As Good as Gold: History of the Pound Sterling

Dwarfing the first heartbeats of the infant Euro, England's Pound spans almost an entire millennium. Even the mighty US Dollar and the vanishing Franc, Mark and Lira can only muster 800 years between them.

'Still the problems continued. In 1124, the King summoned leading minters. Determined to cease the debased silver pennies, he called them to trial. Over that Christmas at Winchester, more than one hundred men were separated from their hands and genitalia.'

'No longer gold, today's coin i...