20 Pounds - Elizabeth II Sir Edward Elgar

Elgar's appearance on this note was the result of a deliberate Bank of England policy shift in the 1990s to move away from exclusively scientific figures on the reverse series and toward cultural ones. He remains one of the few composers ever featured on a mainstream British banknote. The series ran under two Chief Cashiers — Merlyn Lowther's tenure ended in 2003, when Andrew Bailey took over — meaning the same Pick number covers notes with meaningfully different signature combinations, and Bailey-signed examples are the scarcer of the two.

De La Rue's intaglio printing on this issue is particularly fine, though the security thread specification was updated mid-run.