Cultural Coin

Aside from the inevitable numismatic rah-rah for Mr Churchill's triumph over the proto-Brussels menace (not peace, not never again, but victory will be the inscription), the Royal Mint has plans to immortalise one or two other cultural milestones in the sacred medium of currency. Naturally, there will be honours for the expected perpetrators of VJ Day in the Tokyo Olympics; and the demise of King George III will be celebrated with a five-pounder to mark the bicentennial of a much-loathed, obscenely rich drunken fatty's graduation from mere regency to supreme power. While 2020 will be the bicentennial of Melmoth the Wanderer and the centenary of at least two other significant events in British literature (namely the birth of the author of Shardik and The Girl in a Swing, and the publication of A Voyage to Arcturus), a two-pound coin will be issued to commemorate a bestseller. Similarly in keeping with the times, another two-pound coin will memorialise the departure of a hundred and two heavily-armed Christian souls for their part in God's genocide of America's lesser breeds.