Stamps and collecting on the BBC

By coincidence there have been three (at least) mentions of stamps and collecting on the BBC recently.

1. In the excellent '50 Things that made the Modern Economy' series, Tim Harford explains how Rowland Hill introduced the pre-payment system of postage and the postage stamp.

 

2. Under the headline Tech-savvy stamp collectors energise an old hobby and published in time for Autumn Stampex, Caroline Bullock describes a 26-year old woman's passion for stamps, but not for organised philately - "I... would never join a club or society; my perception is that they are mainly full of people my parents' age... Because I don't know any anyone else my age doing this, it's a hobby that I do very much alone." 

 

The article goes on to cover South African Graham Beck's 70+ Exploring Stamps videos on YouTube, which explore the history behind a random stamp.  These are much more interesting than many 'stamp' videos on YouTube. Some of the other 'how to' videos are positively dangerous to stamps!

The article also cites Stanley Gibbons "renowned for its collector catalogues, the recently launched My Collection app enables collectors to store and manage their collection virtually"

3. Lastly, for now, as part of their We are Stoke-on-Trent broadcast event, a web story mentions a few 'Stokies who made their mark' - including Stanley Matthews, RJ Mitchell (spitfire), Oliver Lodge, who invented the spark plug, and of course Arnold Machin.

---