There are two major crises where the pound has been involved. -The crisis of the pound sterling in 1976, when James Callaghan came to power. He was warned early on that the British economy had major problems, which only increased with time. -George Soros speculated in 1992 that the British currency was sharply overvalued. He was later to earn over $1 billion a speculative deal, while the UK currency dropped dramatically over a week.