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Sunday 26 May 2013

Memorial Day - Sunday Stamps

Today happens to be the anniversary of the day in 1940 when the order was given to evacuate Dunkirk. There has been a memorial service earlier today in Liverpool to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic; 1943 was the year which marked the turning point of the battle in the Allies favour.

So I have chosen today to show Great Britain stamps commemorating the birth and death of our greatest wartime leader.
Winston Churchill
Churchill died in January 1965. This stamp was issued on 6 July 1965 along with another of a similar design at 4d and a different stamp at 1/3d (i.e., before our currency was decimalised)

Churchill had been born on 30 November 1874. To commemorate the centenary of his birth Great Britain issued a set of four stamps on 8th October 1974. I have two of these.
Churchill Centenary
The other two with him in different headgear were 8p and 10p denominations.

These were s for Viridian's Sunday Stamps suggested theme of  stamps commemorating or memorializing someone or an important event.


10 comments:

Joy said...

I don't have the full Churchill set from '74 either, I like how they took different periods of his life., It sounds as though it will be quite a show of ships in Liverpool's celebration of the Battle of the Atlantic.

Jo said...

That sounds interesting, Show of Ships? What kind of ships?

Loved the Churchill stamps. They occasionally play clips from his speeches on the radio and it gives me goose bumps.

JO ON FOOD, MY TRAVELS AND A SCENT OF CHOCOLATE

VioletSky said...

That 5½p stamp shows the most familiar of Churchill's faces (and hats).

♥♥ Willa ♥♥ said...

It's my first time to see Winston Churchill's face.Thanks for sharing!

Willa @ Postage Journal
My Sunday Stamp#57: Memorial Day

Bob Scotney said...

Jo - there were a lot of navy ships at Liverpool. The BBC News Channel has a lot of reports on the day and old videos of the battle itself; I have not found any that that show the ships yesterday - naval or mechant vessels.

Lisa B said...

I was reading a royal biography recently and it was interesting to read that Churchill wasn't always so 'popular'. I don't have any vested interest one way or the other as to public opinion, but the period described would have been pre-WW1.

Bob Scotney said...

Lisa - He was controversial throughout his career and lost the first election after WWII.

Sheila @ A Postcard a Day said...

I did have a few of the more recent set but I've sent them to collectors I thought might like them.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Bob .. interesting to see these stamps - I remember watching Churchill's funeral. I saw a little of the Service and Liverpool commemorations ..

Churchill like Thatcher were controversial - yet made an impact and were decisive .. just not flexible in any way ...

Cheers Hilary

viridian said...

Thank you Bob for getting a post up. I was suddenly away from my computer for the holiday weekend and could not post. we'll continue Sunday Stamps next week.