World’s First ATM celebrates its 50th Birthday

The world’s first ATM (automated teller machine) celebrates its 50th anniversary. In the past five decades, ATM machines have heralded a transformation in the way people obtained and used cash.

The ATM machines were the brainchild of Scottish inventor Shepherd-Barron. The first ATM was opened on June 27, 1967, by Barclays Bank in Enfield, north London. English actor Reg Varney became the first person to withdraw cash from the first ATM machine. At present, there are over 3 million cash machines across the globe. Around 70,000 cash machines are present in the UK alone. The World’s most northerly ATM machine is present at Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway. The most Southerly ATM is situated at the McMurdo station of the South Pole. To commemorate the 50th anniversary, Barclays Bank has transformed the first ATM that it commissioned at its Enfield branch into gold.