Royal Mail’s 2012 Special Stamp programme is set to celebrate a very special year in the UK’s heritage, with both the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Her Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee being celebrated in stamps issued throughout the year.

The first of several stamp issues celebrating the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will go on sale on 5^th January.  These definitive stamps, which are the nation’s everyday stamps, will be available from all Post Office branches and thousands of retailers.  These stamps are set to be used to post millions of letters and cards, sharing the London 2012 celebration across the UK and overseas. Other stamps be issued throughout the year to celebrate the Olympic and Paralympic Games, include for the first time ever Gold Medal stamps to mark Team GB Olympic victories. 

Of course it’s not only the hosting of the Olympic and Paralympic Games which the nation will celebrate in 2012, there is of course Her Majesty’s the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.   Royal Mail’s celebrations of this landmark event commence with the House of Windsor stamps issued on 2^nd February.  The stamps  feature the five monarchs from the start of the 20th century with The Queen taking pride of place on the final stamp marking the 60th year of her reign, the second longest for a British monarch after Queen Victoria.

A special miniature sheet issued on 6^th February brings together six portraits of Her Majesty The Queen taken from stamps, coinage and banknotes issued during her reign. These include a 1^st Class diamond blue definitive which will replace the gold definitive stamp sold in Post Office branches during the Jubilee Year. The stamps will also be available from retailers selling stamp books too. The Jubilee celebrations continue on 31^st May with the issuing of a set of eight stamps featuring striking images of Her Majesty the Queen taken across the six decades of her reign.

Children of all ages will be delighted by the Roald Dahl stamps, launched on 10^th January, which feature giant peaches, fantastic foxes and a very famous chocolate factory as some of his most popular stories are celebrated on a set of six stamps. The work of another iconic British storyteller is celebrated later in June with stamps issued to mark the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens.

Royal Mail commemorates the best of British on 23^rd February with the launch of its Britons of Distinction stamps, with 10 1^st Class stamps celebrating prominent Britons, including mathematician and World War II code breaker Alan Turing, SOE heroine Odette Hallowes, composer Frederick Delius and the Golden Jubilee of Coventry Cathedral which is marked by honouring its architect Sir Basil Spence.

In what is set to be a blockbuster year, other stamps throughout the year include Classic Locomotives, Comics and British Fashion Designers. The year will of course conclude with Christmas stamps, details of which will be revealed later in 2012.

Stephen Agar from Royal Mail said: “2012 is set to be a very special year in the nation’s heritage. As ever our stamps will be celebrating landmark events such as the hosting of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and of course Her Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. We’ll also be recognising the work of some our best loved authors, such as Roald Dahl, whose popular stories will feature on stamps early in the New Year.”

2012 Special Stamp Programme:

5 January                                Olympic Definitives

10 January                              Roald Dahl

2 February                              House of Windsor

6 February                              Diamond Jubilee Definitives

23 February                            Britons of Distinction

8 March                                   Classic Locomotives of Scotland

20 March                                 Comics

10 April                                    A-Z of Britain Part 2

15 May                                    Great British Fashion

31 May                                     Diamond Jubilee

19 June                                    Charles Dickens

27 July                                      Welcome to the London 2012 Olympic Games

29 August                                Welcome to the London 2012 Paralympic Games

27 September                         Memories of the London 2012

16 October                              Dinosaurs

30 October                              Space Science

6 November                            Christmas 

published January 4th, 2012