…I do have a large collection of stamps. I should explain – in 1980, when I was 10, my mum and dad started buying my brother and I First Day Covers whenever the Royal Mail issued new stamps. The thinking was, I believe, that we’d each end up with a valuable collection to sell or pass on to our children. Whether it was a sound investment or not is anyone’s guess. Thing is, when Dad died, Mum insisted we continue the tradition, and when my mum died last year, my brother and I felt strangely obliged to carry on. So we’ve both amassed collections of forty-plus years worth of stamps, and neither of us are sure what to do with them.
That’s a long and roundabout way of introducing today’s post. Fact is, a lot of the stamps the Royal Mail have issued over the last few years have been gorgeous. Gone are the days of stamps featuring trains and nature and interminable royal celebrations, these days we have them commemorating DAVID BOWIE, PINK FLOYD, THE X-MEN, DOCTOR WHO, GAME OF THRONES and so on.
The ISLE OF MAN POST OFFICE got in touch with me recently to ask if I’d be interested in helping them promote a set of stamps they’re releasing this month, celebrating the works of a legendary native of the IoM – NIGEL KNEALE. As I’ve talked previously about how Kneale’s work has influenced me (see my posts on QUATERMASS and THE STONE TAPE), I jumped at the chance.
And here the stamps are in all their glory. You can buy them from the Isle of Man Post Office here.
