A message from Duncan Williamson, forwarded to the list:
Dear All,
As I was doing a bit of trawling around for some pieces on the causes of
world war 2, I ended up at the PRO, Kew and thought economists and
accountants would be interested in this snippet that has nothing to do
with WW2 but it caught my eye in a weak moment!
The issue under review is 'Payment for Transfer of Jimmy Greaves from
Milan F.C. to Tottenham F.C.' The issue being that Greaves was being
transferred from the UK to Italy and back again ... when exchange
controls were in place. The Treasury were involved, the Chancellor of
the Exchequer was involved and so was a Mr Ernest D Rees, a "qualified
accountant since 1922". Gripping stuff!
I thought the luxury good aspect would be of interest to economists and
the intervention of Mr Rees to Accountants.
'Document Reference: T 231/1365
This Treasury file shows concern that the transfer of Jimmy Greaves from
an Italian football club to Tottenham Hotspur in 1961 could have
breached currency exchange controls.
Having previously been transferred from Chelsea F.C to A.C Milan six
months earlier for a fee of =A380,000, the Bank of England had received
a request regarding his transfer back to British soil to play for
Tottenham for =A399,999 (he didn't want to be the first player
transferred for =A3100,000). The two letters below reveal that Greaves
would have been treated as a 'luxury good' and that the exchange was
permissible.
This figure - which some premier league players now earn every week -
caused outrage ... '
Go and see the original documents in the files at:
http://www.pro.gov.uk/releases/jan2001/Greaves.htm
As a matter of further interest, another issue that the PRO has released
papers on is the exhibition by John Lennon of some of his art work and a
complaint made about them. There is a statement made to the Police about
the nature of Lennon's work and it was made by ... a Chartered
Accountant. You can find this issue by following the trail from the
Greaves link above!
Happy Easter
Duncan Williamson
----------------------
Andy Beharrell,
Biz/ed
Institute for Learning and Research Technology
8-10 Berkeley Square
Bristol BS8 1HH
Tel: 0117 928 7189
http://www.bized.ac.uk
http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk
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