My thanks to John H who commented on the annual programme post that a revised list is now on Royal Mail's website.
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| Royal Mail stamp issues 2022, updated in June; still not complete |
This confirms what many of us have known for a long time, namely that the 1 September issue is entitled Transformers. As John writes: "I bet it doesn't mean people who have transformed our lives in some way."
The other issue confirmed now is for Pride. Why Royal Mail couldn't issue this striking set of stamps (yes, I already have them) in PRIDE MONTH instead of after it finishes, is anybody's guess. It would have been easy to switch with the non-event-related Cats issue, after all, especially as this year marks the 50th anniversary of the first Pride event in the UK.
This year the Pride in London parade will be held on Saturday 2nd July 2022 and I suspect Royal Mail may well be giving out specially overprinted Stamp Cards suggesting people should also buy the stamps *.
I can't show you the UK stamps yet, but here are a few which less conservative issue policies have produced in previous years.
What is said to be the first stamp issued with an explicit LGBTQ-related theme was issued on 3 July 2010. It celebrates fifteen years of the Rainbow Parade held annually on the Vienna Ring Road at the end of the annual Vienna Pride festival, organized by the Homosexual Initiative Vienna (HOSI Wien).
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| 2010 Austria stamp making 15 years of the Rainbow Parade in Vienna. |
In 2016 both Sweden and Netherlands issued Pride related stamps, Sweden's showing the Pride flag and Netherlands making EuroPride 2016 in Amsterdam.
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| Sweden inland letter stamp showing Pride flag, 2016. |
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| Netherlands pair of inland stamps marking EuroPride 2016. |
In 2017 Denmark issued a pair of 8kr stamps showing Pride Hearts.
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| Pair of Denmark 8kr stamps showing Pride Hearts, 017. |
In 2020 Spain issued a single 1€ stamp to commemorate International LGBTQIA Pride Day and as a tribute to the victims of the 1971 Torremolinos Police Repression against gay-friendly clubs during the Franco era.
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| Spanish 1€ stamp 2020 marking International LGBTQIA Pride Day and the victims of the 1971 Torremolinos Police Repression |
If you have an interest in this subject a long thread on Stampboards discussion forum is entitled LGBTQ History and Culture in Philately and on Stamps Discussion. The thread is indeed wide-ranging and shows many stamps depicting "well known, openly gay / bisexual people". Among those from the UK (or depicted on British stamps) are Elton John, Alan Turing, Virginia Woolf, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, Alexander the Great, Sir John Gielgud, Miriam Margolyes, Benjamin Britain, Vita Sackville-West, Arthur C Clarke, Nicola Adams, David Hockney - the list goes on.
A scroll through the six pages of illustrated discussion will show many British stamps and others depicting members of the British Royal Family - not for themselves, but for the fashion designers, photographers etc, with whom they are associated. This would make an interesting sideline collection.
Although Royal Mail have painted postboxes and post vans in Pride colours and supported London's Pride Parade they are way behind when it comes to issuing Pride stamps, as the discussion shows.
* If you get, see, or hear of these, please do let me know with pictures.
Quote :- "Why Royal Mail couldn't issue this striking set of stamps (yes, I already have them) in PRIDE MONTH instead of after it finishes, is anybody's guess."
ReplyDeleteCould be because release would clash with the Platinum Jubilee events??
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DeleteDidn't stop them issuing a set of pretty cats! Sure, PRIDE is likely to attract more attention that today's cats, but as the Jubilee events are over now (aren't they?), then today would have been a good day.
ReplyDeleteBizarrely, the June RMPB doesn't mention the Pride issue on the back page listing. I can understand (sort of) that the details might be under embargo, but not to mention the issue at all just seems perverse.
ReplyDeleteI am guessing from the cost of this issue it will comprise 4 x 1st class & 4 x £1.85 stamps .
ReplyDeleteIt is sobering to look at the programme in the light of the gaps between issues. 2 weeks, 2 weeks, 2.5, 2, 2, 4, 5, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 3 weeks. Throw in a change of tariff in December maybe and we see just how desparate the Post Office has become. Thank goodness I gave up commemoratives in 1970.
ReplyDeleteSome time ago I saw an updated 2022 list and the issue for 19th October was given as Aardman so perhaps some Wallace & grommet stamps?
ReplyDeleteA CSO blog from January suggests that the October issue would be Aardman as you suggest (speculation was that it could be linked to the BBC's 100th anniversary).
DeleteBBC was founded on 18th October 1922 according to Wikipedia so 19th Oct not far out! The 1972 stamps for the 50th anniversary were issued on 13th Sept 1972. Mind you that was when there was a conservative issuing policy and stamps had to fit somewhere in a limited number of issues
DeleteThe June edition of the Philatelic Bulletin doesn't give any details of the Cats issue. OK I received the 'First', but I have a library of the Bulletins..
ReplyDeleteThe Transformers stamp set is to mark 15 years of the film franchise, This set just seem a bit senseless and odd to me, it should have been easily left out of the stamp programme.
ReplyDeleteI have seen the stamp images, they look great and beautiful, however it is strange to me that officially not show the stamps image and pre-order until today, what’s up of this situation?
ReplyDeleteDoug(Enfield) Royal Mail publication - "First' - Full details of Pride issue.Stamp set AS700 4x1st; 4x£1.85p Plus all the other stuff of Collectors sheet, coin covers and the like.
ReplyDeleteCSO blog has some poor-quality pictures of the Birmingham 2022 issue.
ReplyDelete