Royal Mail’s alphabetical journey around UK landmarks, which began with the letters A to L in October last year, concludes with the letters M to Z on April 10.
Comprising no fewer than 14 1st class stamps, this is Britain’s biggest single special stamp issue to date.
The stamps are being issued in three sheets of 30: one has the designs from M to R in se-tenant strips of six, another has S to X in se-tenant strips of six, and the third has Y and Z in se-tenant pairs; this arrangement also makes vertical strips of each individual design available.
The first set in a two-part series making up an alphabetical tour of famous landmarks of the United Kingdom will be released on October 13.
Part one of the UK A-Z comprises 12 1st class stamps showing photographs of sights starting with the letters from A to L, making it the biggest single commemorative set yet issued by Royal Mail.
Part two, covering the letters M to Z, is set to break that record with a 14-stamp set in April 2012!
The stamps were designed by Robert Maude and Sarah Davies (who were also responsible for the Aerial Post miniature sheet in September), and were printed in lithography by Cartor in sheets which yield se-tenant strips of six.
Royal Mail’s first special stamp issue of 2020, to be issued on January 21, is devoted to Video Games.
A set of eight counter-sheet stamps look back nostalgically on the best-loved games devised in the UK in the 1980s and 1990s, when the industry was in its infancy and some British games were landmark creations.
An accompanying four-stamp miniature sheet focuses on the action-adventure game Tomb Raider, originally devised by British company Core Design in 1996 and later developed by American outfit Crystal Dynamics, illustrating its evolution across the years.
A set of eight stamps issued by Royal Mail on February 11, entitled Visions of the Universe, celebrates the 200th anniversary of the Royal Astronomical Society.
It illustrates astronomical features and phenomena discovered and investigated by British astronomers and astrophysicists over the years, using dramatic and intensely colourful original artwork rather than photographs.
Founded in 1820 as the Astronomical Society of London, and based at Burlington House on Piccadilly, the RAS encourages and promotes the study of the universe and closely related branches of science.
With the Votes for Women issue on February 15, Royal Mail will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act 1918, which granted women the right to vote in parliamentary elections for the first time.
The campaign for women's suffrage had taken almost a century, with the first petitions presented in parliament in 1832 and 1966.
It gathered momentum towards the end of the 19th century with the establishment of two prominent pressure groups.
The Christmas stamps for 2010, to be released on November 2, feature ‘claymation’ duo Wallace & Gromit, stars of the Aardman Animations’ Oscar-winning films A Grand Day Out, A Close Shave and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
Royal Mail’s design team worked closely with Nick Park, the creator of characters, and Aardman to create five exclusive scenes featuring the duo, for the set of seven self-adhesive stamps.
Park drew the scenes, and refined them to work to best effect in the two definitive formats, before each was constructed with models, props and background sets created especially for the issue.
Royal Mail’s latest incursion into fantasy worlds is a special issue released on June 8 celebrating 40 years of the Warhammer series of tabletop wargames.
Royal Mail issued a set of eight stamps on May 4 commemorating the Wars of the Roses, the series of bloody struggles for the throne which engulfed England from 1455-85.
Specifically, the issue is timed to coincide with the 550th anniversary of the Battle of Tewkesbury, one of the defining battles in a period which witnessed the deposition of three kings, and the violent death of two of them.
The Wars of the Roses were fought between the rival houses of Lancaster and York, which were both cadet branches of the royal house of Plantagenet.
Royal Mail is celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of Britain’s greatest novelist, Charles Dickens, with a set of six stamps and a miniature sheet to be issued on June 19.
They feature popular characters from 10 of his most famous novels, as drawn during the 19th century.
In the case of the sheet stamps, the illustrations are adapted from Character Sketches from Charles Dickens by Joseph Clayton Clarke (known as ‘Kyd’); in the case of the miniature sheet, they are from book illustrations by Hablot Knight Brown (known as ‘Phiz’).
The Wild Coasts special stamp issue, released on July 22, celebrates the surprising and beautiful diversity of marine life found in British coastal waters.
Nowhere in the UK is more than 70 miles from the coast,andthe British Isles provide unique or ideal habitats for a multitude of species.
A set of 10 counter-sheet stamps showcases a wide variety of wildlife, from mammals, fish and birds to crustaceans, molluscs, anemones and coral.
A set of six stamps and a miniature sheet to be issued on February 15 will feature one of Britain’s most recognisable historic landmarks, Windsor Castle.
Founded by William the Conqueror in around 1080, Windsor is the oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world.
Originally it was simply part of a chain of fortifications established around London following the Norman Conquest, but King Henry I began to turn it into a royal palace as early as the early 12th century, and it remains an important royal residence today.
