Myths and Legends - Royal Mail : 2025

Royal Mail celebrates mythical creatures and legendary figures from different regions of the UK, including Blodeuwedd (Wales); the Loch Ness Monster (Scotland); Beowulf and Grendel (England); Black Shuck (East Anglia); Selkie (Orkney & Shetland); Cornish Piskies (Cornwall); Fionn mac Cumhaill (Northern Ireland); and Grindylow (Yorkshire/Lancashire). Artist Adam Simpson’s beautiful and evocative illustrations bring to life these fabled figures of folklore in vibrant, enchanting detail. 

Grindylows are supernatural creatures that appear in the folklore of England, most notably the Lancaster area. They are described as diminutive humanoids with scaly skin, a greenish complexion, sharp claws and teeth, and long, wiry arms with lengthy fingers at the end. They are said to dwell in ponds and marshes waiting for unsuspecting children, which they grab with their shockingly strong grip, and then drag under the surface of the waters. Grindylows have been used as shadowy figures to frighten children away from pools, marshes, or ponds where they could drown.

Beowulf is an Old English poem, an epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines, contained in the Nowell Codex. The protagonist Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, king of the Danes, whose great hall, Heorot, is plagued by the monster Grendel. Beowulf kills Grendel with his bare hands, then kills Grendel's mother with a giant's sword that he found in her lair.

Year of the Child : 1979 Great Britain

1979-Jul-11 The Year of the Child

There is no sounder investment than the future of the child and no greater responsibility for the adults of today:

The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Beatrix Potter) 1902

Winnie the Pooh (A.A.Milne) 1926

The Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame) 1908

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll) 1865

Childrens TV : 2014 UK - 2024 Guernsey

 

2014-Jan-07 Royal Mail

Royal Mail is celebrating over sixty years of classic children’s TV with a stamp collection. This special issue commemorates the 40th anniversary of Bagpuss, probably the most popular British children’s TV character of all time and the 50th anniversary of The Magic Roundabout.

Twelve of the most popular characters from children’s television are included in the set. The full line-up features - Andy Pandy, Ivor the Engine, Dougal from The Magic Roundabout, Bagpuss, Paddington Bear, Postman Pat, Windy Miller from Camberwick Green, Mr. Benn, Uncle Bulgaria from the Wombles, Bob the Builder, Peppa Pig, and Shaun the Sheep. (6 of the stamps are shown on the cover below)

2024-Jul-25 Guernsey - Bagpuss 50th Anniversary

Bagpuss is a British animated children's television series which was made by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate through their company Smallfilms. The series of thirteen episodes was first broadcast in 1974. The title character was "a saggy, old cloth cat, baggy, and a bit loose at the seams". Although only thirteen episodes were produced and broadcast, the program remains fondly remembered by Briton. In early 1999, Bagpuss topped a BBC poll for the UK's favorite children's television program

Stranger Things : 2026 Royal Mail

2026-Jan-13 Stranger Things First Day Cover featuring all 10 new stamps cancelled with the alternative Spennymoor postmark.

Welcome to Hawkins - a place where everything is turned Upside Down

Beloved characters and mysterious monsters are the stars of striking new stamps celebrating the hit Netflix show Stranger Things 

Five stamps feature key “real” world figures from each series of the show, set against a red background (Eleven and Joyce - Dustin, Lucas and Mike  - Steve, Robin and Erica  - Nancy, Jonathan and Henry  - Eleven, Jim and Dr Kay) 

Five more stamps, again one focused on each series, depict characters linked to the alternate dimension, known as the Upside Down, with a blue background (Will, the Demogorgon and Barbara  - Jim, a Demodog and Will  - Max, the Mind Flayer and Billy  - Eddie, Dustin and Max  - Vecna, Holly and Mr Whatsit)

Stranger Things Miniature Sheet features young Hawkins heroes Lucas, Will, Mike and Dustin riding their iconic 80s bikes in the shadow of the Mind Flayer.

British artist and official Stranger Things illustrator Kyle Lambert’s exclusive new stamp designs contain hidden features revealed when the stamps are exposed to UV light. 

Biggles - Greetings : 1994 United Kingdom

1994-Feb-01

Biggles from the Biggles books by Capt W.E. Johns © W.E. John (publications) LTS, illustrated by Alan Cracknell. James Charles “Biggles” Bigglesworth, is a fictional pilot and adventurer, the title character and hero of the Biggles series of adventure books, written for young readers by W. E. Johns (1893–1968). Biggles made his first appearance in the story "The White Fokker", published in the first issue of Popular Flying magazine and again as part of the first collection of Biggles stories, The Camels Are Coming (both 1932). Johns continued to write "Biggles books" until his death in 1968.

Tales of Terror : 1997 United Kingdom

 

1997-May-13

1959-Sep-20 Romania : 500^th Anniversary of Bucharest – Prince Vlad Tepes and Document from 1459 - Vlad III, commonly known as Vlad the Impaler was Voivode of Wallachia three times between 1448 and his death in 1476/77. He was regarded as a hero in Romania due to his opposition to the Ottoman Empire and he is considered an important ruler in Wallachian history. Stories about Vlad's brutal acts began circulating during his lifetime. Works containing the stories about Vlad's cruelty were published in Low German in the Holy Roman Empire before 1480. The name Dracula was for centuries known as the sobriquet of Vlad III. Bram Stoker's Dracula, was the first book to make a connection between Dracula and vampirism - Wikipedia

“There lay the Count... the white hair and moustache were changed to dark iron-grey, the cheels were fuller, and the white skin seemed ruby-red underneath; the mouth was redder than ever, for on the lips were gouts of fresh blood...” Dracula by Bram Stoker, 1897

“His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing... but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes...” Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 1818

“Mr Hyde was pale and dwarfish' he gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation, he had a displeasing smile... not all of these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust...” The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson 1896

“A hound it was, an enormous coal-black hound... Fire burst from its open mouth, its eyes glowed with a smouldering glare, its muzzle and hackles and dewlap were outlined in flickering flame.” The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 1901

Greetings : 1994 United Kingdom

1994-Feb-01

Dan Dare and the Mekon, from the Eagle ©1994 Egmont H Peterson Fond Gutenberghus; The Three Bears ©Janet Ahlberg 1994, based on an illustration from The Jolly Postman ©1986 Allan and Janet Ahlberg; Rupert Bear from the Rupert Bear cartoon as seen in the Daily Express, illustrated by John Harold ©Express Newspapers plc 1994; Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll illustrated by Paul Slater; Noggin and the Ice Dragon, from Noggin the Nog books ©Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin 1999 illustrated by Peter Firmin; Peter Rabbit posting Letter illustrated by Beatrix Potter © Frederick Warne & Co 1927, 1987, 1994 adapted by Alex Vining; Red Riding Hood and Wolf illustrated by Alan Cracknell; Orlando the Marmalade Cat from the Orlando books by Katheen Hale ©Kathleen Hale 1994 reproduced by permission of Frederick Warne & Co, illustrated by Hashim Akib; Biggles from the Biggles books by Capt W.E. Johns © W.E. John (publications) LTS, illustrated by Alan Cracknell; Paddington Bear from the Paddington books by Michael Bond ©P & Co. 1994

Science Fiction - H.G. Wells : 1995 United Kingdom

1995-Jun-06 Royal Mail

Herbert George Wells (1866 – 1946) English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, history, popular science, satire, biography, and autobiography. Wells is most known today for his groundbreaking science fiction novels; he has sometimes been called the "father of science fiction", a title that has also been given to Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback

Time Travels - The Time Machine (1895)

Space Travel - First Men in the Moon (1901)

Alien Invasion - War of the Worlds (1898)

Futuristic Society -The Shape of Things to Come (1933)

Wallace & Gromit - Christmas : 2010 UK

2010-Nov-02

 

The Snowman : 1993 Great Britain

1993-Feb-02 Edinburgh UK

Raymond Redvers Briggs CBE (1934 – 2022) English illustrator, cartoonist, graphic novelist and author. Achieving critical and popular success among adults and children, he is best known in Britain for his 1978 story The Snowman, a book without words whose cartoon adaptation is televised and whose musical adaptation is staged every Christmas

Big Stars from the Small Screen : 1996 UK

1996-Sep-03 UK

Troy Tempest - Stingray (Gerry Anderson), Dangermouse

Mufin the Mule, Sooty, The Clangers

Celebration of 50 years of children's television

SuperTed - Edinburgh postmark

Additional available postmarks

Peanuts : 2025 Royal Mail

2025-Jul-24

Royal Mail are marking the 75th anniversary of the internationally loved comic strip 'Peanuts' with a set of eight stamps. The stamps, all 1st class and in se-tenant pairs, feature images in a British theme including the classic Snoopy pose on a Royal Mail pillar box, playing football, Charlie Brown and Snoopy 'enjoying' the British weather and a birthday tea party.

Featured on the stamps are Charlie Brown, Snoopy Woodstock, Franklin, Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, Sally, Peppermint Patty and Marcie all in very distinct British elements

Discworld : 2023 Royal Mail

2023-Aug-10

Discworld is a fantasy comedy book series written by the Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat planet balanced on the backs of four elephants which in turn stand on the back of a giant turtle. The series began in 1983 with The Colour of Magic and continued until the final novel The Shepherd's Crown, which was published in 2015, following Pratchett's death. The books frequently parody or take inspiration from classic works, usually fantasy or science fiction, as well as mythology, folklore and fairy tales, and often use them for satirical parallels with cultural, political and scientific issues. The books inspired several movies, both live-action and animated

Illustrated by Paul Kidby, the stamps celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Colour of Magic, the first book in the series

Terry Pratchett

 

Paddington Bear : 2023 Royal Mail

2023-Sep-05 Paddington Bear 65^th Anniversary : The marmalade-loving Peruvian bear will feature on six postal stamps taken from Ivor Wood's cartoons, which were originally published in the London Evening News in the late 1970s as the character became a star of the small screen.

Paddington Bear first appeared as a character in Michael Bond's classic 1958 book 'A Bear Called Paddington'. The bear is adopted by the Brown family in London after arriving at the train station he is named after. He has been featured in 29 books written by Bond, the books have been illustrated by Peggy Fortnum, David McKee, R. W. Alley, and other artists.

David Gold, director of external affairs and policy at Royal Mail, said: “Paddington continues to bring cheer to generations of children worldwide. These delightful stamps will brighten up the day of anyone receiving mail with a touch of Paddington’s charm.”