Firstly, apologies - I should have headed my original posting "Private
message for British eyes only"
then ex-colonials wouldn't have been troubled by a strange crossed L. This
is from Latin "libra", an ancient Roman unit of weight corresponding to 1
pound, or in Old English "pund", an obsolete unit of weight. "libra" was
then shortened to "lb" (for younger British readers 1 lb = 16 ounces =
0.453592 kilograms, unless it's being used to weigh precious metals or
gemstones when it is then called a troy pound = 12 ounces = 0.373242 kg and
also 1 troy ounce = 20 pennyweights where 1 pennyweight = 24 grains, of what
I've no idea.The ancient Albions, as inflation reduced the value of their
penny weights, needed a collective noun for a pile of pennies, and as you
may have noticed if you're still with me 240 pennyweights weigh 1 pound.
20-odd years ago the imminent availability of small miraculous £500 portable
electronic calculators made more cents if the Pound was decimilised, so our
current penny weights are 2.4 old penny weights, and to differentiate them
they are now shown
as "p" compared to the previous "d" (itself from Latin "denarius", a Roman
coin worth 10 asses).
This is verbally abbreviated by the hoi polloi from "pence" to "pee",
presumably because their vulgar minds associate a penny with the old
entrance charge to a loo (toilet, washroom, little boy's room, little girl's
room or pisshouse).The ounce itself is so-named from old French "unce" or
Latin "uncia" meaning a twelfth. "Troy" is from Troyes in France where this
whole silly system apparently originated. Then the French under Napoleon
buggered the whole lot up by insisting that all their conquested domains
change to the metric system and drive on the wrong side of the road. They
had friends in the recently rebel tea-drinking colonies somewhere to the
West who, while in some United State of disarray, decided to cock a snoot
(nose) to their old mad King and, in sympathy with France, started to tell
their horses to drive on the right also (note that even today the majority
of right-thinking drivers throughout the rest of the world sit in the right
seat of their cars and drive down the natural, left, side of the road).
Later on the Irish thought they'd follow suit, but made the mistake of
getting all buses and lorries (trucks) to change to the right one weekend,
with cars and push-bikes the next. The resulting carnage led to that
experiment being quickly abandoned, but not before many of those who
protested at this insult to the British mainland had moved north and set up
a breakaway area called Ulster (United Left Side Throughout the Empire
Region). The Southern Irish never forgave the protest(ant)ers hence the
current sorry mess there. The Irish pound (money) is called a "punt", which
is almost where we came in, and why they still rock the boat as it were.
None of this would have happenned if it hadn't been for the fact that fully
50% of all Irish, French and Americans are of below average intelligence,
whereas a good 50% of all native Brits are blessed with above average
intellectual powers.

Amazing what you can find in a dictionary isn't it?

Anyway, back to Duff's question: :-)
1. Move to the UK, buy a UK issue computer, and you get a nice REAL £ sign
on the keyboard
    ( where you have a # above the 3)
OR:
2.1  Open up Character Map ( Windows 95/98, Accessories, System Tools)
2.2  Open a True Type fonts, most feature the £ sign
2.3  Highlight it and Select, then press Copy - the £ symbol should then be
in the Clipboard
2.4  Edit, Paste into your document, hey presto (I hope!) the £ sign should
be there in all its glory
       and in the font you are using .
2.5  That way you don't make a hash of it.

Finally, I hope I haven't offended anyone.

Best wishes, John Fowles, author of the above but not "The French
Lieutenant's Woman"  unfortunately