Tag: Great Britain stamp

Mistakes in human calculated math tables. Maddening for engineers, insurance people, and astronomer. What if a mechanical machine could be built and a logorithim written that could make and record tables more acturately. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

You all know I am going to love a stamp about a 19th century genious in a smoking jacket. The stamp designers had a little perceptive fun with Charles Babbage by having numbers popping out of his head. They kind of were though and through it you can see the luck that accrues when the best education system since Aristotle is utilized to full effect by a real genious. Makes me wonder if after I am gone and stamp designers having run out of worthy candidates, decide to give me a stamp. How to portray the stories that can be learned from stamp collecting emanating from me.

Todays stamp is issue A393, a 22 pence stamp issued by Great Britain on March 5th, 1991. It was a 4 stamp issue showing scientists and their technology, in this case Charles Babbage, whose mechanical analytical engine was an important forerunner of the computer. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents used.

Charles Babbage was born in 1791 to a wealthy family in London. His extensive education included self study of mathematics but he required tutoring in the Classics to meet the standard of Cambridge University. Nice when there was a standard instead of people just sent there from the colonies with no background as we have seen with so many stamps. See https://the-philatelist.com/2017/12/12/parliament-house-designed-by-the-guy-who-named-himself-president-for-life/ . Once at Cambridge, he found the mathematics teaching below par and so formed an Analytical Society with some fellow math nerds, connections that would serve him well later in life. He was also a member of the extractors club. That sought to extract any of its members if they are committed to a madhouse. That seems to me the one to join. Academia was not compatible with Babbage as he was more interested in research than in teaching.

Babbage ended up writing influential works on actuarial studies and industrial design. In industry he was in favor of breaking up tasks so that the master had more time on what he alone could do. Over time Babbage though automation could take over the rest. That of course works out well for the master but perhaps less so for the rest of us. Indeed Babbage despised the regular person and indeed the manners of the aristocracy, turning down a Barony.

He began studying tables used in engineering, astronomy and insurance, and found a surprising to him number of human calculation mistakes. He conceived of a mechanical machine that would use algorithms and punch cards to make the calculations more accurately. To compose the algorithm, he worked with female mathematician, Ada King, the Countess of Lovelace. He was never quite got his Analytical Engine working, but Babbage’s son sent out copies of the prototypes to prominent people in the field and they were influential on later computers. There is currently a project in Britain to finally build a working copy of his machine, that might be done by 2021. It is sometimes thought of as Babbage’s last laugh that mechanical computation is again being investigated for areas of high radiation or temperature where electronics are not possible. One thing that perhaps would not make him laugh is that two different museums have preserved pieces of his brain on display.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Charles Babbage. It will have to be a short one as Babbage abhorred commoners and their drunkenness. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Throughout the world, not just in Britain or the Empire, the second half of the 19th century is thought of as the Victorian Era. For some it is the height of culture and progress, for others it is a time of racial and sexual repression. As the country that experienced her reign first hand, Britain under an 80s Conservative government will share the first view. This stamp issue tries to show a lot of the progress of the time. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

With such a long reign, there is of course a lot to talk about and each of the four stamps of the issue take on three things to represent the period. In this stamps case, it is the art, the technology progress, and the virtue of the British people. A lot to show on a small gumed piece of paper that also manages to show a portrait of Queen Victoria and the always present profile of Queen Elizabeth. A lot going on that a postal user will likely miss but much for a philatelist to peruse.

Todays stamp is issue A359, an 18p stamp issued by Great Britain on September 8th, 1987. It was a four stamp issue remembering the 150th anniversary of the ascension to the Throne of then 18 year old Queen Victoria. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

Queen Victoria became Queen at age 18 years and one month upon the death of her uncle Willian IV. Being barely 18 she avoided a Regency planned for her by her mother and because of German royalty Salic laws against Royal women, the British monarch was no longer the monarch of Hannover in Germany. For the best given the events of the 20th century. Her mother lost much influence on Victoria but she accepted much advice from the then Whig Prime Minister. As a young single lady, even the Queen was required to live with her mother, but with large Buckingham Palace she was able to consign her mother to an out of the way bedroom and control when she sees her. She married Prince Albert in 1840.

Prince Albert was a force behind the Chrystal Palace in the center of the stamp. France had several previous exhibitions of French achievements but Britain through Albert had bigger ideas. The first of many International Expos happened in London in 1851. The Chrystal Palace, of steel and a then new type of strong sheet glass was constructed in Hyde Park for the purpose. The exhibition was worldwide but the technological and artistic sophistication of Britain was displayed for all to see. To cope with the large crowds the worlds first pay toilets were installed. It cost one penny to use the facility and over 800,000 did. It was such a sensation that spending a penny became slang for going to the bathroom.

The right hand portrait on the stamp is a portrait of Grace Darling, an exemplar of the virtue of the British people. Grace Darling grew up poor in a family that lived in and operated a lighthouse. In 1838, she spotted a ship foundering on nearby rocks. She got her father and they rowed a canoe out in the rough waters and were able to save five survivors. Her father and saved men than went back and saved additional ship passengers. Grace’s role in the heroism became well known and she became a national hero.  A trust fund was set up for her and Queen Victoria personally contributed. Unfortunately Grace died of tuberculosis a few years later at age 26.

The left hand portrait is the famous portrait of a red stag deer known as the “Monarch of the Glen” by Sir Edwin Landseer. It captures the beauty of the animal and a sense of the rural terrain of Scotland. It was commissioned by Queen Victoria who was a big fan of this style of art. The portrait became somewhat of a cliché later as it was used in much advertising later including a soap company and more famously Dewars Scotch Whiskey. Through Dewars the painting came into the hands of the multinational liquor conglomerate Diagio who sold it discounted to The Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh in 2016. I drink Glen Moray rather than Dewars when I drink Scotch so I knew nothing of the commercialization of the image when I saw the painting during a visit to Scotland in 2017. I was so moved by Landseer’s painting that I bought a bronze depiction of the deer in the gift shop. It is nice to know that I have similar taste in art as Queen Victoria.

Well my drink is empty and I will poor another to toast Queen Victoria. Not many get to dominate a century the way she did and in a good way. A second toast, perhaps I should take it slow, is deserved by the stamp designers who managed to show so much on the stamp. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have an interesting story of a 581 foot tower that was an official secret in the middle of one of the world’s biggest cities.

This stamp shows a post office tower that really is not related to the post office. It is still a new giant tower in London so how could the post office not give it a stamp. Well perhaps because it was officially illegal to take pictures of it. Well it is more of a drawing and the post office did own it.

The stamp today is issue A181, a three pence stamp issued by Great Britain on October 8th, 1965 to celebrate the opening of the post office tower in London. There was one other stamp in the issue with a more horizontal drawing of the tower. According to the Scott catalog, it is worth twenty five cents used.

In the early 60s, the government run post office was in control of the British landline telephone system. A new taller tower was needed so line of site was possible for satellite communications. So for this reason the tower was built at government expense. There was a public observation deck and a rotating restaurant called “Top of the Tower,” The majority of long distance communications in Great Britain were routed through the tower.

In 1970 an anarchist group called The Angry Brigade exploded a small bomb in the men’s room or the Top of the Tower restaurant. No one was killed but the government rethought public access  to the tower and the restaurant was closed. The group made 25 small bomb attacks from 1970 -72 including on The Miss World competition and the homes of Conservative members of Parliament. The leader of the Angry Brigade only got 10 years in jail and later realized that he was the only angry one and the rest of his brigade was only slightly cross. One of the Angry Brigade coconspiritors later received on Order of the British Empire for her work in homosexual rights. I guess people did not take terrorism seriously back then. I bet the Queen was gagging handing out that OBE if she knew who she was handing it to.

The secrecy of the tower was a major point or ridicule from the left even after the bomb attack. It was on secret government documents showing routing of communications that the tower was referred to as Location 23. Since the communications emanating from the tower was never cut off they get to enjoy there jokes. Don’t look up!

The post office was later reorganized and the telecommunication system separated from the post office and eventually privatized. For this reason the tower is now known as the BT Tower. Technology has left behind most of the antennas. Since the tower is now a listed property for it’s historic importance, it took many years to get permission to have them removed. By then, around 2010, they were in a bad state and in danger of falling off the tower. A night light show was added to the tower and there was a failed attempt to reopen the restaurant for the 2012 Olympics. The tower is no longer an official secret.

Well my drink is empty and so it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Welcome readers to today’s offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have an interesting story to tell about a man you may not remember, but perhaps he is worth remembering.

At first glance, today’s stamp may look American, perhaps from the Bicentennial year. It is not.The gold profile in the top corner is a giveaway that the stamp is British. The shape of the stamp is also a standard shape common to British stamps from the late 60s forward.

The stamp today is issue A248, a 3 penny stamp issued on August 15, 1973 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the birth of English architect Inigo Jones.The stamp is part of a four stamp issue that depicts various aspects of Mr. Jones career. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is valued at 25 cents in its cancelled state.

Inigo Jones is an interesting figure in the history of architecture and other things. What he achieved and how he achieved them are great lessons on how luck, contacts, and talent can yield lasting, great things. Inigo Jones was born in London in 1573 and was of Welch  ancestry. He was not noble by birth, but my much good fortune was able to attract the patronage of several nobleman that allowed him to develop his talent. The Earl of Pembroke sent him to Italy to study drawing. This allowed Inigo to absorb the classic styles of Italy including the architecture of Vituvious. He then went to Denmark to work on the palaces of King Christian. The ending of the Middle Ages was allowing for more travel and soon Inigo was back in England ready to bring a new, if historically referenced style to his homeland.

Inigo did not go directly in to architecture. With the patronage of Queen Anne, he went to work on the stage. Not as an actor, but using his architectural drafting skills to pioneer the use of masks and moveable scenery on the stage. Many of his drawings from this period of his career still exist. One of the other stamps in Great Britain’s 1973 Inigo Jones issue celebrates his work on the staging of plays.

Architecture comes back into the picture as King James becomes less frugal than Queen Elizabeth I had been. In 1613, Inigo Jones was named the Surveyor of Kings Works. This opened many opportunities to put his style vision into practice. Among these was the structure on today’s featured stamp, St Paul’s Church and Convent Garden. The Earl of Bedford wanted to create a square in London in the style of an Italian piazza. Inigo Jones was just the man to see this vision realized.

There is always tension between patron and artisan. The Earl of Bedford saw the need for a church in the square but wanted to be economical. He instructed Inigo to model the church on a barn. Instead Inigo stuck to his vision of a Tuscan style temple, as Vituvious would have done. The”best barn in England” still stands today.

Inigo’s career later came to a standstill with the English civil war of 1642. This makes the vital point that talent is not enough for success. The conditions have to be right for talent to be able to flower.

Well, my drink is empty so it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.