As Britain gears up for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Royal Mint is celebrating achievements from our heritage with the release of 18 sterling silver Proof coins. Each of the £5 coins features the London 2012 logo in colour on the reverse while the Queen’s portrait by Ian Rank-Broadley FRBS graces the obverse.
The image of the River Thames on this £5 coin represents London as one of the world’s greatest cities and celebrates its success in being the host city of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralymic Games.
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Designer Shane Greeves worked closely with the Royal Mint Engraving Team to produce this special coin that combines a stirring quote with a symbolic image to encapsulate the emotion, the wonders and greatness of Britain and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The inscription, ‘Tameless, and swift, and proud’, by the English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, can be seen as defining the qualities of every Olympian and Paralympian, while at the same time alluding to the River Thames itself.
The Thames has a length of 215 miles (346 kilometres), with its source at Thames Head about a mile north of the village of Kemble and near the town of Cirencester in the Cotswolds. It then flows roughly eastwards past Oxford (where it is known as the River Isis), until the Chilterns and on through London to the North Sea. This makes it England’s longest river.
The twentieth century saw a huge decline in the use of the River Thames for trade, resulting in the Isle of Dogs Docklands area in particular changing out of all recognition. Iconic images such as Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Bridge, St Paul’s Cathedral and London Bridge are just a few of the world-famous landmarks sited by the river.
The north bank of the Thames as far as Stratford will see the building of the Olympic site for the London Games of 2012 when yet another chapter in the Thames’ rich history will be written.