Happy birthday £1 coin
The £1 coin celebrates its 30th birthday today - although the pound in your pocket does not go as far now as it did in 1983.
Thirty years of the £1 coin
The coin was first issued on April 21, 1983, as it was felt that a coin would be more useful than the less robust £1 note amid the decline in its spending power and the growth of the vending industry.
A note lasted for just nine months on average, while a £1 coin, with its distinctive yellow "brassy" colour, can survive for upwards of 40 years.
The reverse designs of the £1 coin represent the UK and its four constituent parts - Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England and the first series of designs took floral emblems as its theme.
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