The pound sign (£ or ₤) is the symbol for the pound sterling—the currency of the United Kingdom (UK). The same symbol is (or was) used for similarly named currencies in some other countries and territories, such as the Irish pound, Gibraltar pound, Australian pound, and Italian lira. Several countries, including Lebanon and Egypt, call their currency "the pound" but do not use the £ symbol.

The symbol derives from a capital "L", representing libra, the basic unit of weight in the Roman Empire, which in turn is derived from the Latin name for scales or a balance. The pound became an English unit of weight and was so named because it originally had the value of one tower pound (~334 grams)^{[citation needed]} of fine (pure) silver.

The pound sign is placed before the number (e.g. "£12,000"), and separated from the following digits by no space or only a thin space.

The symbol ‹₤› was called the lira sign in Italy, before the adoption of the euro. It was used as an alternative to the more usual L to show prices in lire.

Kevin Fowler (born ca. 1966 in Amarillo, Texas) is an American Texas Country artist. He has released five studio albums, and has charted three singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including the top 40 hit "Pound Sign (#?*!)". In addition, he wrote Sammy Kershaw's 2003 single "Beer, Bait & Ammo", Mark Chesnutt's 2004 single "The Lord Loves the Drinkin' Man" and Montgomery Gentry's 2009 single "Long Line of Losers".

Fowler was the younger of two children. His father introduced him to country music when he was a child, and as a teenager Fowler also developed a liking for rock music.

He graduated in 1984 from Tascosa High School in Amarillo.

Long interested in making music, Fowler began piano lessons as a young child. When he was twenty, he realized that he wanted to seriously pursue a career in music and moved to Los Angeles, California, to attend the Guitar Institute of Technology. For the next year, he learned how to play the guitar and began writing songs.

After gaining a good knowledge of the guitar, Fowler left L.A. for Austin, Texas. He was a guitarist with the rock band Dangerous Toys in the early 1990s, but left to form his own Southern hard-rock band, Thunderfoot. In 1998, he left rock music all together to form a new band that would concentrate instead on Texas country music. Fowler and his new band earned themselves a weekly gig at Babe's on Sixth Street in Austin. Two years later, with no recording contracts, Fowler recorded and released his own debut album, Beer, Bait, and Ammo. This album sold over 30,000 copies in Texas, with the title track receiving a great deal of airplay. This song was popular enough that Mark Chesnutt began playing it in his live show, and Sammy Kershaw recorded it for one of his own albums.

Henry Louis "Lou" or "Buster"Gehrig (June 19, 1903 – June 2, 1941) was an American baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig set several major league records, including most career grand slams (23) and most consecutive games played (2,130). Gehrig is chiefly remembered for his prowess as a hitter and his durability, a trait which earned him his nickname "The Iron Horse", as well as the pathos of his farewell from baseball at age 36, when he was stricken with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Gehrig was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939. In 1969 he was voted the greatest first baseman of all time by the Baseball Writers' Association, and was the leading vote-getter on the Major League Baseball All-Century Team, chosen by fans in 1999.

A native of New York City, he played for the Yankees until his career was cut short by ALS, a disorder now commonly known in the United States and Canada as Lou Gehrig's disease. Over a 15-season span from 1925 through 1939, he played in 2,130 consecutive games. This streak ended only when Gehrig became disabled by the fatal neuromuscular disease that claimed his life two years later. His streak, long considered one of baseball's few unbreakable records, stood for 56 years, until finally broken by Cal Ripken, Jr., of the Baltimore Orioles on September 6, 1995.