Royal Mail launched the 2012 special stamp programme with a tribute to one of the world’s greatest children’s authors - Roald Dahl.
Described as “one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century”, Dahl is one of the most consistently popular UK authors of children’s books, but also wrote very successful fiction for adults, an autobiography and screenplays. In 2008 The Times placed Dahl sixteenth on their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". His short stories are known for their unexpected endings, and his children's books for their unsentimental, often very dark humour.
More than 20 years after his death in 1990, his popularity around the globe continues to grow. His books have been translated into over 40 languages and worldwide sales have topped 100 million. For many children, Dahl’s books have become almost synonymous with reading itself.
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The stamps: 1st - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 66p Fantastic Mr Fox 68p James and the Giant Peach 76p Matilda £1 The Twits £1.10 The Witches |
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The
Miniature Sheet 1st Class, 68p, 76p, £1 Scenes from 'The BFG" (Big Friendly Giant) |
1st Class – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The story of the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate
factory of eccentric candymaker Willy Wonka
66p – Fantastic Mr Fox<
To feed his family, Mr Fox steals chickens, ducks, and turkeys from three
mean and wealthy farmers: Boggis, Bunce, and Bean. The farmers get fed up
with Mr Fox and try to kill him.
68p – James and the Giant Peach
An enchanted giant peach full of anthropomorphic insects provides the
perfect escape for James from his awful abusive aunts.
66p – Matilda>
Ignored by her parents and abused by her head teacher, Agatha Trunchbull,
young Matilda Wormwood discovers that she has supernatural powers.
£1 – The Twits
Mr and Mrs Twit are two ugly, smelly, stupid people who enjoy being nasty
to each other, animals and children. With the aid of the Roly-Poly Bird,
and the Muggle-Wump monkeys the animals extract their revenge. A new film
version of The Twits is scheduled for 2012 release.
£1.10 – The Witches
When an orphan accompanies his grandmother, who is recovering from
pneumonia, to a hotel in Bournemouth, little does he imagine the AGM of
England’s witches will be taking place at the same hotel.
The miniature sheet features four recoloured illustrations from the story of The BFG and Sophie from Quentin Blake’s original artwork. The margin depicts when the BFG met The Queen and the following quotation appears on along the border from chapter 19, The Queen:
'The BFG took his time. He was very dignified in his approach. When he was close to the window where the three of them were standing, he stopped and made a slow graceful bow. His head, after he had straightened up again, was almost exactly level with the watchers at the window.
“Your Majester,” he said. “I is your
humbug servant.” He bowed again.'
Prestige stamp book.
Technical details: The 27 x 37mm stamps & Miniature Sheet are
designed by Magpie Studio. In sheets of 25/50 they are printed in
lithography, with all-over phosphor by Cartor Security Printing, perf 14.
The 115 x 89mm sheet contains stamps 37 x 35 mm and is printed in litho by
Cartor SP, perforated 14 x 14½.
The prestige stamp book Machin pane is printed in gravure by Walsall, and
the other three in litho by Cartor. Although issued in 2012 the 68p Machin
has the M11L security year code for 2011; the 2p & 10p stamps do not
have a security overprint. All the stamp panes are on ordinary
gummed paper, so the security slits shown in the pane image are incorrect.
The stamp and postmark images are reproduced with permission: Copyright 2011/12 by Royal Mail.
Products available from Royal Mail (we are stocking only the
definitives from the PSB)
Set of 6 stamps
Miniature sheet
Presentation Pack
Set of 11 Stamp Cards
Prestige Stamp Booklet
Postmarks available for the day of issue will be shown here. These
may not all be at the same scale.
Ref FD1203 Official Philatelic Bureau FDI. |
Ref FD1204 Official Great Missenden, Bucks, FDI postmark. | Ref FD1112NP Official Great Missenden, Bucks non- pictorial FDI postmark | Ref W12387 Llandaff, Caridff |
Ref L12375 Dover Kent |
Ref L12376 Great Missenden, Bucks |
Ref L12378 London |
Ref L12377 London SW1A | Ref L12379 Great Missenden, Bucks |
Ref L12380 The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, Great Missenden, Bucks |
awaiting further postmarks |
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Ref M12382 Fox Crescent, Birmingham |
Ref W12386 Roald Dahl, Golden Ticket, Llandaff, Cardiff |
Ref M12383 Thorntons Chocolate Factory, GBFDC Association, Thornton Park, Alfreton. | |
Ref L12093 Tiger Way, London E5 |
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This page created 9 December 2011