Elizabeth II coins, dated 2022, are the rarest £1 coins in active circulation.
The late Queen died in 2022 but her coins remain in circulation (Victoria Jones/PA)
The historic transition – with the dual release of almost 31 million coins – represents a significant moment for UK coinage, as the nation witnesses the changeover from Britain's longest-reigning monarch to her son and heir on the £1 denomination, the Royal Mint said.
The Queen's £1 coins will be the final ones bearing Elizabeth II's portrait to enter circulation.
Rebecca Morgan, director of commemorative coin at the Royal Mint, said: 'This release represents a pivotal moment in British coinage history.
The reverse side of the new Queen Elizabeth II £1 coin (Royal Mint/PA)
'As we release more of the King Charles III £1 coins into circulation alongside the final coins of Queen Elizabeth II, we're witnessing the physical representation of our monarchy's transition.
'This dual release creates an exceptional opportunity for both seasoned numismatists and those new to coin collecting.'
The Royal Mint is encouraging the public to check its change over the coming weeks, as the new coins begin to appear in pockets and tills across the nation.
The King Charles III £1 coins in production (Royal Mint/PA)
Ms Morgan added: 'Finding these new coins in your change could spark a rewarding hobby that connects you with the heritage, history and craftsmanship behind British currency.'
Since the introduction of the King's effigy on UK coinage in 2023, the 50p and £1 are the only denominations with Charles's portrait to have entered circulation so far.
The King's £1 coins feature an intricate bee design on the reverse and are part of the Definitive collection, inspired by the flora and fauna of the British Isles.
Some 2.975 million £1s with the King's effigy were released in August last year.
The King Charles III coins being struck at the Royal Mint (Royal Mint/PA)
In total, there are around 24.7 billion coins in circulation across the UK, with the King's coins representing only around 0.004% of those, making his new coins highly desirable to collectors.
All UK coins bearing the Queen's portrait will remain legal tender and in active circulation to allow a smooth transition and minimise the environmental impact and cost.
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Scottish Sun
28 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
I just knew one day people would finally get Nick Drake, says legendary producer Joe Boyd
Drake died aged 26 in 1974 from an overdose of antidepressants, never enjoying commercial success in his lifetime, never knowing how much he would be appreciated. TROUBLED SOUL I just knew one day people would finally get Nick Drake, says legendary producer Joe Boyd Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) 'I REMEMBER the moment I first saw Nick. He was very tall – but kind of apologetically tall.' Legendary producer Joe Boyd is casting his mind back to January 1968, to the day 'very good-looking but very self-effacing' Nick Drake dropped a tape off at his London office. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 5 Nick Drake died aged 26 in 1974, never enjoying commercial success in his lifetime Credit: Getty - Contributor 'He stooped a bit, like he was trying not to seem as tall as he was. 'It was wintertime and there were ash stains on his overcoat. He handed me the tape and trundled off. 'My first encounter with Nick's music was, most likely, that same evening or possibly the following one.' Boyd, an American who became a central figure in the late Sixties British folk-rock boom, was 25 at the time. Drake was 19. He cut a striking figure — lanky with dark shoulder-length hair framing his boyish features. Through his company, Witchseason Productions, Boyd came to helm stellar albums by Fairport Convention (with Sandy Denny), John Martyn, Shirley Collins and The Incredible String Band. But there was something indefinably mesmerising about those three songs passed to him by the quiet teenager who studied English Literature at Cambridge University. As Boyd switched on his 'little Wollensak reel-to-reel tape recorder', he was captivated by Drake's soft but sure tones, allied to his intricate fingerpicking guitar. 'I think the songs were I Was Made To Love Magic, Time Has Told Me and The Thoughts Of Mary Jane,' he says. 'From the first intro to the first song, I thought, 'Whoa, this is different'.' I'm speaking to Boyd to mark the release of a beautifully curated box set, The Making Of Five Leaves Left, a treasure trove of demos, outtakes and live recordings. Rounding it off is the finished product, Drake's debut album for Chris Blackwell's fabled Island Records pink label. Bob Dylan biopic is an immaculate portrayal of the grumpy singer's rise to fame - shame his women feel like complete unknowns In 2025, the singer's status as one of Britain's most cherished songwriters is assured. A troubled soul, Drake died aged 26 in 1974 from an overdose of antidepressants, never enjoying commercial success in his lifetime, never knowing how much he would be appreciated. But Boyd, now 83, had no doubts about the rare talent that he first encountered in 1968. He picks up the story again: 'Ashley Hutchings, the Fairport Convention bass player, saw Nick playing at The Roundhouse [in Camden Town, North London] and was very impressed. 'He handed me a slip of paper with a phone number on it and said, 'I think you'd better call this guy, he's special'. 'So I called and Nick picked up the phone. I said, 'Do you have a tape I could hear?'. He said, 'Yes'.' Boyd still didn't hold out too much hope, as he explains: 'I was very much a blues and jazz buff. I also liked Indian music. 'White middle-class guys with guitars were never that interesting to me — Bob Dylan being the exception that proves the rule. 5 John Boyd holding The Making Of Five Leaves Left, a treasure trove of demos, outtakes and live recordings 'But Nick was something else. He wasn't really a folk singer at all.' Boyd describes Drake as a 'chansonnier', a French term for a poet singer who performs their own compositions, often drawing on the themes of love and nature. He says: 'I'm always a bit bemused when I go into a record store — one of the few left — and see Nick filed under folk. He's unclassifiable and that's one of the reasons he endures.' To Boyd, Drake's enduring appeal is also helped 'by the fact that he didn't succeed in the Sixties'. 'He never became part of that decade's soundtrack in the way Donovan or [Pentangle guitarist and solo artist] Bert Jansch did. 'So he was cut loose from the moorings of his era, to be grabbed by succeeding generations.' Drake was born on June 19, 1948, in Rangoon, Burma [now Myanmar], to engineer father Rodney and amateur singer mother Molly. His older sister Gabrielle became a successful screen actress. When Nick was three, the family moved to Far Leys, a house at Tanworth-in-Arden, Warks, and it was there that his parents encouraged him to learn piano and compose songs. I'm always a bit bemused when I go into a record store — one of the few left — and see Nick filed under folk. He's unclassifiable and that's one of the reasons he endures. Joe Boyd Having listened to the home recordings of Molly, Boyd gives her much credit for her son's singular approach. He says: 'When you hear the way she shaped her strange chords on the piano and her sense of harmony, it seems that it was reverberating in Nick's mind.' When Drake gave him those three demos, recorded in his room at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, Boyd 'called the next day and said, 'Come on in, let's talk'.' During the ensuing meeting, Drake said: 'I'd like to make a record.' He was offered a management, publishing and production contract. Just as importantly, he had found a mentor in Joe Boyd. What you hear on the box set is the musical journey leading up to the release of Five Leaves Left in July 1969. The set was sanctioned by the Estate Of Nick Drake, run on behalf of his sister Gabrielle by Cally Callomon, but only after two remarkable tapes were unearthed. His first session with Boyd at Sound Techniques studio in March 1968 — found on a mono listening reel squirrelled away more than 50 years ago by Beverley Martyn, a singer and the late John Martyn's ex-wife. A full reel recorded at Caius College by Drake's Cambridge acquaintance Paul de Rivaz. It had gathered dust in the bottom of a drawer for decades. Boyd says: 'I have never been a big enthusiast for these endless sets of demos and outtakes — so I was highly sceptical about this project. 'But when my wife and I were sent the files a few months ago, we sat down one evening and listened through all four discs. 'I was tremendously moved by Nick. You can picture the scene of him arriving for the first time at Sound Techniques. 'This is what he's been working for. He's got his record deal and here he is in the studio. I was stunned.' 5 Five Leaves Left was released in 1969 In pristine sound quality, the first disc begins with Boyd saying, 'OK, here we go, whatever it is, take one.' Drake then sings the outtake followed by some of his best-loved songs — Time Has Told Me, Saturday Sun, Day Is Done among them. It's just man and guitar, recorded before musicians such as Pentangle's double bass player Danny Thompson and Fairport Convention's guitarist Richard Thompson (no relation) were drafted in. Boyd continues: 'The trigger for those recordings, that first day in the studio, was wanting our wonderful engineer John Wood to get a feel for Nick's sound. 'Nick was wide awake and on it. He was excited about being in a studio and he wanted to impress.' All these years later, one song in particular caught Boyd's attention — Day Is Done. 'He takes it more slowly than the final version. This gives him time to add more nuance and the singing is so good.' Back then, as Five Leaves Left took shape, Boyd witnessed the sophisticated way Drake employed strings, oboe and flute. Inspired by subtle orchestrations on Leonard Cohen's debut album, Boyd had drafted in arranger Richard Hewson but it didn't work out. 'It was nice, but it wasn't Nick,' he affirms. When Drake suggested his Cambridge friend Robert Kirby, a Baroque music scholar, everything fell into place. Boyd says: 'Nick had already been engaging with Robert about using a string quartet but had been hesitant about putting his ideas forward.' SUBTLE ORCHESTRATIONS The producer also recalls being 'fascinated by the lyrics — the work of a literate guy'. 'I don't want to sound elitist but Nick was well educated. British public school [Marlborough College] and he got into Cambridge. 'Gabrielle told me he didn't like the romantic poets much. But you feel that he's very aware of British poetry history.' This is evident in the first lines of the opening song on Five Leaves Left — 'Time has told me/You're a rare, rare find/A troubled cure for a troubled mind.' 'When I think about Nick, I think about the painting, The Death Of Chatterton,' says Boyd. 'Chatterton was a young romantic British poet who died, I think, by suicide. You see him sprawled out across a bed.' I ask Boyd how aware he was of Drake's struggles with his mental health. 'It's a tricky question because I was aware that he was very shy,' he answers. 'Who knew what was going on with him and girls?' Boyd believes there was a time when Drake was better able to enjoy life's pleasures. 'When you read of his adventures in the south of France and in Morocco, it seems he was more relaxed and joyful. 5 Drake at home with mother Molly and sister Gabrielle 'And when I went up to Cambridge to meet Nick and Robert Kirby before we did the first session, he was in a dorm. 'There were friends walking in and out of the room. There was a lot of life around him.' Boyd says things changed when 'Nick told me he wanted to leave Cambridge and move to London. 'I agreed to give him a monthly stipend to help him survive. He rented a bedsit in Hampstead — you could do that in those days. 'Nick started smoking a lot of hashish and didn't seem to see many people. I definitely noticed a difference. 'He'd been at Marlborough, he'd been at Cambridge and suddenly he's on his own, smoking dope, practising the guitar, going out for a curry, coming back to the guitar some more. He became more and more isolated and closed off'. Boyd describes how Drake found live performance an almost unbearable challenge. He says: 'He had different tunings for every song, which took a long time. He didn't have jokes. So he'd lose his audience and get discouraged.' 'It still haunts me that I left the UK' For Drake's next album, Bryter Layter, recorded in 1970 and released in 1971, Boyd remained in charge of production. Despite all the albums he's worked on, including REM's Fables Of The Reconstruction and Kate and Anna McGarrigle's classic debut, he lists Bryter Layter as a clear favourite. It bears the poetic masterpiece Northern Sky with its heartrending opening line – 'I never felt magic crazy as this.' Boyd says: 'I can drop the needle and relax, knowing that John Wood and I did the best we could.' However, he adds that it still 'haunts me that I left for a job with Warner Bros in California after that. I was very burnt out and didn't appreciate how much Nick may have been affected by my leaving'. Drake responded to Boyd's departure by saying, 'The next record is just for guitar and voice, anyway'. Boyd continues: 'So I said, 'Well, you don't need me any more. You can do that with John Wood'.' When he was sent a test pressing of 1972's stripped-back Pink Moon, he recalls being 'slightly horrified'. 'I thought it would end Nick's chances of commercial success. It's ironic that it now sells more than his other two.' Then, roughly a year after leaving the UK, Boyd got a worried call from Drake's mum. 'Molly said she had urged Nick to see a psychiatrist because he had been struggling,' he says, with sadness, 'and that he had been prescribed antidepressants. 'I know Nick was hesitant to take them. He felt people would judge him as crazy — a typically British response.' Boyd again uses the word 'haunting' when recalling the transatlantic phone call he made to Drake. 'I said, 'There's nothing shameful about taking medicine when you've got a problem'. I know Nick was hesitant to take them [antidepressants]. He felt people would judge him as crazy — a typically British response Joe Boyd 'But I think antidepressant dosages were way higher in those days than they became. 'Doctors didn't appreciate the rollercoaster effect — how you could get to a peak of elation and freedom, then suddenly plunge back into depression. 'Who knows but it might have contributed to the feeling of despair Nick felt the night he took all those extra pills.' 5 Boyd says of Drake: 'He's unclassifiable and that's one of the reasons he endures' Drake died at home in Warwickshire during the early hours of November 25, 1974. As for Boyd, he made a lasting commitment to the singer who had such a profound effect on him. He says: 'When I left, I gave my company to Chris Blackwell because there were more debts than assets — and he agreed to take on the debts. 'But I said, 'I want it written in the contract that you cannot delete Nick Drake. Those records have to stay. 'I just knew that one day people would get him.'
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
FKA Twigs joins London's All Points East festival lineup to replace Doechii
The 27-year-old, whose real name is Jaylah Hickmon, will also no longer perform at France's Rock En Seine festival in Paris on Thursday and Bristol's Forwards Festival scheduled for Sunday, with no reason given for the rapper's absence at the events. FKA Twigs, 37, also known as Tahliah Barnett, will now take her place on Saturday August 23 , which will also see Raye, Tyla and Jade take the stage. All Points East shared the announcement on Instagram with the caption: 'We're excited to share that FKA Twigs is our new West Stage headliner for this Saturday! 'FKA Twigs will be joining Raye, Tyla, Jade, Jyoty, Nao and so many more for an incredible day of music in London's Victoria Park. 'This follows the news that Doechii is unfortunately no longer able to perform at All Points East.' Doechii achieved worldwide fame in 2024 with the release of mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal, which includes the songs Denial Is A River, Catfish and Nissan Altima. The caption continued: 'Our team has been working extremely hard to turn this around in the short time frame and we're so grateful to FKA Twigs for making this happen.' Doechii attending the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit Gala 2025 in New York (Matt Crossick/PA) FKA Twigs is known for her genre-bending musical styles and previously worked as a backup dancer for other artists before releasing her studio debut, LP1, in 2014. She followed it with 2019's Magdalene and Eusexua, her third studio album, earlier this year, which peaked at number three on the UK albums chart.
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Sir Lenny Henry recalls bold move that changed his life as he receives award
Sir Lenny Henry revealed that skipping school to go for an audition is what led to his showbiz career as he received a major award at the Edinburgh TV festival When Sir Lenny Henry started out as a comedian, there was not a single black face making people laugh on British television. But having cracked up his school pals at an open mic night in Dudley a few times, he knew he was funny. And so Lenny, who this week received the Outstanding Achievement Award at the Edinburgh TV Festival, decided to bunk off school in 1976 and try out at the auditions for New Faces. 'I was very excited to go to ATV Studios in Birmingham because I'd watched Crossroads with my Mum - the Midlands would stop when Crossroads was on,' he remembers now. 'Jim Davidson and Showaddywaddy, they'd all won New Faces and so I bunked off school on the Friday and I was there from 10 am til 6pm. I was the last person on. I think I went into this thing of 'this is it'. This is plan A, there is no plan B or C. 'So I went on stage, I think I did Tommy Cooper, I did Dave Allen, I did all the white people I've been watching on television for years - the only famous person I could do that was black, was Muhammad Ali. And they'd never seen a black guy do impressions of white people before. Back then it was Mike Yarwood and Freddie Starr, so I used to watch them. And then I just basically mimicked everybody I saw on television.' At the end of his 10 minute audition he found himself surrounded by people wanting to be his agent. 'Six months later I was on TV and saying hello to my mum and she was like, gobsmacked. She was literally, 'What are you doing on the television?' And it was fantastic.' Within a year he'd saved up enough to buy his Jamaican-born mother a fridge. 'It was really interesting because my dad worked very, very hard in a factory. And if you were the breadwinner, you got the biggest piece of meat. And when I came home from New Faces, my mum put me at the head of the table and gave me the biggest piece of meat. My dad was like, 'What's going on here?'' He'd honed his early impressions, which included Michael Crawford's character Frank Spencer, at the Queen Mary Ballroom in Dudley where he and his underage peers would drink beer and do their homework at the bar. 'I used to get up on stage and do Elvis and Tommy Cooper and all these impressions. Kids who I went to school with, they'd go, 'Wow, we didn't know you did this.' And I became a hero at school. It was fantastic. I can't tell you, it was literally like being a superhero. It changed my life.' Lenny, 66, says he clearly remembers doing his first gig, in Birmingham, specifically aimed at the black community. 'Most of the audience were always white and I really loved that they'd come to see me. Then I did the first all black audience I've ever worked for - and it was like a dance, they all came and stood by the stage and just looked at me like that (pulls a menacing stare). 'I was scared sh**less,' he laughs. 'I said, 'You're going to have to sit down. Other gigs I do, they don't come and stare at me and try and make me cry'." He credits many people with having helped and inspired him. They include the writer Kim Fuller, who co-created characters like Delbert and Deakus and Theophilus P Wildebeeste. Having gone to check out the comedy scene in America with Kim, Lenny returned knowing what he wanted to aim for. 'I loved Richard Pryor mainly. He did preachers and pimps and hustlers and gamblers and all those kind of things.' 'I knew I could probably do characters from my neighbourhood and from my family.' The inspiration for Deakus came from a man who delivered Jamaican bun to his parents. 'He always made me laugh, I liked his voice. We didn't really know about the Windrush then, but we wrote a character who came here in 1953 and lived in London and was racially abused, like my mum, but overcame it. So his story was not just jokes, it was about being a British citizen and becoming old in Britain and drinking Guinness and wearing a cardigan. I just loved that.' Delbert, it turns out, was based on a wide-boy dancer called Jamie who Lenny had once met in a club. Having seen a furious Paul Boating on TV talking about the Brixton riots, Lenny thought Delbert could help out with a different approach. 'I thought it'd be really good to have a youth on television talking about it without foaming in the mouth. Delbert came out of that. Kim just thought he was hilarious - I had a journey with Jamie where he said, 'You know what I mean?' about 400 times.' 'What was really interesting was I couldn't do that stuff about the police and about the riots as me, but when I did it as Delbert, they gave me a free pass.' Tarrant, the main presenter of ITV kids show Tiswas, gave Lenny a big leg-up. 'New Faces was big launch, but it took me a while to get my act together,' he told interviewer Ben Bailey Smith (MUST), one of the many younger black comedians, presenters and writers who happily acknowledge they owe Lenny a huge debt of gratitude for the doors he forced open. 'Tizwas was where I was allowed to grow on television. Tarrant was a real ally at the time when there wasn't anybody saying to me, 'Oh go on.' He allowed me to run around in a silly hat on Saturday morning TV learning how to be funny on camera, learning not to flinch. 'Tarrant was a proper teacher, he was massive.' It took him eight years of working with the likes of Cannon and Ball and doing summer seasons in Blackpool to hone his craft before he started to get hired regularly on TV. In the 80s, he landed the role on Three of a Kind for the BBC, alongside Tracey Ullman and David Copperfield. 'Tracey said, 'I want to represent real women. I don't just want to be the dolly bird filing her nails at the bar. I don't want to be the girl with the big boobs who's the butt of the joke. I want to be making the jokes.' And I said, 'I want to see people from my neighbourhood and from my family on television and I want to work with people that look like me and talk like me'. And David got up and said, 'I just want to be funny.' But it was all right for him. As the black guy and as the woman, we had to get up and state our claim. We didn't want to go backwards, we wanted to go forwards.' Amid all of this, Lenny famously helped to spearhead Comic Relief, a charity through which he is now credited with having raised £1billion. He says it happened because Richard Curtis needed his contacts. **'**Everybody saw Live Aid and I think somebody like David Bowie said, 'Comedians couldn't do this.' And we went, 'What?' Richard came to me and said, 'I don't know anybody, would you write to everybody…' I was doing The Lenny Henry Show at the time. And so we wrote to everybody in showbiz and said, 'We're doing this thing called Comic Relief.' And we both signed it at the bottom.' They were disheartened to receive many replies from established white comedians who said they didn't want to be involved because it was political. 'I'd never seen anything like the Michael Buerk films, and the people looked like me,' Lenny says, recalling the Ethiopian famine. 'I just thought if there's anything I can possibly do to help alleviate that, I want to be part of something that helps.' Having branched out to play an Irish hobbit in Amazon's The Rings of Power, Lenny is currently appearing in West End play Every Brilliant Thing. He is involved in initiatives which encourage young writers from diverse backgrounds to produce scripts, arguing that people of colour have a multitude of stories to tell. "We deserve the right to see ourselves on television doing all kinds of weird shit,' he laughs. And in terms of personal ambitions he says he has plenty of new challenges ahead of him. 'I love acting. I love being on stage. I love being front of a camera, I want to do more of that,' he says. 'And I want to be in a movie.' See you on the big screen soon!
