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The Remarkable Lives stamp issue, to be released on March 25, is the latest in what seems to have become an annual series celebrating important figures in modern British culture, following on from Eminent Britons in 2009, Britons of Distinction in 2012 and Great Britons in 2013.

Each of this year’s honorees was born a century ago, in 1914. They include two actors, a theatre director, a writer, an economist, a broadcaster, a scientist, a footballer, a graphic designer and a war heroine. The title reflects the fact that one of them, Noorunissa Inayat Khan, did not hold British citizenship.

Designed by Purpose, the stamps are printed in litho by International Security Printers (Walsall).

VERDICT

COMMEMORATIVE WORTH    

Some of the subjects are more amazing than others, but sharing a date of birth adds more cohesion to this series

QUALITY OF DESIGN     

Use of black-and-white photographic portraits is a successful approach this kind of issue

WOW FACTOR     

Not too many of these worthies are instantly recognisable

1st class Roy Plomley

Broadcaster and writer Plomley (1914-1985) presented the BBC radio programme Desert Island Discs from its inception in 1942 until 1985. His simple idea was to invite guests from different spheres of public life to select eight pieces of music that they would want with them if they were castaways. His guests included royalty and prime ministers.

1st class Barbara Ward

An economist and broadcaster, Ward (1914–1981) was a pioneer of a global response to environmental problems. She became the Albert Schweitzer Professor of Economic Development at Columbia University in the USA, and co-authored the Only One Earth report for the 1972 United Nations Conference on Human Development, which invented the idea of ‘sustainable development’. She was made Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth in 1974.

1st class Joe Mercer

As a footballer for Everton, Arsenal and England, Mercer (1914-90) won three League Championships, two FA Cups and five full international caps, and was voted Footballer of the Year in 1950. After retiring, he managed Sheffield United, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Coventry City, winning all three of the major domestic trophies and one European trophy. He also served as England’s caretaker manager in 1974.

1st class Sir Alec Guinness

Stage and screen actor Guinness (1914-2000) first appeared on film in 1946, in Great Expectations, and went on to star in many famous movies including Oliver Twist, Kind Hearts & Coronets (playing eight characters from the same family), Lawrence Of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, A Passage To India and Star Wars. He won an Oscar in 1957 for The Bridge On The River Kwai, and was knighted in 1959. 

1st class Kenneth More 

More (1914-1982) was the actor who made the character of the middle-class Englishman his own. After a stage career which started in the 1930s, he came to movie stardom in the 1950s in Genevieve, Doctor In The House, The Deep Blue Sea and The 39 Steps, and also starred in many popular television series, including The Forsyte Saga.

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