On October 20, Royal Mail’s Mr Men & Little Miss issue will celebrate one of Britain’s most popular series of children’s characters, created by Roger Hargreaves.
With their bold, colourful designs and simple personality traits, they have have been enchanting children for more than 40 years, branching out from a successful series of books into television cartoons.
It all started when Hargreaves’ young son Adam innocently asked him: ‘What does a tickle look like?’ His father visualised a small orange man with absurdly long arms, drafted an illustrated story about him, and never looked back.
Royal Mail issues a set of 10 stamps on January 14 celebrating National Parks, marking the 70th anniversary of the establishment of such areas in the UK.
The first to be designated was the Peak District, in April 1951, followed by three others later in the same year.
Royal Mail issued a total of 29 next-day miniature sheets from August 1-12, to celebrate every gold medal won by British competitors at the London 2012 Olympics.
Each sheet comprised six 1st class stamps of the same design, featuring a photograph of the athlete or team in the process of winning their event, celebrating immediately afterwards or receivingtheir medals.
The images and inscriptions were overprinted onto pre-printed base sheets by six different printers, based in London, Swindon, Attleborough, Solihull, Preston and Edinburgh, and were available from 500 main post offices by noon the following day.
Royal Mail celebrated the 40th anniversary of the BBC television sitcom Only Fools & Horses with a set of eight stamps and a miniature sheet issued on February 16.
Created by John Sullivan and first broadcast in 1981, Only Fools & Horses ran for seven series and 16 Christmas specials until 2003, amounting to 64 episodes in all.
At its peak, it was watched by more than 24 million people.
Royal Mail’s upcoming stamp issue, released on May 11, is devoted to Owls.
It features the five species of owl which live and breed regularly in Britain, by way of one se-tenant strip of five illustrating adults and another showing juveniles.
Usually hunting for small mammals at night, owls are among the most successful predators in the bird world, thanks to eyesight which excels in low-light conditions, acute hearing and the ability to fly almost silently.
A set of stamps issued on July 30 celebrates the 150th anniversary of the completion of the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster, the world-famous home of the Houses of Parliament.
Six counter-sheet stamps offer spectacular views of the exterior of the building and the parliamentary chambers, while a miniature sheet of four focuses on some of the spectacular interior architecture that is less often seen.
Founded by King Edward the Confessor, and still a royal palace although no longer a residence, the Palace of Westminster has been at the centre of English (later British) political life since the 11th century, and the permanent home of Parliament since the 16th century.
Royal Mail is issuing a miniature sheet of four stamps to coincide with the opening of the Paralympic Games on August 29.
The Welcome to the London 2012 Paralympic Games miniature sheet is similar in style to the Welcome to the Olympic Games sheet issued in July (August issue, page 22), featuring aquartet of sports merged with images of the city’s landmarks.
It will make Royal Mail the first postal administration of a host country to issue stamps to celebrate the start of the Paralympics.
Royal Mail issued a Gold Medal Winner miniature sheet to celebrate each British success in the Paralympic Games in London.
Each sheet comprised two self-adhesive 1st class stamps of the same design, showing the medallists either in action during their event or on the podium.
As with the Olympic Games six-stamp sheets (October issue, page 20), base sheets designed by True North and pre-printed by Cartor were overprinted with images and inscriptions by six different regional printers, whose identities had not been released as we went to press.
Royal Mail will issue the fifth in its ongoing Music Giants series on May 28, celebrating the solo career of Sir Paul McCartney, one of Britain’s most successful musicians.
In the established style of the series, a set of eight stamps feature selected album covers from 1970, when The Beatles disbanded, through to 2020.
A miniature sheet of four comprises photographs of McCartney at work in the recording studio, spanning three decades.
Royal Mail will issue a set of 10 stamps on July 7 to celebrate one of the most influential British rock bands of all time, Pink Floyd.
Six self-adhesive stamps reproduce iconic record sleeve designs, in the same freeform style as the 2010 Classic Album Covers set (which included a different Pink Floyd album).
A Pink Floyd Live miniature sheet of four further designs is based on photographs from stage performances, taken over four different decades.
The Prime Ministers set of eight stamps, to be issued on October 14, feature some of Britain’s most influential civilian leaders, four of them from the 18th and 19th centuries and the other four from the 20th century.
The office of Prime Minister was not created, but evolved over a long period of time.
Officially, the post is still First Lord of the Treasury, although the term ‘Prime Minister’ came into use as a convenience around 200 years ago.
