Norvic Philatelics - GB New Stamps and Special Postmarks

Britons of Distinction - 23 February 2012

Following the 2009 Eminent Britons issue, Royal Mail has produced another reminiscent of the 'General Anniversaries' sets of the 1960s/70s Royal Mail commemorates some notable personalities of our past in this set from the worlds of science, politics, invention and the arts.

Inventor Thomas Newcommen’s first atmospheric steam engine dates from 1712.
Born in 1812: Gothic Revival architect and interior designer Augustus Pugin best known for the interior of the Palace of Westminster
Born in 1862: Composer Frederick Delius, Designer and textile artist May Morris, Ghost story writer MR James, and Quaker relief worker and Social reformer Joan Mary Fry
Born in 1912: SOE operative Odette Hallowes, contralto singer Kathleen Ferrier, Alan Turing* Bletchley Park code breaker and computer visionary. 
The new Coventry Cathedral, Sir Basil Spence architect, opened in 1962.

Designers Purpose were commissioned to produce a set of stamps that evoked both the individual and their achievement, however it soon became clear that, despite their eminence, not all of the individuals had an existing portrait. The decision was taken that rather than
exclude the person, the imagery of the issue would be split equally between images of individuals and their achievements.

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The Ten Stamps

Set of 10 stamps featuring Britons of Distinction stamps.Britons of Distinction Stamps February 2012.

Row 1: Coventry Cathedral (Basil Spence), Frederick Delius, Mary 'May' Morris textile design, Odette Hallows, Thomas Newcomen engine.
Row 2: Kathleen Ferrier, Interior of the House of Lords (Augustus Pugin), M R James, Bletchley Park Bombe (Alan Turing)*, Joan Mary Fry.

* The image appears to show the caption as WWI but this is a jpeg compression problem; the image provided correctly shows WWII.


The stamps - all 1st Class

Sir Basil Spence – architect of Coventry Cathedral
Knighted for services to architecture, particularly his designs for the new Coventry Cathedral, opened in 1962, after the original was bombed. The image shows Coventry Cathedral.

Frederick Delius - opera, choral and orchestral composer

Yorkshire-born composer of choral and orchestral works, most renowned for music evoking a timeless English pastoral idyll.

Mary ‘May’ Morris – designer and textile artist

Textile artist and designer celebrated for her embroidery; daughter of the artist and thinker William Morris. The image shows Orange Tree, designed and embroidered by May Morris.

Odette HallowesSpecial Operations Executive agent in occupied France

French-born British secret agent in wartime France who survived solitary confinement in German concentration camps.

Thomas Newcomen – inventor of the atmospheric steam engine
Devon ironmonger, engineer and inventor of the atmospheric steam engine, which helped power the Industrial Revolution. His first working engine was installed at a coal mine near Dudley Castle in
Staffordshire in 1712.

Kathleen Ferrier – contralto performer of opera and song

Lancashire-born contralto whose international opera and song career was prematurely ended by her death from cancer.

Augustus Pugin – Gothic revival architect and designer

Architect, designer and advocate of the Gothic style whose commissions included the interiors of the Palace of Westminster. The stamp shows Pugin’s interior of the Palace of Westminster.

Montague Rhodes James – scholar and author of ghost stories
Cambridge academic and author of chilling ghost stories, originally written as entertainments for his friends.

Alan Turing - mathematician and code breaker

Mathematician and computer scientist, whose work with the code-breakers at Bletchley Park helped to speed up the end of the Second World War. The stamp shows Turing’s Bombe code breaking
machine at Bletchley Park.

Joan Mary Fry – Quaker relief worker and social reformer

Quaker campaigner for pacifism and social reform who organised food relief in Germany after the First World War and then in Wales.


Technical details:

The stamps were designed by 'Purpose' and are printed by Cartor Security Printing in lithography.  The 35mm square stamps are perf 14.5 in sheets of 25/50 with a phosphor background screen.  
The stamps will be issued in two sheets of 25/50 with five se-tenant designs per sheet, enabling customers to buy a vertical strip of five of any individual.


Products issued, available from Royal Mail: 

Set of 10 stamps (2 strips of 5) -- Strip of 5 from sheet 1 or sheet 2, or vertical strip of 5 of any single stamp
First day cover -- Presentation pack -- Stamp cards (set of 10)


Special Postmarks

Postmarks available for the day of issue are shown here.  These postmarks cannot be obtained after the date of issue.  The images shown here may not be to scale.

official first day postmark.

postmark showing Coventry Cathedral.

non-pictorial Coventry postmark.

postmark angel at Coventry Cathedral..

postmark illustrated with part of Turing Bombe..

Ref FD1209
Philatelic Bureau Official Postmark

Ref FD1210
Coventry Official Postmark

Ref FD1210NP
Coventry Official non-pictorial Postmark

Ref M12420
Coventry Road, Birmingham

Ref L12415
Alan Turing, Bletchley Park Post Office, Milton Keynes

postmark showing George Cross.

Postmark showing George Cross.

postmark showing fragment of a musical score.

postmark illustrated with Houses of Parliament Westminster.

postmark illustrated with Necomen steam engine.

Ref L12416
The George Cross For Gallantry Buckingham Palace London SW1

Ref L12414
Britons of Distinction, Dean's Yard, London

Ref L12413
Britons of Distinction, Glyndebourne, Lewes, Sussex

Ref M12421
Westminster Road, Birmingham

Ref M12422
Britons of Distinction, Dudley, West Midlands  

POstmark in the design of a stamp.


<<<<
Ref L12429
Spring Stampex, Britons of Distinction London N1



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This page created 29 February 2012


2012 stamp issues
Visit our online shop!
January
5 Olympic & Paralympic Definitives
10 Roald Dahl (author)
20 Year of the Dragon Smilers
February
2 House of Windsor & Saxe-Coburg
6 Diamond Jubilee MS & definitive
23 Britons of Distinction
24 Pictorial Faststamps - Sheep
March
8 Classic Locomotives of Scotland MS
20 World of Comics
April
10 A-Z of the United Kingdom part 2, M-Z
10 RMS Titanic Commemorative Sheet
24 Pictorial Faststamps - Pigs
25 Machin & Country Defins
25 Diamond Jubilee Defins 2
May
1 James Bond Commem sheet
15 Design Classics, Great British Fashion
24 Union Flag Pictorial Faststamp
31 HM The Queen Diamond Jubilee
June
18 Exhibition Generic Sheet
19 Charles Dickens
27 Olympic Games Generic Smiler
27 Scotland 1st & 2nd reprint
July
27 Welcome to the London 2012 Olympic Games
From 27 Olympic Gold Medals
August
27 Retail booklet
29 Welcome to the London 2012 Paralympic Games
September
27 Memories of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
28 Pictorial Faststamps - Cattle
October
Retail booklet
Commemorative Sheet
 -- World of Dinosaurs ->2013
16 Space Science
November
8 Christmas

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