And Thatcher's sale of oil? Obviously this was great for everyone except the UK.

its not a competition though its a statement of facts, however painful the truth is to see.

Unless you're a goldbug, Britain's "gold" was already squandered* by 1956.

* to be fair, it was less squandered than spent fighting two back-to-back world wars. Hitler, in failing to secure middle eastern oil supplies during the second, failed to achieve german dominance, but during the attempt he did manage to break the british empire.

(and for that matter, 1707-1956 was a pretty long run!)