Steven Thoburn died a villain and criminal in the eyes of the British government. His crime was the sale of bananas weighed on a non-metric scale. In January 2000, a European regulation took effect requiring the use of metric scales for the sale of loose goods. Thoburn, a greengrocer, continued to sell his produce by the pound and ounce. On July 4 of that year, police seized his scales. On April 9, Thoburn was convicted and sentenced to a six month conditional discharge, roughly equivalent to probation.
He continued to appeal the charges against him (those charges being using pounds and ounces,) gaining national support. He became a rallying point for the right-wing, isolationist UK Independence Party. He died on March 14, 2004, of a heart attack, his appeal still ongoing.
Thoburn’s death did not end the campaign against forced use of metric, however. The Metric Martyrs Defense Fund continues to carry his torch.
The question still remains: Which weighs more, a metric ton of court documents, or an Imperial ton of bananas?
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Sources:
“Did You Know? Penny-wise, Kilo-foolish.” A Survey of Mathematics with Applications, Ed. 8. Abbott, Christine D, Angel, Allen R, Runde, Dennis C. Boston: Pearson, 2009.
http://www.metricmartyrs.co.uk/dynamicPage.aspx?id=36
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2465/is_5_31/ai_76285451
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1118558.stm
http://www.bwmaonline.com/Steve%20Thoburn%20tribute.htm
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Sky-News-Archive/Article/200806413014828
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1010827.stm
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-453573/Brussels-backs-plans-outlaw-pounds-ounces.html
