Royal Mail is marking the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci on February 13, with a set of 12 stamps featuring a selection of his drawings held by the Royal Collection.
The 550 drawings in the collection were acquired by King Charles II around 1670 and are one of the world’s most important hoards of Leonardo’s original work.
Almost 150 examples are being displayed separately at 12 museums and galleries across the UK this year, and then subsequently together in the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace.
Royal Mail’s first stamp issue of2013 celebrates the 150th anniversary of the world’s oldest underground railway.
Issued on January 9, the London Underground issue comprises six separate stamps charting the history of the network, and a miniature sheet of four wide-format stamps focusing on the design heritage of its promotional posters.
The sheet stamps all feature a timeline across the lower quarter of the design, giving the date of the image and using
the livery colour of the relevant Underground line.
Royal Mail issued a five-stamp miniature sheet entitled Long To Reign Over Us on September 9, the day Queen Elizabeth II became the longest reigning monarch in British history, surpassing Queen Victoria’s reign of 63 years and 216 days.
One of the stamps is the new-coloured 1st class Machin definitive (October issue, page 22), and the miniature sheet is the only source of this design in gummed form.
The other four are larger-format commemoratives featuring royal portraiture and insignia.
The 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, a foundation stone of the rule of law in England and around the world, is being marked by a special stamp issue on June 2.
Rather than concentrating solely on the treaty itself, the set of six stamps, subtitled ‘Magna Carta 1215: Foundation of Liberty’ also features five other key civil liberties and human rights documents which have been inspired by it.
Each design features a quote from the document in question alongside a simple woodcut image.
Royal Mail issues a miniature sheet and prestige stamp book on September 9, to mark the centenary of the First UK Aerial Post, which was the world’s first scheduled airmail service.
Gustav Hamel’s flight from Hendon to Windsor on September 9, 1911, was the first of a series by four pilots carrying covers commemorating the coronation of King George V (see page 42).
The four stamps reproduce period photographs, and the border shows an original publicity poster.
Royal Mail will issue a Marvel Super Heroes set of stamps on March 14, marking the 80th anniversary of the famous comic stories.
Ten stamps sold in counter sheets illustrate popular characters, all facing the viewer in dynamic action poses.
A further five stamps are contained in a miniature sheet which takes the form of a specially commissioned comic strip entitled Marvel Heroes UK, with a storyline loosely set in London.
Royal Mail issued its final stamps commemorating the Olympic and Paralympic Games on September 27 in the shape of a four-stamp miniature sheet entitled Memories of London 2012.
In the same format as the Welcome to the Olympics and Welcome to the Paralympics sheets of July and August, it features photographs from both events, with the logos of Team GB and ParalympicsGB and a quote from Lord Coe, the Chairman of the Organising Committee, in the border.
The sheet was designed by The Chase and printed by Walsall in lithography.
Royal Mail issued a set of 10 stamps on the theme of Migratory Birds on April 7, showcasing the diversity of spring and summer avian visitors to Britain.
About one in seven birds worldwide make annual, seasonal migrations along well-defined routes between their breeding and non-breeding grounds.
Often this involves travelling remarkable distances over land and sea.
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.
