On January 15, without warning Switzerland removed the rules that kept the value of its currency pegged to the euro. As a result the value of the Swiss franc shot up against the euro by about 15 per cent.

Holidays for anyone on a budget heading to the Swiss Alps for a spot of snowboarding and fondue were somewhat spoiled. The news panicked foreign markets and the value of the euro began to 'collapse' a bit against other currencies.

Later in the month, victory by the anti-austerity party in the Greek national elections threw up questions about whether the single European currency could survive, causing the value of the euro to fall further against the dollar and the pound.

It's great news for British people thinking of crossing the Channel to France for a slightly cheaper-than-usual really expensive holiday this year - but who outside the business world of foreign exchange really cares?

Magic Wad: Star Trek's Federation Credits are worth almost a dollar at 97 US cents, or about £1.50. But Harry Potter's fantasy Knuts are worth a mere 2 US cents, or 1.3 British pence.

Surely the real currency-related questions on everyone’s minds this year must be from further afield than Europe and include:

How much would it cost Fred Flintstone to buy Harry Potter a pint at the Three Broomsticks pub near Hogwarts?

Wad Dwarf: The Dollarpound as used by Kryten, the Cat, Dave Lister and Arnold RImmer aboard the Red Dwarf space ship is worth about $2.40 (real US dollars) or £1.60.

Did Hans Solo have stronger spending power at the Star Wars Cantina than Spock had with his Federation Credits on the SS Enterprise?

How many Dollarpounds would Lister have needed to pay for a hitman to have that annoying hologram Rimmer deleted from Red Dwarf?

Yabba Dabba Dough: 100 hard-earned Flintstones Clams would get you 16 US bucks, £10.50 or 4,800 Poke-Dollars in the cartoon world of Pokeman.

Well, someone at the auction site eBay has worked some magic with the sums and built a calculator (below) to show what the money spent by our made-up heroes is worth - from computer games and TV shows to Hollywood blockbusters.

Of course, you can calculate the value of real currencies in our converter (right). But this is much more fun.

For example, in Harry Potter 1,000 Knuts is made up of 34 Sickels and 100 Game of Thrones Gold Dragons would buy you 13,157 of Harry Potter's Galleons. In Star Wars, 40 US dollars would get you 39.60 Galactic Standard Credits.

FICTIONAL CURRENCIES AND WHERE TO SPEND THEM Currency Location Genre Ankh-Morpork Dollar Discwold Fantasy books by Terry Pratchett Bottle Caps Fallout Post apocalypse computer game Clams Flintstones Animated comedy cave dwellers Copper Stars Game of Thrones Medieval fantasy TV drama Credits Babylon 5 Space soap opera Creds Judge Dredd Dystopian comic book hero Dollar USA The United States of America Dollarpound Red Dwarf Comedy sci-fi TV series Doubledollars Trigun Japanese manga Federation Credit Star Trek Long-running TV sci-fi Galactic Standard Credit Star Wars Seminal space movie series Galleons Harry Potter Fantasy wizard school novels and films Gold War of Warcraft Multi-player online role playing game Gold Dragons Game of Thrones Medieval fantasy TV drama Knuts Harry Potter Fairly well-known books and movies Poke-Dollar Pokemon Children's computer game turned movie Rupee The Legend of Zelda Fantasy role playing game Septims Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Action role playing video game Sickels Harry Potter J. K. Rowling's schoolroom masterpiece Silver Stags Game of Thrones Medieval fantasy TV drama Simoleon The Sims 3 Life simulation video game Solari Dune Sci-fi novel and movie Whuffie Down and out in the Magic Kingdom Free-to-download sci-fi novel Woolong Coyboy Bepop Japanese space animation Zeni Dragonball Z Japanese TV animation

Star Wads: Hans Solo, Princess Leia, and Luke Skywalker queue up at the cash machine to withdraw Galactic Standard Credits to spend at the Cantina, the famous bar in the the Star Wars movie where the currency is almost equal in value to the US dollar.