photo #6210711

In 1836, a sewer worker discovered an old drain which ran directly underneath the Bank of England's Gold Vault. He wrote letters to the directors of the bank and requested a meeting inside the vault at an hour of their choosing. The directors, after receiving several anonymous letters, the author of which claimed to have access to their gold, were finally persuaded to gather one night in the vault. At the agreed hour a noise was heard from beneath the floor and a man popped up through some of the floor boards. The directors were completely shocked, and soon confirmed that no gold was missing. For his honesty, the man was rewarded with a gift of £800 – which would be worth approximately £80,000 in today’s money.