Without question, the word that currently ranks as the most overused is ‘transformation’. Everything today has to be transformed; that is the fashion. As to what needs to be transformed, and then to what . . . well, that is quite a different matter.

The risk of its excessive use is that ‘transformation’ simply becomes a buzzword, with its impact lost. This begs the question: Is its meaning fully comprehended? ‘Transformation’ implies a marked change in form, nature or appearance. One would assume, but this is not a given, that ‘transformation’ implies an improvement, rather than a deterioration.

So, what has transformed your world – for the better, that is? In my world, the event occurred 50 years ago. It happened on June 27, 1967, in Enfield, north London, when something that is now commonly used was launched. This ‘something’s’ introduction in South Africa followed much later, on April 21, 1981. It is something that is still used today and which you might have used on a more regular basis in the past, but something which you no doubt still use on occasion, possibly even more often than not. Any thoughts? Here’s a hint: it goes by the acronym ATM, and, depending on whether you speak British or American English, the acronym stands for automated teller machine or automatic teller machine.

You might not know it – internationally, there is an ATM Industry Association, or ATMIA, according to which there are now close to three-million ATMs in use worldwide. ATMs can now be found in the most unlikely of places, such as Antarctica, Easter Island, the Grand Canyon and even in Tibet, at an altitude of 14 000 ft. The world’s most northerly ATM is located at Longyearbyen, in Svalbard, Norway, and the most southerly is located at the McMurdo station, at the South Pole. Evidently, there is one man who is still deprived of access to an ATM. He lives at the North Pole and goes by many names, with Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick and Father Christmas being some of them.

Just in case you missed the revolution (you might well have become tired from ‘transformation’), there once was a time when you were only able to obtain cash during a bank’s business hours. But the ATM changed all that, with cash now available to you whenever you need it.

The ATM was invented by John Shepherd- Barron, who worked for a company called De La Rue Instruments, which initially specialised in printing newspapers before, in the early 1900s, embarking on printing banknotes. But Shepherd-Barron was not an ordinary man; he was a Scottish inventor. There is some irony in that the Scottish are renowned for being tight with their money. It has been said: “The Scots have an infallible cure for seasickness. They lean over the side of the ship with a ten pence coin in their teeth.” So, it is apt that the person who invented a machine that dispenses money would be a Scotsman.

Legend has it that Shepherd-Barron’s inspiration for the creation of the ATM came when he arrived a minute too late at a bank on a Saturday, of all days. What a weekend he must have endured! He took his idea to Barclays, the British bank, which jointly developed the ATM with De La Rue Instruments. It took them all of two years to create the first ATM.

The ATM’s launch prompted a race among Barclays’ competitors to debut their own ATMs. In a matter of weeks, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Swedish bank Asea-Metior debuted their own cash machines. The opening of the Swedish ATM, known as the Bankomat, was broadcast live on television. The first ATM in the US opened at Chemical Bank, in Rockville Center, New York, a couple of years later – in 1969. The Americans, though, might argue that they were the first to introduce the ATM, as the first machine that actually looked (but did not function) like a present-day ATM was the Bankograph, which was installed by City Bank in New York in 1961. However, the Bankograph did not dispense cash but merely accepted it. It allowed consumers to pay their bills and deposit money without having to interact with a cashier or teller.

What you might not know is that, when ATMs were first introduced, they were not very popular, as it took consumers time to get used to them and to fully appreciate their functionality. Just in case you were wondering, on April 21, 1981, Standard Bank launched the AutoBank, South Africa’s first ATM.

On June 27, the first ‘hole in the wall’, as the ATM was referred to, which is still in use in Enfield, was turned into gold. A commemorative plaque was added and a red carpet was rolled out for its users to celebrate this momentous day. But, surprisingly, that was it. It attracted none of the fanfare that accompanied its launch 50 years ago. So much for celebrating what was “heralded as a transformation in the way people obtained and used cash”. English actor Reg Varney, who starred in the British TV comedy show On the Buses, became the first person to withdraw cash from the ATM at its launch. Ever heard of him? I certainly had not.

In the UK alone, in 2016, ATMs dispensed £175-billion, with the record for a single day, just before Christmas, when £730-million was withdrawn. Internationally, in 2015, consumers made 5.8-billion ATM withdrawals; interestingly, this was exactly the same number as in 2012.

The month of June also marked 30 years since the introduction, again by Barclays, of the debit card in the UK – on June 3, 1987, to be exact.

But let us not be distracted; let us rather celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of other products. There are four that I hold dear, which, you might not believe it, turn 50 by year-end or turned 50 earlier this year. They are, in no particular order, the Battleship game, launched on November 9, 1967; the Big Mac, which debuted in the Pittsburgh area’s McDonald’s stores in 1967; Pringle’s potato chips (the tinned chips); and the Beatles’ iconic Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which was released on June 1, 1967. My favourite track from the Beatles album is With a Little Help from My Friends, whose closing lyrics – “Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends, with a little help from my friends” – is arguably now most apt. It reminded me, as I put the finishing touches to this column, of rugby league player Sonny Bill Williams, who, in the All Blacks’ second Test defeat to the British and Irish Lions, on Saturday, became the first All Black to be red-carded. The first to be sent off in 50 years. If only the card had application in real life.