London, Dec 13 (IANS) Believe it or not, the Bank of England has kept hidden in secret vaults deep beneath the streets of the capital 4,600 tonnes of gold bars, probably worth a whopping 197 billion pounds.
The bullion is being kept in a closely guarded location that cannot be revealed, the Daily Mail reported.
But now, the gold has been filmed by the University of Nottingham for a new series about elements called "The Periodic Table of Videos".
Chemistry professor Martyn Poliakoff obtained special permission to visit the high security vault, accompanied by a video journalist.
The film team had to go through a host of security checks to access the vault. All cash must be left at the door because no one is allowed to bring money inside.
Britain owns around 310 tonnes of gold, and the rest is from "other organisations" who use the secure vault to store their bullion.
Even when bars are sold, they are not removed from the cavernous space.
Instead, each bar has its own number and that is simply transferred to the ownership of the buyer. The oldest bar in the vault has been there since 1916.
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