If we have learnt anything from George W. Bush it is that being rich does not mean being clever. Money comes to anyone - dumb, smart, tall or short. It is matter of being born into money, working hard or getting lucky.

And the if you feel as though your luck is in, you should get along to Wanlockhead - the highest village in Scotland - for the British Gold Panning Championships. The event takes place in May .

Those of you who think you’re unlikely to strike it rich obviously have not heard the tale of Angus McTangus. And since we haven’t either, the odds are indeed remarkably slim that you will find a nugget among so many rocks and pebbles.

But gold is there – it is just matter of finding it. As the Telegraph reports, in 2003, one prospector walked into a jeweller with a jar containing 13oz of gold harvested from Scottish rivers.

And if Scotland is not your bag, then you could always dig for gold in California. By this, we mean gold digging in its truest sense, and not the soulless attempts to snare Hollywood wealth with battered eyelash and cheeky smile.

California was once rich in the prized yellow metal. Today many mines are long closed, the miners long gone - off to wok in real estate and Silicon Valley. But places like the Sixteen To One mine still exist.

The mine - named after the number of ounces of silver equal to one ounce of gold in the monetary system founded by the Portuguese in 1688 – is a throwback to the gold rush times.

Sadly, the rush is over and the mine is under attack from groups which claim it has poisoned the water underground. The arsenic and cyanide used to extract gold from crushed ore have leaked into a nearby creek, polluting the water.

That is sad, but the lure of gold is such that what is a few drops of cyanide between friends? A set of gallows that hangs outside the mine’s entrance suggests the answer is not very much.

The bight spark is that hanging is no longer a legal punishment in Scotland, so if you do want to make a grab for riches, you can have a go. Last one to the goldmine’s an impoverished sap.

Came straight to this page? Visit www.kerching.tv for all the latest news.

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