British Islands Features

The British Islands section brings you the best features on Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man PLUS some of the Cinderella issues produced by the smaller British islands...

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Kings of the road
Daredevil motorcyclists have been racing around the dangerous roads of the Isle of Man for the Tourist Trophy for 100 years. Karen Foy examines the stamps that tell the story

It was in 1904 that the Manx Parliament passed a Road Closing Act to allow racing to take place on the island's roads. The only aim at the time was to host one of the peripatetic Gordon Bennett car races, but the legislation would later pave the way for a permanent event, for motorcycles.
By 1907, motorcycle racing had become as popular as car racing, and its proponents wanted an international race of their own. Since mainland British laws did not allow road closures for such activities, the organisers turned to the Isle of Man.
It was a decision that would make this tiny island in the Irish Sea famous throughout the world, as the host of the prestigious annual Tourist Trophy.
And the TT has in turn given the island a special place in the hearts of motorcycle thematic collectors, being featured regularly in its stamp issues since it became an independent postal administration in 1973.

Short speedsters
The first TT race was organised by the Auto Cycle Club in 1907. Competitors had to complete 10 laps of a triangular course which started at St John's and stretched for 15 miles around the island. The winners of the two classes were Charlie Collier riding a Matchless and Rem Fowler riding a Norton.
The original Tourist Trophy, in the form of a silver figure of Mercury on a winged wheel, was presented to the ACC in 1907 by the Marquis de Mouzilly St Mars. The original is still presented to the winner of each year's Senior TT race, while all other race winners receive a replica of it.

Mountain climbers
The same 'short course' was used for the next three years, before it was felt that a greater challenge was needed from 1911, in the form of the Snaefell 'mountain course'.
Starting in Douglas, with refuelling depots at Bradden and Ramsey, this 37-mile long track provided steep gradients, up to an altitude of 1300ft, and more than 200 bends to negotiate.
A miniature sheet released in 1987 shows a map of the slightly revised modern track in the margin, and the 80th anniversary of the mountain course was celebrated by a set of stamps issued in 1991.
The 17p value shows Oliver Godfrey, winner of the 1911 Senior TT riding an Indian, while the 21p shows Freddie Dixon, winner of the first sidecar TT race in 1923. The other three stamps depict later road racing legends Bill Ivy in 1968, Giacomo Agostini in 1972 and Joey Dunlop in 1985.

Movie stars
In 1935, the TT's growing fame was cemented by its appearance on the silver screen. The black-and-white film No Limit starred comic actor George Formby as a man competing on a home-built bike.
It has become a tradition to show this film every year during race week, and in 2004 it was featured on a set of stamps marking Formby's birth centenary.
The six designs show clips from the film, including Formby, his co-star Florence Desmond and his Shuttleworth Snap (a disguised Ariel).

Helping hands
Both the world wars interrupted the history of the TT, but each time the racers came back stronger and more competitive than ever. By 1957, thanks to Bob McIntyre on a Gilera, the lap record broke the 100mph barrier.
Despite increasing controversy in modern times about the number of riders who have been killed trying to master the dangerous course at ever-increasing speeds, the event remains a much-loved fixture on the international motorcycle racing calendar, attracting over 40,000 people and 12,000 motorcycles to the island every year.
In 1977, the TT shared its 70th anniversary with that of the Boy Scouts and with the centenary of the St John Ambulance, and a set of linked stamps demonstrated how both of these voluntary organisations have played an essential part in the races.
Scouts have long helped to keep the course clear of spectators and provide an information service using their own runners and signallers. The 6p stamp depicts a scout in 1912 sending messages about each rider's progress using Morse code, and the 11p shows some of his colleagues operating a scoreboard.
The St John Ambulance have traditionally provided first-aid cover around the course, and two of their personnel are shown on duty at the hairpin bend at Governor's Bridge on the 7p stamp.
The 13p value depicts John Williams riding a Norton in 1976.

Multiple winners
The five stamps issued on the 75th anniversary of the TT in 1982 featured some of the star riders in the history of the races.
Immortalised on the 9p stamp is Charlie Collier, the 1907 winner who raced until 1914. The 10p shows Freddie Dixon, who was both a Junior and Sidecar TT winner.
The 24p depicts Jimmie Simpson, the first rider to lap the course at average speeds of 60, 70 and 80 mph. The 26p recalls Mike Hailwood, a winner of no fewer than 14 TT races. And the 29p lauds Jock Taylor, three times the Sidecar champion.
Similarly pictured with their bikes in sets of four in 1974 and 1975 are Stanley Woods, Freddy Frith, Max Deubel, Hailwood again, Tom Sheard (the first Manxman to win a TT race), Walter Handley (the first competitor to win four different classes), Geoff Duke (whose six wins in the 1950s saw him awarded an OBE) and Peter Williams.
More recently, a 1996 set of four and a miniature sheet was devoted exclusively to Irish TT winners: Alec Bennett, Woods again, Artie Bell and Joey and Robert Dunlop.
Joey Dunlop, from Ballymoney in Northern Ireland, was the most successful rider in the 100 years of the event, with no fewer than 26 TT titles in various classes, including hat-tricks in 1985, 1988 and 2000. After he was killed in an accident in Estonia later in 2000, his achievements were commemorated by a 2001 set of six stamps depicting him at different stages in his career and on six different bikes.

Mean machines
Manx stamp issues offer a great way to see how the design of the racing motorcycle has changed over the years.
Performance has improved and lap times tumbled massively, although in the process the British bikes which once dominated the sport have gradually been overtaken by models from Japan and Italy.
The machines themselves were the stars of the 1987 80th anniversary set of five stamps, which featured a 1939 500cc BMW, the distinctive 1953 350cc Norton 'Kneeler', a 1956 500cc MV Agusta, a 1957 500cc Moto Guzzi and a 1967 250cc Honda.
Curiously, the Isle of Man has also issued commemoratives expressly to mark the 50th anniversary of Japanese manufacturers Honda in 1998 and Yamaha in 2005.
One of the former set showed Dave Molyneux, who became the first Manxman to win the Sidecar race in 1989. The latter set included Steve Hislop, who bagged 11 winners' trophies, David Jefferies, who won nine TT titles between 1999 and 2002, and John McGuinness, who has won 11 races since 1996.
The 2007 meeting saw a re-enactment of the 1907 TT, with vintage vehicles completing a lap of the original course.
In January 2007, Isle of Man Post released a set of stamps featuring the 10 riders voted by historians and fans as the greatest in the history of the TT races.
They are Agostini, Duke, Dunlop, Hailwood, Hislop, Jefferies, McIntyre, McGuinness, Molyneux and Woods.