George Soros

By THIS IS MONEY
Updated:

 

The Daily Mail City team explains the history of the man best known for breaking the Bank of England.

George Soros

Famous for?

Still best known as the man who broke the Bank of England.

But... OK, the Bank of England is still here. But Soros successfully gambled against the Bank maintaining sterling's position within the Exchange Rate Mechanism, which preceded the euro.

That was ages ago, surely?

Certainly was: Black Wednesday fell on September 16, 1992. Soros sold about $10bn of sterling and the Bank was buying pounds like crazy to try to prop up sterling's value. The Bank lost.

Soros made a fortune when Chancellor Norman Lamont was forced to allow sterling to 'float' - for which read sink.

And now?

Soros will be 79 come August.

But he still likes to see himself in the news. In yesterday's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung he said: 'The economic freefall has been stopped, the collapse of the financial system averted'.

Not too profound

Don't say that to Soros. He studied at the London School of Economics, where he was influenced by Karl Popper. Soros fancies himself as a philosopher.

A blameless life?

He's given mountains of money to charity, but was once convicted of insider trading in France.

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