A set of eight stamps entitled Curious Customs, issued on July 9, celebrates a selection of Britain’s most weird and wonderful annual festivals, sporting contests and community events.
Its child-like poster-style illustrations attempt to capture the eccentric spirit of these calendar fixtures, some of which are well-known and some not so well-known.
Many of these are medieval traditions which were revived during the Victorian period, as communities began to take renewed pride in their folk heritage.
On June 6, Royal Mail issued a set of six stamps and a miniature sheet to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the Normandy Landings which began the liberation of France from German occupation in World War II.
It was the largest seaborne invasion, and largest combined naval, air and land assault, in the history of warfare.
More than 5,000 vessels and 150,000 Allied troops crossed the English Channel on the morning of June 6, 1944, following a sustained aerial and naval bombardment of coastal fortifications and the landing of airborne troops behind enemy lines.
Released on May 2, the British Engineering issue showcases national innovations and achievements in a range of disciplines over the past 50 years.
The six stamps celebrate civil, electronic, chemical and biomedical engineering projects, while noting the 50th anniversary of the prestigious MacRobert Award for innovation, bestowed annually by the Royal Academy of Engineering.
An accompanying miniature sheet celebrates the the 50th anniversary of the Harrier GR3 ‘jump jet’, originally designed by Hawker Siddeley and later manufactured by British Aerospace (now part of BAE Systems), the world’s first fighter aircraft with short take-off and vertical take off capabilities, and even the ability to fly backwards.
The Birds of Prey stamp issue, released on April 4, celebrates 10 of Britain’s most spectacular avian predators.
They comprise all four falcons found in the UK (smaller birds from the Falconidae family), along with two eagles, two hawks, one buzzard and one kite (larger birds from the Accipitridae family).
All these raptors are nimble flyers with excellent binocular vision, which catch and carry off their prey with their feet.
Royal Mail will issue a Marvel Super Heroes set of stamps on March 14, marking the 80th anniversary of the famous comic stories.
Ten stamps sold in counter sheets illustrate popular characters, all facing the viewer in dynamic action poses.
A further five stamps are contained in a miniature sheet which takes the form of a specially commissioned comic strip entitled Marvel Heroes UK, with a storyline loosely set in London.
Royal Mail is marking the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci on February 13, with a set of 12 stamps featuring a selection of his drawings held by the Royal Collection.
The 550 drawings in the collection were acquired by King Charles II around 1670 and are one of the world’s most important hoards of Leonardo’s original work.
Almost 150 examples are being displayed separately at 12 museums and galleries across the UK this year, and then subsequently together in the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace.
The Stamp Classics miniature sheet, to be issued on January 15, is billed as a celebration of Royal Mail’s history, and of organised philately, on the occasion of 150th anniversary of the Royal Philatelic Society London and the 50th anniversary of the opening of the original Postal Museum by the Queen.
Its three 1st class and three £1.
55 values are all simple stamp-on-stamp designs, each highlighting a key issue from a different reign.
Royal Mail issued a miniature sheet of six stamps to mark the 70th birthday of the Prince of Wales on November 14.
All based on photographs, the images depict Prince Charles undertaking official duties and with his family.
The border shows the heraldic badge of the Prince of Wales, with its three white ostrich feathers emerging from a gold coronet and the motto ‘Ich Dien’ (‘I serve’, in German), and has a bilingual inscription in Welsh and English.
This year’s Christmas stamp issue, released on November 1, is entitled Royal Mail Delivering Christmas, and shows scenes of everyday life with the postbox at their centre.
A range of pedestal, wall and pillar boxes are featured, from six different reigns, in urban and rural settings, but all in suitably wintry conditions.
As in other recent Christmas issues, eight values are available in self-adhesive guise from counter sheets, and they also appear together in a gummed miniature sheet.
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