Centenary of First UK Airmail to be celebrated by Royal Mail…

 

To be issued on 9 September 2011

 

Royal Mail is issuing a miniature stamp sheet and prestige stamp book on 9 September 2011, as a tribute to the pioneering aviators who made philatelic history through the UK’s first aerial post service a century ago.

Gustav Hamel’s 15-minute flight from Hendon Aerodrome to Windsor Castle on 9 September 1911 was part of the celebrations of the coronation of King George V.  It was the first of 16 aerial post flights carrying commemorative postage to mark the coronation.  The flights took place until 26 September 1911 and are recognised as the world’s first scheduled airmail service.

Now exactly 100 years on, Royal Mail marks the event with a miniature sheet, featuring a border that replicates the design of an original publicity poster for the inaugural flight.  The four-pane prestige stamp book written by Peter Lister, President of the British Air Mail Society includes a pane comprising four 50p Windsor Castle stamps, re-issued from the 2005 set of high-value definitives stamps printed by intaglio.

The Aerial Post Miniature Sheet tells the story of this historic flight; featuring original photography of key events from the day; from Hamel receiving the first mail bag (1^st Class), sitting in the cockpit of his Blériot XI monoplane at Hendon Aerodrome (68p), and his arrival in the grounds of Windsor Castle (£1.10). The fourth £1 stamp features Clement Greswell, another of the pilots who helped deliver the UK’s first aerial post.

 

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Final set of London 2012 by Royal Mail..

 

To be issued on 27 July 2011

Royal Mail’s largest stamp commission since the Millennium series will be completed on 27 July 2011, with the launch of the final set of London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games stamps – issued exactly one year before the opening ceremony.

To mark the countdown to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and its role as an official licensee of the Games, Royal Mail commissioned 30 UK artists and image makers to take part in this three-year project. The 30 stamps created to mark the 30^th Olympiad and London 2012 Paralympic Games each champion an Olympic or Paralympic sport. They have been issued in three sets of ten stamps to mark the annual countdown in July 2009, 2010 and finally 2011.

The third and final set in this exciting series, subtitled ‘Get Ready for 2012’, contains a new set of ten dynamic sporting images printed in two sheets, each bearing se-tenant strips of five 1^st Class stamps. These include established Olympic sports such as fencing, handball and wrestling, and more recent additions including sailing, triathlon and wheelchair rugby.All stamps in the series feature either the London 2012 Olympic Games or Paralympic Games logo.

Second Set issued in 2010

First Set issued in 2009

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Shakespeare stamps from Royal Mail..

Date of Issue : 12th April 2011

The Royal Shakespeare Company

On 12 April Royal Mail marked the 50th Anniversary of the Royal Shakespeare Company, with Stamps and a Miniature Sheet. Working with the RSC, Royal Mail selected six RSC productions of Shakespeare’s plays from the last half century for the Stamps and created a Miniature Sheet which comprises four stamps showing the theatres where the RSC has performed in Stratford-upon-Avon through the years.

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) stamps see six productions take centre stage, including Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest, amongst others. The stamps each feature a defining scene from an RSC production alongside a famous quote from each play.

The stamp issue marks 50 years since Sir Peter Hall founded the RSC. Over the last half a century the RSC has staged Shakespeare plays across the UK, and has also taken productions on tour around the UK and worldwide.

Other plays celebrated in the stamp issue include Henry VI, King Lear and A Midsummer Night's Dream. An additional four stamps complete the stamp set and are printed in a miniature sheet depicting a collage of the RSC's theatres in Stratford-upon-Avon.

1st Class – Hamlet

The stamp shows former Dr Who, David Tennant as Hamlet from the recent 2008 production.

66p – The Tempest

Antony Sher plays Prospero in the 2009 production.

68p – Henry VI

Chuk Iwuji as Henry VI in the 2006 production.

76p – King Lear

A classic shot of Paul Schofield as Lear from 1962.

£1.00 – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Sara Kestleman as the fairy queen Titania from 1970.

£1.10p – Romeo and Juliet

Ian McKellen and Francesca Annis play the doomed lovers in this 1976 production.

1st Class – Royal Shakespeare Theatre

The First Class stamp shows the Royal Shakespeare Theatre with Janet Suzman as Ophelia from the 1965 production of Macbeth.

68p – Swan Theatre

Here the Swan Theatre is shown with Patrick Stewart in Antony and Cleopatra.

76p – The Courtyard Theatre

The 76p stamp shows Geoffrey Streatfeild in Henry V with the Courtyard Theatre.

£1.00 – The Other Place

The Other Place features Dame Judi Dench as Lady Macbeth.

Read more about design..

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New Stamps on Royal Wedding..

 

To be issued on 21 April 2011

The Royal Mail will issue two official stamps on 21 April to commemorate the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton.The stamps will feature photographs taken by Mario Testino to mark the couple's engagement .

It is the third time Prince William has appeared on a Royal Mail stamp - he was featured on a sheet of stamps to celebrate the Queen and the Queen Mother's 100th birthday in 2000 and in 2003 became the first member of the royal family to have a set of stamps produced to celebrate their 21st birthday.

He is also the first of the Queen's grandchildren to have their wedding commemorated on a set of stamps.

News from our Readers….

Envelope with interesting Printing Error

 

 

I have a unique envelop of denomination 100 ps. (Rs.1) which I found from bunch of old household letters. The most important & unique thing of it is that, whatever is printed on outer side of envelop like national emblem, Satyamev Jayate, Bharat, INDIA, PIN, 100 is exactly reverse (mirror image) printed on the inner side of envelop, when it is totally open. I consider it as a major printing error.

I wanted to know more information about envelop from Postal Dept. So I used Right of information act, 2005. After a long correspondence with Indian postal dept. (Mumbai & New Delhi ) & Indian security press ( Nasik), I got following satisfactory & authentic information about my envelop.

 This envelop was printed in June 1990.


 Reverse printing on envelop is due to a kind of printing error called set off printing.


 From philately officials, I came to know that it was the first time they encounter with such type of reverse printing error & it is one of the first kinds of case in India.


 Indian security press (Nasik Road) from where this envelop is printed, the official accepted that this envelop with set -off printing error is inadvertently pass through examination section due to oversight.

Limca Book of Records (India) in their 2009 & 2010 edition featured my unique postal envelop as “Totally Mis - Printed Postal Envelop”

Please see my article “Totally Mis - Printed Postal Envelop, RTI ”

- Dinesh Shivnath Upadhyaya from Mumbai

email : dinesh_upadhyaya@yahoo.com

Blog : http://dineshupadhyaya.blogspot.com/

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New WWF stamps ...

Date of Issue – 22 March 2011

The Royal Mail will issue a set of 10 stamps, a miniature sheet and a prestige stamp book to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of WWF on 22 March 2011.

WWF is the world’s most experienced environmental charity and in 2011, it celebrates its 50th anniversary. Created in 1961, the World Wildlife Fund, as it was then known, was formed by a group of eminent wildlife experts who launched the conservation organisation to tackle environmental problems across the world.
Royal Mail is issuing a total of 14 stamps to mark the anniversary of the foundation of the WWF. 2011 is the UN Year of Forests, and forests are the Post Europ theme and we will be celebrating this through a separate four-stamp miniature sheet that looks at the species of the Amazon Rain Forest.

The ten selected animals are African Elephant, Mountain Gorilla, Siberian Tiger, Polar Bear, Amur Leopard, Iberian Lynx, Red Panda, Black Rhinoceros, African Wild Dog and the Golden Lion Tamarin.

The miniature sheet consists of four stamps featuring animals from the Amazon rain forest. Forests are the 2011 Post Europ theme and the 1st class stamp will bear the Post Europ logo.

The four species from the Amazonian rain forest are 1st Class - Spider Monkey, 60p - Hyacinth Macaw, 88p - Poison Dart Frog and 97p - Jaguar. GODALMING, SURREY was chosen as the postmark as it is the location of the WWF headquarters.

WWF Coin Cover

The coin cover features the miniature sheet together with a brilliant uncirculated WWF commemorative 50p set.

WWF Prestige Stamp Book

WWF Stamp Cards

Fifteen postcards bearing enlarged images of each of the WWF stamps and the miniature sheet.

: Royal Mail

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New Stamps on Music..

 

Date of Issue – 7 March 2011 

Hi ! Here are some new recent  issues on Music theme from Polish Post and Royal Mail. A nice collection for Music lovers.The stamp from Poland commemorates famous Polish Composer and set of 8 stamps from Royal Mail feature seven decades of UK stage musicals in magnificent colors . All stamps are very nice and  sure to be part of collection of Thematic collectors of Music theme.This is all for today….Till Next Post ….Have a Great Time !

100th ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF STEFAN KISIELEWSKI

 

Stefan Kisielewski (March 7, 1911 - September 27, 1991) was a famous Polish writer, publicist, composer and politician, and one of the members of Znak, one of the founders of the UPR, the polish libertarian and conservative political party.As a composer, Kisielewski remained firmly rooted in French neo-classicism, although his writings supported contemporary musical trends in Poland more broadly (Thomas 2001).His writing and political thought were generally marked by pragmatism and support for liberalism.

Musicals

Date of Issue – 24 February 2011

Royal Mail launches stamps celebrating musical theatre

Royal Mail has launched a new set of stamps on 24 February 2011, celebrating seven decades of UK stage musicals.We Will Rock You, based on the songs of Queen, features as one of four versions of the first class stamp. It appears alongside Monty Python's Spamalot and West End classics Blood Brothers and Oliver! Me and My Girl, The Rocky Horror Show, Billy Elliot and Return to the Forbidden Planet all grace versions of the 97p stamp.

 

1st Class – Oliver

With music and lyrics by Lionel Bart, Oliver!  first appeared in the West End in 1960, and enjoyed a long run that launched the careers of several child actors. The original London production of Oliver! opened in the New Theatre (now the Noel Coward Theatre) on June 30, 1960 and ran for 2,618 performances.

1st Class – Blood Brothers

This 1983 musical by Willy Russell is one of the longest-running plays of all time, with the 1988 West End production still running after over 20 years.

 

 

 

1st Class – We Will Rock You

A jukebox musical is based on the songs of Queen and named after their hit single of the same name. The show was written by Ben Elton in collaboration with Brian May and Roger Taylor. Opening in the West End in 2002 it has been extended indefinitely making it the longest running show ever at London’s Dominion theatre.

1st Class – Monty Python’s Spamalot

Music and lyrics by Eric Idle and John Du Prez based on the screenplay of the Pythons' film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail and includes three songs from the 1975 film.  The musical tells the legendary tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and their quest for the Holy Grail and features a chorus line of dancing divas (and serfs), flatulent Frenchmen, killer rabbits and a legless knight.

 

97p – The Rocky Horror Show

 

Written by Richard O'Brien The Rocky Horror Show premiered at the Theatre Upstairs in June 1973, before establishing itself at the Comedy Theatre in the West End until September 1980, closing the play's initial run of 2,960 performances.

 

97p – Me and My Girl

Me and My Girl is a musical with book and lyrics by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose

and music by Noel  Gay. It takes place in the late 1930s in Hampshire, Mayfair, and Lambeth.
The musical had a successful original run on the West End in 1937 and very successful revivals in both London and New York in the 1980s. The show stopper, “The Lambeth Walk”, was the subject of a news story in The Times of October 1938: “While dictators rage and statesmen talk, all Europe dances — to The Lambeth Walk.”

 

97p – Return to the Forbidden Planet

A Jukebox musical by director Bob Carlton based on Shakespeare's The Tempest and the 1950s sci-fi film Forbidden Planet (which itself drew its plot loosely from The Tempest). Return to the Forbidden Planet started life with the Bubble Theatre Company as a production for open-air performance in a tent. A revised version of the musical opened, indoors, at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool in the mid 1980s. It later moved to the Tricycle Theatre in London. After some rework a final version opened the Cambridge Theatre in London's West End in September 1989.

 

97p – Billy Elliot

Music by Elton John and lyrics by Lee Hall based on the smash hit film, Billy Elliot.  Set in the North East of England against the background of the historic 1984/85 miners' strike, Billy pursues his passion for dance in secret to avoid disapproval of his struggling family. The show opened in London in May 2005.

 

: Polish Post & Royal Mail

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New Stamps from UK…

 

To be issued on  24 January 2011

 

The second set of  UK Fast stamps depicting birds will be issued on 24 January, one of three sets to be issued this year.  These will be sold from Post & Go machines at selected Post Offices across the UK and from the Philatelic Bureau at Tallents House. The second set  depicts common garden birds and is issued in time for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Big Garden Bird Watch.

Post & Go terminals allow customers to weigh their letters and packets, pay for and print postage labels and stamps without the need to visit the counter. The first Post & Go machine was trialled in The Galleries Post Office in Bristol in 2007.

FAB: The Genius of Gerry Anderson

Date of Issue : 11 January 2011

Stingray, Joe 90, and Captain Scarlett – just some of the ground-breaking TV shows devised by Gerry Anderson in the 1960s, and now set to feature on a set of six stamps and a revolutionary new Miniature Sheet design.

1st Class – Joe 90

Each week nine year old Joe would download special skills from the Big Rat computer to carry out secret missions. Broadcast 1968 to 1969.

1st Class – Captain Scarlet

Rendered indestructible by the alien Mysterons, Spectrum agent Captain Scarlet and his colour co-ordinated colleagues save the world in 32 episodes broadcast from 1967 to 1968.

1st Class – Thunderbirds

From their island hideaway International Rescue coordinate amazing rescue missions with their fantastic machines - like transporter Thunderbird 2 seen about to blast off. Broadcast from 1965 to 1966.

97p – Stingray

From 1964 to 1965 Troy Tempest and Phones of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol, kept humanity safe from various undersea threats, in their submarine, Stingray. This was the first of Anderson’s shows in colour.

97p – Fireball XL5

Together with his robot sidekick Robert (who was voiced by Anderson) Colonel Steve Zodiac of the World Space Patrol kept the Earth safe from any interplanetary threat with his rocket ship Fireball XL5.

97p – Supercar

Featuring the adventures of inventor Mike Mercury and his amazing vehicle, that was equally at home on land, under water and in the air. First broadcast between 1961 and 1962.

FAB: The Genius of Gerry Anderson Miniature Sheet

The miniature sheet is made up of four new stamps (1st, 60p, 88p and 97p) featuring Thunderbirds 1 to 4.The outer space monitoring station Thunderbird 5 is shown in the border.

Source : Royal Mail

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New Christmas Stamps..

 

 Date of Issue – 8 October 2010

Hi ! As Christmas is approaching , new special stamps are being released for Christmas by different postal administrations. However most of the Christmas stamps will be issued in November. Here is the latest issue from Aland and a wonderful lovely set to be issued by Royal mail on 2nd November 2010. I have received some covers from my friends. Thanks to all of you for these beautiful card & covers ! Special Thanks to those who have sent covers for very special & memorable date 10.10.10. This is all for Today….Till Next Post….Have a Great Time !!

New Christmas Stamps from Royal Mail

To be issued on 2 November 2010

Wallace & Gromit on Royal Mail Christmas stamps

The stamps will go on sale from 2 November. The stamps feature the animated characters going about their festive duties.

The 1st class stamp shows the pair posting their Christmas cards. The 2nd class stamps shows them carol singing, and the 60p stamp depicts them dressing their Christmas tree.

As usual, Gromit is left to do the majority of the work, carrying the cards and hauling an unfeasibly large Christmas pudding around on the 97p stamp, with his reward being a bone-themed jumper shown on the £1.46 stamp.

My recent Card & Covers

Luis Filipe Melo, BRAGA - Portugal

Ashwani Dubey, Gorakhpur

Covers with special date 10.10.10

Suraj Jaitly, Ludhiana

Atul Agarwal, Aligarh

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