Special stamp issue for England Test team (cricket).

Special stamp issue for England Test team - well that's what the press-release headline says anyway. 

"Secret stamp issue for England Test team.

Britain’s secret little post office at Bletchley Park is celebrating England becoming the World’s Number 1 cricket team with a Smiler and cover issue. The cover features two exclusive paintings by renowned cricket artist Christina Pierce, one on the envelope and another on the stamp. The stamp has a 13^th August 2011 cachet to mark the day of the big win."

And once again the press will pick it up, and the foreign press in some cricket countries (notably India) will report it as a new stamp issue by Royal Mail.  And I hope that this blogpost will get equal coverage!

This is NOT a new stamp issue by Royal Mail.  It will be a Smilers sheet commissioned by Bletchley Park PO to mark the fact that the England team have become the world number 1.  The exclusive painting is NOT on a stamp, but on the label loosely attached to the stamp.  I'm not saying that this is misrepresentation but it is misleading in that it leads readers to believe something that is not true. 

Doubtless once it gets in the press we will have a number of people emailing and phoning us asking whether it is in Post Offices.  I feel sorry for the employees of Post Office Ltd and Royal Mail's Tallents House philatelic bureau who - not knowing what it is - have to deny all knowledge of it.