Rip it. Wash it. Put it in a microwave. The new £5 note is almost... INDESTRUCTIBLE

Victoria Cleland, chief cashier at the Bank of England, thrusts the new £5 note in to my hand. It’s bright blue and bears a picture of a grumpy-looking Winston Churchill.

She grins mischievously. ‘Go on, try to tear it,’ she says.

It doesn’t just seem naughty, indeed wasteful, to tear up a bank note in front of the person whose signature appears on every one – it seems rude. And, actually, I’m a bit worried it might be treason. But Cleland is daring me, and I’m not one to shirk at the challenge.

So what is the future of the old £5 note with Elizabeth Fry? Nothing yet. But from May 2017 they will no longer be legal tender