What do the Tyne Bridge, Kevin Keegan and the Durham coastline have in common?
All have been licked and sent round the world, some are rated first class and some second.
The
answer - and the criteria could also include Paralympian Josef Craig,
the musical Billy Elliott and Hadrian’s Wall - is that all have featured
on UK postage stamps, their images being sent on letters to loved ones,
business contacts or perhaps on bills being paid just in time.
Now
these images and thousands more have been collected on put online by
the Royal Mail to mark the 50th anniversary of the Special Stamp
programme, a project launched by the then Postmaster General Tony Benn
in 1965 to add some variety to the stamps we use.
Instead of the
well-known image of the monarch’s head, special stamps have commemorated
hundreds of topics, from the centenary of the Salvation Army in 1965 to
Buckingham Palace at the end of 2014. Along the way, stamps have
commemorated writers (including Dickens and Jane Austen), sporting
events such as the Olympics and the World Cup, and historical figures
ranging from Prime Ministers to scienntists, architects and film makers.
Philip
Parker, Royal Mail’s stamp strategy manager, said: “Before 1965, Royal
Mail very occasionally issued commemorative stamps. These really were
mostly royal occasions and postal anniversaries.
“However, in late
1964, the Government changed and the new Labour Government appointed
new people, which included appointing Tony Benn as the new Postmaster
General. He wanted to change things a bit and he wanted to change
stamps.
“So he devised a criteria for Special Stamps, which
included marking special anniversaries, the British way of life and
Britain’s contribution to world affairs.
“He also wanted to look
at other subject matters, such as wildlife. He began looking into new
designs and worked with a designer into looking at how stamps could be
modernised.
“The criteria has not changed much at all since then - the stamps celebrate and commemorate the best of British.”
During
50 years of Special Stamps, the North East has made sporadic
appearances, with Durham Cathedral featuring in 1969 on a British
Architecture series and the nearby Milburngate shopping centre as the
20-and-a-half pence stamp in a series on urban renewal in 1984.
The
Angel of the North and Lindisfarne Priory featured as the A and L of a
UK A-Z series in 2011, with the Tyne Bridge coming a year later as the
T. Stamps issued around the Millennium were also North East-heavy,
featuring the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, the Durham coastline,
Newcastle’s Centre for Life and Project Suzy on Teesside. More recent
images on stamps have included the The Response, the Newcastle war
memorial featured on the first series of four planned to mark the
centenary of World War One, and famous footballers, which included Kevin
Keegan and Bobby Charlton.
Mr Parker said: “We get many hundreds
of requests every year for subject matters, so we do chose carefully. I
can confirm that we will be bringing out a new stamp relating to
Newcastle in the New Year but I can’t say much more than that at this
stage.”
Though the dawn of the internet and email has lessened
demand for stamps, the regular issues of special stamps is much
anticipated by stamp collecters, while the programme, featuring as it
does both eagerly anticipated subject matter and high class artwork and
photography, still has a place in the wider UK consciousness.
To
capture some of that interest, the Royal Mail is now marking the 50th
anniversary of the special stamp programme with a website featuring
every issue. Visitors to the site can browse through the stamps by the
decade and also view the stamps that were issued in the year that they
were born.
Source : http://www.thejournal.co.uk/north-east-analysis/analysis-news/royal-mail-marks-50th-anniversary-8369144
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