The long and tragic history of the pound

I was lucky enough to be at Cheviot Asset Management's conference on sound money last week. As a result of what I heard there, I've begun reading Andrew Dickson White's Fiat Money Inflation In France, a short but utterly compelling history of the monetary events leading up the French Revolution. The whole process has turned me into even more of a gold bug, if such a thing were possible. In fact, it's put me in one of those frames of mind where I want to get rid of every last pound, dollar and euro I have, buy bullion, and make a run for it. One thing in particular was really rammed home to me – what an absolute, complete and utter dog the pound has been for the last 97 years. Even by the standards of other Western government currencies – most of which, ultimately, will be worth little more than the paper they're printed on – it has been awful. Let me explain.