The ecu was a form of currency used in the United Kingdom by 1991 (COMIC: The Totally Stonking, Surprisingly Educational And Utterly Mindboggling Comic Relief Comic [+]Dan Abnett, et al., Fleetway Publications (1991).) which lasted until at least 2006. (PROSE: Iceberg [+]David Banks, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1993).) Its currency symbol was ECU.
History[]
During Red Nose Day 1991, Prime Minister John Major mentioned that he didn't know his "ERM" from his "ECU", at least according to a book. (COMIC: The Totally Stonking, Surprisingly Educational And Utterly Mindboggling Comic Relief Comic [+]Dan Abnett, et al., Fleetway Publications (1991).)
Vending machines and Vreal machines accepted ecu pices.
Donations pledged to the Preserve Our Planet Fund were reaching ten thousand ecu.
Australian billionaire Lord Stanley Straker bought the SS Bermuda from the United States for $20 million, which was equivalent to ECU10 million. He spent ECU100 million on its reconstruction and renamed it the SS Elysium. Passengers paid ECU30,000 for the "Over the Rainbow" cruise. (PROSE: Iceberg [+]David Banks, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1993).)
Behind the scenes[]
- In the real world, the European Currency Unit (ECU) was unit of account used by the European Economic Community. Despite the prediction in the 1993 novel Iceberg [+]David Banks, Virgin New Adventures (Virgin Books, 1993)., the ECU was replaced with the euro in 1999.
- A similarly named ecucoin was mentioned in the novelisation of Battlefield [+]Marc Platt, adapted from Battlefield (Ben Aaronovitch), Target novelisations (Target Books, 1991)..