Jules Verne Forum

<jvf@Gilead.org.il>

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec 19961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009

Around the World in Eighty Days : 135 years later

From: Harry Hayfield <harryhayfield~at~googlemail.com>
Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2007 14:11:56 +0100
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~gilead.org.il>

BlankYes, that's right. It's that time of year again. You will remember that
last year I did this in the style of a blog written by Mr. Fogg, well this
year I thought I would highlight the changes between 1872 and 2007 and even
though it's three days before the journey begins we have our first change.
The Bank of England itself.

Back in 1872, the Bank of England was still as famous as it was today. It
had been founded in 1694 to act as the Government's banker and debt-manager
by a certain William and Mary. It's first corporate deal was a £1.2 million
loan which formally established the bank's existence and by 1781 it was in
charge of managing the national debt. When it's charter was renewed in 1781,
it became known as the "Public Exchequer" and this is why the resident of 11
Downing Street is known as the Chancellor of the Exchequer. By 1797 war with
France had drained the gold reserves so much so that the Government
prohibited the Bank from paying its notes in gold, this "Restriction Period"
lasted until 1821. The 1844 Bank Charter Act tied the note issue to the
Bank's gold reserves, as a result of this the Bank was required to keep the
accounts of the note issue separate from those of its banking operations and
produce a weekly summary of both accounts. Which brings us to the events of
September 29th 1872, when as we know a certain someone made off with £55,000
(£3.3 million / $6.6 million in modern day money) and became the talk of
London. Of course, in reality, the Bank of England has never been robbed at
all. Mind you that said in 2006, at least £53 million in banknotes that
belonged to the Bank were stolen from from a depot in Tonbridge, Kent,
England. The other major change that has happened to the Bank is that
following the Labour Party's election win in 1997, the Bank of England
gained independence from the government for setting interest rates as prior
to then it had been the Chancellor who announced interest rate decisions.

So if it was possible to bring Gauthier Ralph forward in time 135 years
would he find anything massively different? Well, generally speaking not
really. The old building is still standing there in Threadneedle Street,
London still with it's two guards (who are more like concierges really). In
fact I dare say he'd even go up to the columns, give them a reassuring pat
and say quietly "You Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, you" and walk off
chuckling.



No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database: 269.13.33/1034 - Release Date: 27/09/2007
5:00 pm

Received on Sat 29 Sep 2007 - 15:12:12 IST

JV.Gilead.org.il
Copyright © Zvi Har’El
$Date: 2009/02/01 22:36:11 $$