The Double Dangerous Book for Boys. Conn Iggulden

wealth. Silver pennies, halfpennies and farthings also continued to be issued. Those were the main denominations up to King Henry VI, Edward IV and the Wars of the Roses, when the wonderfully named gold angel and half-angels were also issued – a reference to the design of the Archangel Michael killing a dragon stamped on the coin.

      The gold ‘angel’

      Left. Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, UK/Bridgeman Images; Right. Royal Collection Trust © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2019/Bridgeman Images

      As the first Tudor, King Henry VII made changes in 1489. A pound by weight of sterling silver had been a unit of measurement for centuries, but no pound coin had ever been issued. Henry Tudor issued the first – and as the design included the king on a throne, called it a sovereign. Double- and even triple-weight sovereigns were also issued. Sovereigns have been issued by every monarch since then, a practice that continues today. They are still made of gold and are very valuable.

      The first pound coin – the ‘sovereign’

      Universal History Archive/UIG/Bridgeman Images

      The first shillings, coins worth twelve pennies, were produced by Henry VII and known then as ‘testoons’ or ‘head-pieces’ – as they had his head printed on them. He and his son Henry VIII debased the level of silver in the coins, a practice that was just too tempting. Mixing silver with cheaper metals meant two coins could be produced for the same amount of silver – or four, or twelve … The history of coins is also the history of forgery and cheating. Queen Elizabeth I recalled many of these cheap coins and reissued higher-quality ones.

      The explosion of commerce in the Elizabethan age required sixpence and threepence coins marked with a rose, as well as the shilling, groat, penny, halfpenny and farthing. She also issued crowns, worth five shillings, and half-crowns, worth two shillings and sixpence. They were issued from the brief reign of her older brother Edward to 1967.

      Elizabethan shilling – a very modern coin

      Granger Historical Picture Archive/Alamy Stock Photo

      In 1660, King Charles II was restored to the throne after the years under Cromwell. In 1663, the first machine-produced coins were made, consigning hand-stamping to history. Coins could then be milled with great precision. Some even had the words ‘Decus and Tutamen’ cut into the edge – ‘an ornament and a shield’ – to protect them from being clipped. The gold used in these coins came from Guinea in Africa, so they became known as the first guineas. Originally, they were worth twenty silver shillings. Later, they became worth twenty-one shillings, or a pound and a shilling. Guineas are still used in some racehorse auctions, where it is possible to bid a thousand pounds and have the bid raised with the word ‘guineas’ – one thousand and fifty pounds. Charles II also issued copper coinage for the first time and tin/copper coins to help the Cornish tin industry.

      In 1797, the government issued copper pennies, though when copper became scarce, they changed to bronze around 1860. Still called ‘coppers’, bronze halfpennies, farthings and even third-farthings were issued as the 19th century went on.

      At the start of the 20th century, the currency was stable and produced by a royal mint. King Edward VII and then King George V had their image on coins ranging from a third of a farthing up to a five-pound gold coin. Over time, smaller coins began to be less useful. The ‘inflation’ of currency meant that prices went up and money was not worth as much. Farthings were dropped around 1960.

      Queen Elizabeth II began her reign in 1952 with a currency based around the number twelve, with a history stretching back to ancient Rome. When the symbols for pounds, shillings and pence were written, it was always ‘£, s and d’ – the last, as we’ve seen, for denarius. In 1970, Britain still used the halfpenny, the penny, the threepenny bit, the silver sixpence, the shilling, the florin (two-shilling piece), the half-crown (two shillings and sixpence), the crown (five shillings), the half-sovereign (ten shillings), the sovereign (twenty shillings or £1) – and the guinea of twenty-one shillings. My mother told a story of when she was a young girl and found her father asleep in an armchair. Kneeling beside him, she whispered, ‘Can I have a half-crown?’ into his ear. When there was no response, she crept around to the other side and whispered, ‘Can I have a crown?’ into that ear. There was silence for a time, then without opening his eyes, he murmured, ‘Go back to the half-crown ear.’

      In 1971, the government of Prime Minister Edward Heath formally abolished the old coin values and went to a decimal system (based on the number ten). He hoped to modernise Britain, breaking those ties to the ancient past. New coins were issued, with the five-pence piece referred to as a shilling to help with the transition. A pound was redesignated as 100 pennies, so that the 5p piece was still one-twentieth. New green one-pound notes were issued, replaced in 1983 by the first pound coins. Later, two-pound coins were issued for normal use. Some special-edition five-pound coins are produced each year and gold sovereigns are still minted. The bank notes at the time of writing are for five, ten, twenty and fifty pounds.

      It is worth noting that these are artificial systems. Whether a pound (or a dollar) has a hundred pennies or 60, 240 or even 360 is a matter of choice. We chose to keep 60 minutes in an hour, 360 degrees in a circle and 24 hours in a day. Yet some numbers are just more useful than others. 240 has 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20, 24, 30, 40, 48, 60, 80, 120 and 240 itself as factors – 20 in all. In comparison, 100 has 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50 and 100 itself – just nine factors. In that way, 240 is more useful than 100, both in trade and in teaching maths.

      The history and stability of a country can be read in its currency – and knowing the road behind can be useful in judging the road ahead. Of course, it is possible that before the 21st century comes to an end, all transactions will have become digital and coins will have gone the way of the dinosaurs. That would be a shame – there is something comforting about a handful of change clinking in a pocket – along with two thousand years of history.

       FLYING MACHINES

      Rubber-band aeroplanes are as old as, well, rubber bands. You could use the skills in this chapter to make a simple one, with a propeller. That’s part of the reason why we’ve put this in the book: it’s astounding what you can do with balsa wood, superglue and ordinary thread. The other reason is that an ‘ornithopter’ flaps its wings. They’ve been around since the 19th century as toys, but they’re still impressive. You can buy a kit or a complete plastic one easily enough, but it is immensely satisfying to make. At the time of writing, the world record for indoor rubber-band-powered flight is 21 minutes, 44 seconds, held by Roy White of America. Our ornithopter will fly for just a few seconds, but it’s still worth it.

      YOU WILL NEED

       Needle-nose pliers

       Superglue

       Thread

       Elastic bands

       A razor blade or art knife

       Tissue paper or a supermarket plastic bag

       Wire. Paperclips will do, but we used 1/16in brass rod, because it felt a little stronger

       Electrical wire (for the plastic covering)

       Oil or grease

       ⅛in aluminium tubing

       A few coffee-shop wooden stirrers (or ice-lolly sticks)

       A