1st Class – Madonna and Child
Inspired by Matthew 1:23, ‘Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us’

68p – Baby Jesus in the Manger

Inspired by Luke 2:7, ‘And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn’.

£1.10 – Shepherds visited by the Angel

Inspired by Luke 2:10, ‘And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people’.

£1.65 Wise Men and Star

Inspired by Matthew 2:10: ‘When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy’.

Title: Christmas 2011 – GB
Date of Issue: 8 November 2011
Country: GB
Denominations: 2nd Class, 1st Class, 68p, £1.10, £1.65

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 30th 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.

Sports from each of the Olympic disciplines were selected to illustrate the subject of each stamp. The Olympic Games comprises 26 different sporting disciplines, such as Cycling. Cycling includes several different events where medals are won – including road racing, various time trials and velodrome races as well as mountain biking events and BMX. Many gold medals can be won in different events, and all will be symbolised by one Cycling stamp symbolising the sport of Cycling.

The Paralympic Games features 21 sports, such as Judo (which is also competed in the Olympic Games), as well as Paralympic specific events such as Goalball.

In all, 29 different sports are played at the Olympics and Paralympics. There will be one stamp design for each sport with the exception of athletics which will be presented across two stamps as Athletics: Track and Athletics: Field, hence 30 sport stamps.

Sheet 1: Wheelchair tennis, Fencing, Gymnastics, Triathlon, Handball;
Sheet 2: Paralympic sailing, Athletics field, Beach volleyball, Wheelchair rugby, Wrestling.

Title: Olympic & Paralympic Games 2012 – III
Date of Issue: 27 July 2011
Country: Britain
Denominations: 1st x 10

Source: www.norvic-philatelics.co.uk

Reverend Awdry’s passion for railways had been instilled in him by his clergyman father, Vere, and when Wilbert himself had a family, he shared his railway enthusiasm with his own son, Christopher. It was while two-year-old Christopher was suffering with measles that Wilbert tried to enliven his son’s bed-bound quarantine by telling stories and drawing pictures about a group of little engines.

1st Class – ‘Thomas’
‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ is a 0-6-0 tank locomotive, based on the LB&SCR E2 Class. He is painted blue with red lining and is number 1 in the North Western Railway (NWR) fleet. Thomas was given his own branch line, which he operates with his two coaches, Annie and Clarabel. He was built in 1913 and arrived on Sodor in 1915.

66p – ‘James’
‘James the Red Engine’ is a mixed-traffic engine, which means he is just as capable of pulling coaches as trucks. He has a 2-6-0 (“Mogul”) wheel arrangement and is engine number 5 on the North Western Railway, the Fat Controller’s railway on the Island of Sodor. James first appeared in the Railway Series in 1946, in the book Thomas the Tank Engine. Two books in the series, no. 3 James the Red Engine and no. 28 James and the Diesel Engines are dedicated to James.

68p – ‘Percy’
‘Percy the Small Engine’ is a saddle tank engine of indeterminate origins. He is painted green with red stripes and is number 6 in the NWR fleet. He is a cheeky little engine with a strong sense of adventure, who doesn’t let anyone push him around, which sometimes gets him into trouble. He arrived on Sodor on 1949 during a railway strike.

76p – ‘Daisy’
‘Daisy’ is a unique diesel railcar, painted green with yellow lining (similar to the livery of British Railways DMUs in the 1960s), and was built specially for use on the Ffarquhar branch of the NWR. Her number is D1 whereas she originally carried the number 52627. She was built in 1956 and arrived on Sodor in 1961. She first appeared in the book Branch Line Engines.

£1.00 – ‘Toby’
‘Toby the Tram Engine’ is a 0-6-0 steam tram engine who works on the same branch line as Thomas. He is painted brown and blue and is number 7 in the NWR fleet. He is a wise, experienced engine who knows all there is to know about running a branch line. He was built in 1903 and arrived on Sodor in 1951.

£1.10 – ‘Gordon’
‘Gordon the Big Engine’ is a ‘Pacific’ (4-6-2) tender engine. He is painted blue with red stripes and is number 4 in the NWR fleet. He is the biggest engine on the railway, and pulls the Express. He is also very boastful and proud, but good at heart. He was built and arrived on Sodor in 1922.

Title: Thomas The Tank Engine
Date of Issue: 14 June 2011
Country: Great Britain
Denominations:
1st Class – ‘Thomas’
66p – James
68p – Percy
76p – Daisy
£1.00 – Toby
£1.10 – Gordon.

Source: http://www.royalmail.com/stamps

60p – Hyacinth Macaw – In the 1980s an estimated 10,000 hyacinth macaws were illegally captured and sold as pets, while, the species’ natural habitat was being destroyed by deforestation. Local Indians also killed them to use the feathers to make tourist souvenirs.

88p – Poison Dart Frog – With its striking appearance and unique features, the poison dart frog is one of the most interesting and dangerous – Amazon species. The poison dart frog uses its brightly coloured skin to warn predators that it is “unfit to eat.” The skin secretes a dangerous poison that can paralyze and in some cases kill predators.

97p – Jaguar – Jaguars are the largest American cats and strong swimmers and climbers. They weigh over 300 pounds and grow to more than eight feet in length, including a two-foot tail. Although legally protected, hunting and habitat loss continue to be threats.

Title: Europa 2011 – Great Britain
Date of Issue: 22 March 2011
Country: Great Britain
Denominations:
1st Class – Spider Monkey
60p – Hyacinth Macaw
88p – Poison Dart Frog
97p – Jaguar

Source: http://www.royalmail.com/stamps

Miniature Sheet featuring Winnie-the-Pooh and Christopher Robin, preproduces lines from the famous poem, “Us Two”

1st class – Wherever I am, there’s always Pooh
60p – There’s always Pooh and Me. Whatever I do, he wants to do,
88p – “Where are you going t-day?” says Pooh: “Well, that’s very odd ‘cos I was too.
81p – Let’s go together”, says Pooh, says he. “Let’s go together,” says Pooh.

Title: Children’s Literature – Europa 2010
Date of Issue: 12 October 2010
Country: Great Britain
Denominations: 1st, 48p, 50p, 56p, 72p ,82p

Source: http://www.royalmail.com/stamps

Goldfinch – Carduelis carduelis
Colourful and sociable, goldfinches gather in areas with trees, bushes or tall seed-producing plants. Widely admired for their delightful song, they have a bright yellow wing patch, red, white & black head.

Blue Tit – Cyanistes caeruleus
Common in gardens, woodlands and along hedgerows, these colourful tits have a blue cap above a black-and-white face and a yellow underside. Remarkably agile, they are frequent visitors to bird feeders.

Starling – Sturnus vulgaris
Black at first glance but with a purple and green sheen in the summer and light spots in the winter, starlings breed in urban and rural areas and can be recognised by their confident waddle.

Wood Pigeon – Columba palumbus
Found in woods, fields and city parks, these plump birds are largely grey, with a white neck patch, pink breast and white bars on the wings. They feed on seeds, grains and berries.

Robin – Erithacus rubecula
Found in woodlands and gardens, robins are easy to spot because of their distinctive orange-red breast. Traditionally associated with Christmas, these birds have round bodies and slim tails.

Title: Pictorial Faststamps: Birds
Date of Issue: 17 September 2010
Country: Britain
Denominations: 1st local x 6

Source: http://www.royalmail.com/stamps

58p – Antibiotic properties of penicillin discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming 1928
The discovery of penicillin is attributed to Scottish scientist and Nobel laureate Alexander Fleming in 1928 He showed that, if penicillium notatum was grown in the appropriate substrate, it would exude a substance with antibiotic properties, which he dubbed penicillin. This serendipitous observation began the modern era of antibiotic discovery

60p – Total hip replacement operation pioneered by Sir John Charnley 1962
Sir John Charnley began his research into hip replacement in 1949 when he moved his clinical practice as an orthopedic surgeon to Wrightington Hospital near Wigan. While suffering many setbacks during its development Charnley finally performed the first successful hip replacement operation in 1962. This subsequently became the gold standard treatment for this condition and has remained the most successful surgical and radiological procedure up to the present day.

67p – Artificial lens implant surgery pioneered by Sir Harold Ridley 1949
Whilst working with Royal Air Force casualties during World War II, Ridley noticed that when splinters of perspex from aircraft cockpit canopies became lodged in the eyes of wounded pilots, they did not trigger rejection, leading him to propose the use of artificial lenses in the eye to correct cases of cataracts. He had a lens manufactured using an identical plastic – Perspex CQ made by ICI – and on 29 November 1949 at St Thomas’ Hospital, Harold Ridley achieved the first implant of an intraocular lens.

88p – Malaria parasite transmitted by mosquitoes proved by Sir Ronald Ross 1897
In 1897, Ronald Ross discovered the presence of the malarial parasite within a specific species of mosquito, the Anopheles. He initially called them dapple-wings and following the hypothesis of Sir Patrick Manson that the agent that causes malaria was spread by the mosquito, he was able to find the malaria parasite in a mosquito that he artificially fed on a malaria patient. Later using birds that were sick with malaria, he was able to ascertain the entire life cycle of the malarial parasite, including its presence in the mosquito’s salivary glands. He demonstrated that malaria is transmitted from infected birds to healthy ones by the bite of a mosquito, a finding that suggested the disease’s mode of transmission to humans.

97p – Computed tomography scanner invented by Sir Godfrey Hounsfield 1971
While on an outing in the country, Hounsfield came up with the idea that one could determine what was inside a box by taking X-ray readings at all angles around the object. Hounsfield built a prototype head scanner and tested it first on a preserved human brain, then on a fresh cow brain from a butcher shop, and later on himself. In September 1971, CT scanning was introduced into medical practice with a successful scan on a cerebral cyst patient at Atkinson Morley Hospital in Wimbledon, London.

Title: Medical Breakthroughs
Date of Issue: 1 September 2010
Country: Great Britain
Denominations: 1st, 58p, 60p, 67p ,88p ,97p

Source: http://www.royalmail.com/stamps

The steam locomotive has long been more than a piece of machinery; symbolising an age of unprecedented mobility and British industrial prowess, when the locomotive rapidly became a powerful marketing tool.The engine that first secured the future of steam locomotion was of course Stephenson’s Rocket, at the 1829 Rainhill Trials in Merseyside, which won the crowd’s imagination as much with its bright yellow paintwork as the stunning top speed of 29mph.

By the end of the 19th century, numerous private railway companies competed fiercely across the British Isles. Their best passenger trains were by world standards fast, comfortable – and needed to be filled if money was to be made. In 1923 with profits diminishing due to the increasing competition from cars, buses and lorries, over 120 private railway companies were merged into the Big Four: the London, Midland & Scottish (including the Northern Counties Committee (NCC) in Northern Ireland), the London & North Eastern, the Great Western and the Southern Railways.

After the Second World War the Big Four became British Railways (BR) in 1948, with the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) taking responsibility for most routes in Northern Ireland. In March 1960, Evening Star brought to an end over 130 years of steam-locomotive building for Britain’s mainline railways, leaving Swindon Works in a blaze of publicity in 1960, destined for a working life of only five years. This year also marks the 175th Anniversary of the GWR.

1st Class – LMS Coronation Class
The streamlined Coronation Class locomotive Coronation of the London Midland and Scottish Railway at the platform in London’s Euston Station in 1938. Introduced at the height of the 1930s streamlining craze and named in honour of the accession of King George VI, a Coronation was displayed at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. The streamlining was removed in the 1940s to save on maintenance.

1st Class – BR Class 9F
Evening Star, the last of the British Rail Class 9F locomotive is shown here at Midsomer Norton in 1962. The 9F was designed to pull heavy freight trains. But a few, like Evening Star, were used on passenger services, particularly on the steeply graded Somerset and Dorset line.

67p – GWR King Class
The photograph shows the Great Western Railway’s King Class locomotive – King William IV near Teignmouth in 1935. The Kings were the GWR’s star locomotives, equally at home on heavy holiday trains and crack business expresses. Publicised as the UK’s most powerful express steam engine, the sleek lines of King George V wowed crowds when touring the USA in 1927.

67p – LNER Class A1
The stamp shows the London North East Region Class A1 locomotive, Royal Lancer photographed in 1929. The LNER’s first standard design for long-distance expresses, the A1s included the Flying Scotsman, the first UK steam engine officially to reach 100mph. Modernised from the 1930s the class was still hauling important passenger trains in the early 1960s.

97p – SR King Arthur Class
Named after a character from the legends of King Arthur the Southern Region King Arthur Class locomotive, Sir Mador de la Porte, was photographed at Bournemouth Central Station between 1935 – 1939. The King Arthurs proved to be fine locomotives capable of handling the Southern’s heaviest express trains. Displaced by more modern engines from the 1940s, they hauled secondary services into the 1960s.

97p – LMS NCC Class WT
A London Midland and Scottish Northern Counties Committee Class WT – Engine No 2 shown here at Larne Harbour, circa 1947. Based on a standard LMS design but built for the wider Irish track, the WTs were the last new steam locomotives delivered to the NCC. Widely known as ‘Jeeps’, they were a highly successful engine used on both passenger and goods trains.

Title: Great British Railways I
Date of Issue: 19 August 2010
Country: Great Britain
Denominations: 1st Class x 2, 67p x 2, 97p x 2

Source: www.royalmail.com/stamps

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Royal Mail will commemorate London’s hosting of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games by issuing three sets of 10 x 1st Class stamps in the run up to the London 2012 Games in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
The London 2012 Games commences on 27 July and concludes on 12 August 2012. The Paralympic Games commences on 29 August and concludes on 9 September 2012.

The concept is to issue 30 stamps to mark the 30th Olympiad and London 2012 Paralympic Games. Each of the sporting areas celebrated in these Games will have its own stamp.

The Olympic Games comprises 26 different sporting disciplines, such as Cycling. Cycling includes several different events where medals are won – including road racing, various time trials and velodrome races as well as mountain biking events and BMX. Many gold medals can be won in different events, and all will be symbolised by one Cycling stamp symbolising the sport of Cycling.

The Paralympic Games features 21 sports, such as Judo (which is also competed in the Olympic Games), as well as Paralympic specific events such as Goalball.

In all, 29 different sports are played at the Olympics and Paralympics. There will be one stamp design for each sport with the exception of athletics which will be presented across two stamps as Athletics: Track and Athletics: Field, hence 30 sport stamps.

Title: Olympic and Paralympic Games 2012
Date of Issue: 27 July 2010
Country: Breat Britain
Denominations: 10 x 1st Class

Source: www.royalmail.com/stamps

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