This week Nick talks to Val Hamilton

Val initially trained as a teacher, travelling and working abroad in Copenhagen and later in Boston, where she began working with challenging adolescents. On returning to the UK, Val settled in London and transitioned into the private sector. After studying at Sheffield Business School, she became a personal and organisational development consultant in the City, working with major banks, insurance companies and legal firms to address complex people and cultural issues.

Nick and Val discus Val's latest book - Pirates, Punters, and Politicians: How the Bank of England Was Founded. Drawing on her background in English literature, organisational development and financial history, Val explains how her doctoral work uncovered surprising connections between dissenting religious communities, the rise of the novel, and the emergence of modern banking.

The conversation follows the life of William Paterson — the Scottish dissenter, merchant and adventurer who helped found the world’s first central bank. From treasure-hunting voyages and Caribbean trade routes to London’s coffee houses and taverns, they explore how risk, persuasion and political manoeuvring combined to turn an unlikely idea into a national institution. Together they unpack the theatre, storytelling and financial necessity that persuaded investors and the Crown to back the scheme, while highlighting the tension between entrepreneurial founders and the establishment figures who ultimately took control.

They also reflect on the harsher realities of the period — including slavery, war finance and imperial trade — and consider why Paterson’s contribution has often been overlooked despite his central role.

Val's Book Choice was
The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson and Fielding by Ian Watt

Read Val's other book
Daniel Defoe and the Bank of England: The Dark Arts of Projectors

Val's Music Choice was
Maggie May - Rod Stewart

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