Stamp on an Anniversary Trivia Quiz

Answer: Two Penny Blue

The Penny Black and Two Penny Blue were both issued for the first time in May 1840 and were the world's first official pre-paid postage stamps. The Two Penny Blue was first sold a couple of days after the Penny Black, allowed people to send letters that were twice as heavy - a full ounce (28g) in weight, rather than just half an ounce - but were twice as expensive. This latter point probably explains why far fewer of them were originally produced and consequently why Two Penny Blues carrying the magic date of 1840 are significantly rarer and more valuable than the Penny Black to collectors.

Both the Penny Black and the Two Penny Blue consisted of a simple design showing the head of a young Queen Victoria on the relevant coloured background. As such they set the tradition for all subsequent British postage stamps to depict the head of the reigning monarch.

Answer: The Royal Society

The Royal Society is the oldest national scientific society in the world, having been founded in 1660 by a group of prominent scientists and academics to provide a regular forum for them to meet, exchange ideas and run experiments. It formally became 'The Royal Society' two years later when the newly-restored King Charles II granted it a royal charter. The physicist and chemist Robert Boyle was a founding member and Sir Isaac Newton was the society's president from 1703 to 1727. Benjamin Franklin was elected as a Fellow in 1756, which was a rare achievement as few Americans were granted this status during that era.

The other prominent scientists and members of the Royal Society featured in the set of 10 stamps were Edward Jenner (inventor of the smallpox vaccine), Charles Babbage (computing pioneer), the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, Joseph Lister (who developed the use of antiseptics in surgery), Ernest Rutherford (the nuclear physicist), the Nobel prize-winning chemist Dorothy Hodgkin and Nicholas Shackleton (a geologist).

Answer: Titanic

The Royal Mail's collector's edition set of 10 RMS Titanic-themed stamps commemorated the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the iconic vessel on its maiden voyage in April 1912. The collection included images of the construction of Titanic at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast and pictures of Titanic before she left on her ill-fated trip to New York, as well as illustrations of the sinking itself.

The prefix 'RMS' used by the Titanic and a whole host of other ships from the 19th century onwards stands for 'Royal Mail Ship' and simply meant that the ship was contracted to carry post for the UK's Royal Mail. The majority of the UK's ocean liners that made regular trips across the Atlantic in the early 20th century held the designation, including those operated by the White Star Line (the owners of the Titanic).

Answer: Doctor Who

'Doctor Who' - the iconic show about a time-travelling alien with a fascination for Earth and its inhabitants - was first broadcast on November 23, 1963. The set of stamps commemorating the show's 50th anniversary consisted of 11 first class stamps depicting all 11 official incarnations of the title character that had appeared on screen between 1963 and the release of the set in March 2013; four second class stamps featuring various enemy alien races (of which the Daleks are probably the most famous); and one stamp showing the TARDIS - the Doctor's ship that looks like a 1960s police box.

'The Sky at Night' - a programme about real astronomy rather than the science fiction portrayed in 'Doctor Who' - began in 1957, 'Blue Peter' (a children's programme) debuted in 1958 and 'Gardener's World' first appeared in 1968.

Answer: Poppy

Between 2014 and 2018, the Royal Mail issued five different sets of stamps to commemorate the 100th anniversaries of each of the five years of the First World War. The first set were released on the 100th anniversary of July 28, 1914 - the day when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and sparked massive conflict as the various major European countries joined the war in support of one side or the other.

The poppy (specifically the red-flowered variety Papaver rhoeas) was the first flower to grow over the graves of the soldiers killed on the Belgian First World War battlefields. It became a symbol of war remembrance thanks to the poem 'In Flanders Fields', which was written by Canadian soldier John McCrae in honour of a friend who perished in the Second Battle of Ypres, and opened with the lines:
"In Flanders fields the poppies blow, Between the crosses, row on row".

Answer: Battle of Britain

The Battle of Britain is the name given to the failed campaign by the Luftwaffe between July and October 1940 to gain control of British airspace in preparation for a German invasion of Britain. It consisted largely of German bombing of vital infrastructure (such as ports and airfields) followed by mass bombing attacks on British cities and the civilian population, while the Royal Air Force's Fighter Command (based at Bentley Priory in north-west London) made particular use of their Spitfire and Hurricane fighter planes to mount a defense. Their success was noted by the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill when he made a wartime speech that included the famous line "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few".

The Royal Mail's commemorative set included six stamps featuring photographs of the RAF at work during the battle, including pilots running towards their Hurricane planes, two Spitfires in the sky above Britain and the operations room at Bentley Priory.

Answer: William Shakespeare

This particular set of stamps commemorated the 400th anniversary of the death of the Bard - William Shakespeare. He died on the April 23, 1616 at the age of 52,, having written (or co-written) about 40 plays; composed hundreds of poems and sonnets; produced some of the most famous quotes in literary history; and invented a wide range of words to add to the English language.

Each of the ten stamps in the set depicted a short quotation from one of his plays or poems. The first quote mentioned in the question ("Love comforteth...") comes from his narrative poem 'Venus and Adonis', while "To thine own self be true" is a quote from the play 'Hamlet'. Other quotations included were "There was a star danced and under that was I born" from 'Much Ado About Nothing' and "The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool" from 'As You Like It', along with choice words from 'Richard II', 'The Tempest', 'Julius Caesar', 'Macbeth' 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Sonnet 30'.

Answer: Captain James Cook

Captain James Cook first set sail in his ship HMS Endeavour in August 1768 on a voyage that lasted nearly three years. The trip had two key aims - to observe the expected transit of Venus from Tahiti and to search for the land now known as Australia. Other members of the expedition included an official astronomer (to measure the transit) and an official botanist - the noted naturalist Sir Joseph Banks.

In addition to the stamps showing Venus and Banks, the Royal Mail's collector's set also included a first class stamp with a portrait of Cook himself; a second class stamp showing the Chief Mourner of Tahiti ; and two stamps worth £1.45 showing some of the botany discovered on the trip (flowers native to New Zealand and South America).

Answer: 500th anniversary

Leonardo da Vinci lived from 1452 to 1519, so 2019 marked the 500th anniversary of his death. His most famous works include paintings such as the 'Mona Lisa' and 'The Last Supper' as well as drawings and sketches like 'The Vitruvian Man' and the blueprints for an early form of helicopter.

However, the images displayed on the Royal Mail's collection of commemorative stamps are all of drawings from the Queen's Royal Collection that formed part of a UK-wide exhibition of da Vinci's work in early 2019.

These include anatomical sketches such as a detailed cross-section of a human skull, an image of three sleeping cats, and a drawing of the head of St. Philip.

Answer: Her 90th birthday

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was born on April 21, 1926, got married on November 20, 1947 and acceded to the throne on 6 February 1952. So the major milestone that she reached in 2016 was that of her 90th birthday (although all of the other options also merited commemorative stamp sets in other years). The special stamps produced to mark the occasion included photographs from different stages of her life and included one her as a four-year-old princess with her father King George VI; two images of her as a young wife and mother in the 1950s; and three further pictures of her on formal occasions in her 50s, 70s and 80s.

The set also came with a miniature sheet showing a photograph of the Queen with the next three generations of monarchs-in-waiting - her son Prince Charles, grandson Prince William and great-grandson Prince George.