Royal Philatelic Collection podcast

We have just uploaded a new podcast featuring Michael Sefi speaking at the BPMA about the Royal Philatelic Collection. Michael Sefi has been Keeper of the Royal Philatelic Collection since 2003 and he, along with several assistants, cares for and describes the collection, as well as enabling public access to it.

Bermuda ‘Perot’; one of only 12 surviving examples of this locally-produced stamp.

The Royal Philatelic Collection is Queen Elizabeth II’s private collection and includes material collected by her ancestors over the past 120 years. The majority of the holdings were collected by King George V, aka the philatelist king, but since his death the collection has been added to. It is considered to be the finest collection of its type, and consists almost entirely of British and Commonwealth material, including stamps, covers and stamp artwork, some famous errors and oddities, and a number of unique and highly valuable items.

‘Post Office Mauritius’. This item from the Royal Philatelic Collection is considered to be the finest of the four surviving examples of this stamp.

In his speech, given here in February, Michael Sefi described the history of the Collection and discusses some of its highlights. These include George V Silver Jubilee covers from almost all Commonwealth Countries, stamp artwork from the era of Edward VIII (some of which was repurposed for George VI), and the rarities illustrating this blog.

2d Tyrian Plum on a cover sent to the Prince of Wales the day before he became George V. The Tyrian Plum was never issued, and this is the only used example.

Items from the Royal Philatelic Collection are often shown publically. Upcoming displays include Masterworks Museum, Bermuda – 19 to 28 April 2012, Planète Timbres (Stamp Planet), Paris – 9-17 June 2012, and Australia 2013 World Stamp Exhibition, Melbourne – 10-15 May 2013. In 2010 the British Postal Museum & Archive and the Royal Philatelic Collection collaborated on Empire Mail: George V & the GPO at the Guildhall Art Gallery.

Download the Michael Sefi podcast from www.postalheritage.org.uk/podcast or subscribe to the BPMA podcast on iTunes.

Mail Trains

Last year our Curator Julian Stray gave a public talk on Mail Trains; this is now available to download as a podcast. The talk looks at the long and often strained association between the Post Office and the rail companies.

Interior of Travelling Post Office, by George Charlton, 1935 (POST 109/375)

Both underground and over, in sealed vans and Travelling Post Offices, mails have been conveyed, sorted and accelerated since 1830. Suffering the occasional mishap or celebrated by film makers (such as in the film Night Mail), the carriage of mail is considerably reduced today. Julian Stray’s talk touches on what went wrong, what changed, and why.

The talk is based on extensive primary research completed for the upcoming joint BPMA/Shire publication Mail Trains.

Download or subscribe to the BPMA podcast by visiting our website or through iTunes.

Visit our website to view a selection of items from our collection on the theme of Mail by Rail.

Postcardese –Coded Love and Tilted Stamps

Back in May we were pleased to welcome Guy Atkins to the BPMA to talk about his passion for Edwardian postcards. Guy runs the popular blog Postcardese, which explores the intrigue and beauty of old postcard messages.

Now available on our podcast is a recording of Guy’s talk in which he reveals the ingenuity to be found on the backs of vintage cards – from their encrypted declarations of love to the curious positioning of stamps.

The podcast is free to listen to on our website, or you can subscribe in iTunes or other podcast aggregators.

The Post Office and the Blitz

Our archive and museum collections could tell a billion stories. In our latest podcast Assistant Curator Vyki Sparkes reveals some of them as she uses diary extracts and official documents to show how postal workers and buildings were affected by the Blitz.

New Cross Exchange, damaged by two High Explosive bombs which fell close to the building on 4 October 1940. (POST 56)

Between September 1940 and May 1941 Nazi bombers targeted important infrastructure in the British Isles, including General Post Office (GPO) buildings such as sorting offices and telephone exchanges.

Many GPO staff showed great courage and determination to keep mail moving and telecommunications services functioning. Amongst them was Frederick G. Gurr who led the GPO Rescue and Salvage Squad, a small group of men who rescued mail, money and supplies from Post Offices and letterboxes bombed in the City of London.

To find out more about Gurr and other GPO World War 2 heroes download The Post Office and the Blitz podcast from www.postalheritage.org.uk/podcast or subscribe to our podcast with iTunes.

The Englishman Who Posted Himself & Other Curious Objects

Just added to our podcast is a recording of a talk given at the BPMA by John Tingey, author of The Englishman Who Posted Himself and Other Curious Objects. John Tingey’s talk, based on his book about the eccentric habits of W. Reginald Bray, took place in March in front of a packed audience.

W Reginald Bray in his study with some of his collection

W. Reginald Bray was an enthusiast and collector who enjoyed testing the Post Office Regulations to their limits. Bray posted items including a frying pan, a turnip, seaweed, and even himself on more than one occasion. He also tried the postal service’s patience by experimenting with ways of addressing letters and cards, using drawings, collage and codes.

Download the podcast at www.postalheritage.org.uk/podcast.

Architecture as Public Art: Buildings on British Stamps

St Andrew's, Greensted-juxta-Ongar, Essex stamp, part of the Village Churches issue designed by Ronald Maddox (1972). And Brian Goodey's favourite stamp.

The conclusion to our Open Day in December last year was a talk given by Professor Brian Goodey, the recently retired Chairman of our Board of Trustees. This talk is now available as a podcast.

Brian Goodey is Professor Emeritus in the Joint Centre for Urban Design at Oxford Brookes University, and his research interests include the evolution of the British townscape and the role of electronic media in re-shaping understandings of place and heritage. He writes on aspects of urban development, and on the role of the artist in public settings. In addition Professor Goodey is an “accumulator of stamps”, and an admirer of the graphic artists who make them. His (dare we call it a) collection is focused on the buildings and structures which have appeared on stamps in both Great Britain and the rest of the world.

In his talk, Professor Goodey gave a personal view on architecture as depicted on British stamps in the last few decades. Introducing the talk he said:

I maintain the belief that stamps are produced as a reflection of design and image change within society, but their appearance is in every way political, and that aside from the stamp production industry they represent a government intention to influence the thinking of, potentially, every member of that society, and the recipients of stamps mailed elsewhere. Simply stated, buildings on stamps are intended to promote the work of architects, builders and developers, and to focus society on vernacular, historic or contemporary design.

There is a caveat here, certainly policies over the period I’ve looked at, which is really to 2006, have changed considerably. Certainly, there was an interesting period of “Cool Britannia” under Mr Blair, and various periods of retrenchment to tradition to sober-up for a while – and some of these will appear.

Professor Goodey feels there is an opportunity to “nation build through the post”, which is fast diminishing as stamp use declines. Do you agree with him? Listen to or download the podcast from our website or iTunes, and leave your comments here.

Grandpa England podcast

We are pleased to announce that our latest podcast is now available to download. The speaker is Matthew Glencross, a PhD student working in the Royal Archives on the role of the monarchy in the early 20th Century. He spoke at the BPMA in October on the public and private life of King George V.

This year we have been focusing on the era of George V as part of our programme of events for London 2010: Festival of Stamps, but for much of the time we have looked at the stamps and postal history of the period. Matthew Glencross’ talk comes from a different perspective, drawing extensively on rarely seen material from the Royal Archives, including George V’s personal diary. The diary proves to be a fascinating document, charting George’s life from his childhood as a naval cadet, to his 26 year reign as King.

And where does the title “Grandpa England” come from? You’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out!

To download this and other podcasts, go to www.postalheritage.org.uk/podcast.

Bertram Mackennal podcast

New to our podcast is a recent talk given by our Curator of Philately Douglas Muir, on the stamps, medals and coins of Bertram Mackennal.

Bertram Mackennal was an Australian sculptor who, amongst other things, worked on all definitive stamps issued during the reign of King George V. Douglas Muir’s talk gives an in-depth insight into the design and production process for these issues, and also looks at Mackennal’s work on coins and medals.

The podcast is free to download from www.postalheritage.org.uk/podcast or iTunes

Douglas Muir’s book George V and the GPO: Stamps, Conflict and Creativity, can be purchased from our online shop.

Treasures of the Archive

Recently our Assistant Curator Vyki Sparkes gave a talk about our current Search Room exhibition Treasures of the Archive. A recording of this talk is now available on our podcast.

Moses James Nobbs: Last of the mail coach guards

In her talk Vyki highlighted three of her favourite objects in the exhibition – a watercolour of Moses James Nobbs: the last of the mailcoach guards, Frederick G. Gurr’s World War 2 scrapbook and an evidence bag from the Great Train Robbery – all of which have fascinating stories attached.

The Treasures of the Archive exhibition features many other unique and interesting items from our collection, including the first ‘First Day Cover’ in the world, showing a Penny Black used on 6 May 1840, the first day of validity; original artwork for Greetings Telegrams and stamps; and the United Kingdom’s first pillar box. Find out more on our website.

Download the Vyki Sparkes podcast for free at www.postalheritage.org.uk/podcast

Ronald Maddox on illustrating Britain

 In the 70s and 80s artist Ronald Maddox travelled throughout the United Kingdom making drawings and paintings for the Post Office, Royal Mail and BT. The resulting images later appeared on stamps, first day covers, posters, aerogrammes, telephone directories and stamp books. In a talk given here in May, Ronald Maddox reflected on more than two decades of work. This talk is now available on our podcast.

Village Churches, 1972

One of Ronald Maddox’s best known stamp issues is the Village Churches set from 1972. Initially Maddox made drawings of around 50 churches before the final five were settled on. This being the first stamp issue he had designed, he recalled his excitement at visiting the stamp printers Harrisons and seeing the stamps come off press. Maddox was also interested to read a recent article in The Independent reporting that samples of the Village Churches stamps, printed on different paper stock to the issued stamps and encased in a Perspex block, are now worth £500 each.

Holyroodhouse stamp from British Architecture issue, 1978

In other stamp issues he designed, Maddox found that the Queen and politicians took a great interest in his work. When she saw the British Architecture (1978) designs, the Queen is said to have asked why the artist removed the hedges from the view of Holyroodhouse.

Garden Festival Hall, Liverpool stamp from the Urban Renewal issue, 1984

A few years later when Maddox was working on the Urban Renewal (1984) stamps he found that Environment Secretary Michael Heseltine kept in touch with him throughout the design process, urban renewal being a hot topic at that time.

Another interesting commission for Maddox was designing a mural for Liverpool Head Post Office. The mural shows many of Liverpool’s landmark buildings, and the boats, trains and other methods of transport used by Royal Mail at the time.

Ronald Maddox's mural for Liverpool Head Post Office (Photo courtesy Ronald Maddox)

The BPMA podcast is available from http://www.postalheritage.org.uk/podcast.