Educational Reading For Generations Of Kids
On September 14 Royal Mail will issue a set of eight stamps celebrating Ladybird books, which have had a huge influence on generations of British children.
The Loughborough-based stationery firm Wills & Hepworth registered the Ladybird name in 1915, and published the first of its small-format children’s books bearing the Ladybird logo in 1940.
With wartime paper rationing in force, it concocted a format in which a 56-page book could be printed from a single sheet of paper.
Royal Mail issued a set of eight stamps and a miniature sheet on September 3 to celebrate one of Britain’s best-loved and most successful musicians, Elton John.
The honour comes on the 50th anniversary of the 72-year-old singer-songwriter’s first album, during what is said to be his final tour (a three-year extravaganza featuring more than 300 concerts), and six weeks before the publication of his autobiography,Me.
A global superstar, known for his outlandish stage outfits, Elton John is one of the biggest-selling recording artists of all time.
Gerry Anderson’s very popular 'supermarination' television programmes from the 1960s are saluted by Royal Mail’s first stamp issue of 2011, to be issued on January 11.
FAB: The Genius Of Gerry Anderson marks the 50th anniversary of six ground-breaking series, which began with Supercar in 1961.
Fittingly, the issue also features the first ‘moving’ pictures on British stamps, by virtue of lenticular images incorporated into a miniature sheet devoted to the
best-loved show of all, Thunderbirds.
Royal Mail concludes its poignant five-year series commemorating the centenary of the Great War on September 13, with the First World War 1918 set.
Like each of the preceding issues, it focuses on one year of the world-changing conflict, with one stamp exploring each of six themes: poppies, poetry, portraits, art, memorials and artefacts.
They concentrate less on how the war changed the course of history, and more on its impact on individual lives, millions of which were ended or transformed.
The third issue in Royal Mail’s series commemorating the First World War, issued on June 21, focuses on the year 1916, with another eclectic and poignant selection of images.
As in the first two issues, the year is explored though a stamp covering each of six key themes: poppies, poetry, portraits, art, memorials and artefacts.
This year there is an additional miniature sheet, specifically devoted to the impact of the war on postal services.
The second issue in Royal Mail’s five-year First World War commemorative series, issued on May 14, focuses on the year 1915, with more poignant images hailing the stoic bravery of fighting men.
It follows the template set in the first issue, by exploring each year of the conflict though six key themes: poppies, poetry, portraits, art, memorials and artefacts.
Designed by Hat-Trick, the stamps are printed in litho by International Security Printers.
On August 13 Royal Mail will issue a set of six stamps entitled Forests, to mark the 100th anniversary of the Forestry Commission.
The Forestry Commission, a non-ministerial government department, was established in 1919 to manage and replenish the UK’s timber resources, which had been severely depleted during World War I.
It bought so much former agricultural land that it became the largest landowner in Britain.
Royal Mail will issue a set of 15 stamps on January 23 featuring the popular television fantasy series Game Of Thrones.
It said the 10 gummed sheet stamps and five-stamp self-adhesive miniature sheet were produced ‘to celebrate the significant British contribution to the production of the award-winning drama series’.
Commissioned by the American television network HBO, co-created by the American producers David Benioff and Daniel Weiss, and based on novels by the American author George R R Martin, Game Of Thrones has been filmed to a large extent at Titanic Studios inBelfast, and partly on location elsewhere in Northern Ireland, in Scotland and in other European countries.
This year’s Christmas stamps, issued on November 8, feature illustrated scenes inspired by the Nativity, and specifically illustrating verses from the gospels of Matthew and Luke.
The stamps were designed by Together Design, from paintings by Peter Malone, and printed in gravure by De La Rue.
The sheet stamps are self-adhesive, but, as in every Christmas issue since 2004, the same designs also come in gummed format in the accompanying miniature sheet.
Royal Mail is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Football Association and the 140th anniversary of the Scottish Football Association with its Football Heroes miniature sheet, issued on May 9.
Eleven 1st class stamps portrayindividual British footballers who stood out in their generation, not least in representing their respective countries.
The designs form a composite image, and the miniature sheet places them all together in a team line-up.
Characters in Britain’s best-loved fantasy stories, from ancient myths to modern best-sellers, are brought together in the Magical Realms set, to be issued on March 8.
The eight stamps illustrate two different enchanters from each of four series of stories, using a combination of film images and newly-commissioned illustrations.
Depicted in artwork by Howard Swindell are characters from medieval Arthurian legend, and from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld comic fantasy series, the first of which was published in 1983.