One of my favourite economic tales is how the Beatles saved Britain. It was the mid-1960s and the UK was haemorrhaging pounds because, as now, we were running a large trade deficit. Exchange controls were in place to support the $2.80 currency peg, but sterling was leaking out of the country as we spent more than we earned. Those four Liverpudlians came to the rescue by touring abroad between 1964 and 1966. Kristin Forbes, the Bank of England ratesetter, estimated their foreign currency income at $650 a second in today’s money, just enough to ensure that we didn’t run out…

Source: The Times September 13, 2016 22:58 UTC