Unless you're a goldbug, Britain's "gold" was already squandered* by 1956.
* to be fair, it was less squandered than spent fighting two back-to-back world wars. Hitler, in failing to secure middle eastern oil supplies during the second, failed to achieve german dominance, but during the attempt he did manage to break the british empire.
(and for that matter, 1707-1956 was a pretty long run!)
Unless you're a goldbug, Britain's "gold" was already squandered* by 1956.
* to be fair, it was less squandered than spent fighting two back-to-back world wars. Hitler, in failing to secure middle eastern oil supplies during the second, failed to achieve german dominance, but during the attempt he did manage to break the british empire.
(and for that matter, 1707-1956 was a pretty long run!)