New stamps honour British innovation

British inventions ranging from stainless steel to the world wide web are featured on a new set of stamps.

The Royal Mail said the eight stamps marked this country's "long and proud history" of developing world-changing innovations.

The stamps, on sale now, depict photographs and computer-generated interpretations of the Colossus computer, World Wide Web, Catseyes, Fibre Optics, Stainless Steel, Carbon Fibre, DNA Sequencing and the i-limb.

The Colossus stamp has a close association with Royal Mail as it was designed and built by GPO employee, Tommy Flowers.

Rhys Morgan, director of education at The Royal Academy of Engineering, which helped select the inventions featured on the new stamps, said: "This excellent collection of stamps shows British innovation and engineering at its best. It is truly an inspiring set of innovations that have had a global impact."

Andrew Hammond, Royal Mail director of stamps and collectibles, said: "From the splitting of the atom to the discovery of penicillin to the invention of the jet engine, Britain's creative and resourceful spirit has not been restricted to any particular field, crossing the breadth of science and technology, engineering and medicine.

"The eight inventions featured on the stamps comprise only a handful of the transformative great British inventions from the century."

Royal Mail will also be issuing special Inventive Britain postmarks across the country from February 20-28.

Royal Mail vans will feature an image from the new stamps in areas with strong links to the inventors - Halifax, Epsom, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Cirencester, Dumfries, Docklands and Mortlake.

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