Royal Mail celebrates 50th anniversary of special stamps with online gallery
Royal Mail has created an online gallery to showcase every special stamp that has been issued over the past 50 years.
The programme was introduced by postmaster general Tony Benn in July 1965 and has seen a total of 2663 commemorative stamps created.
The first stamp featured an image of Sir Winston Churchill and since then The Beatles, the Duke of Edinburgh, William Shakespeare and Olympic and Paralympic gold medal winners have all been honoured.
Technological innovations, buildings, cities and events in pop-culture have also been celebrated with special issue stamps.
The dedicated rmspecialstamps.com website allows visitors to browse through the stamps by decade and year.