Artistamps May 2011
Here are May 2011's artistamps.
Tuesday's (3rd) artistamp marked Constitution Memorial Day in Japan which has been a holiday since the current Japanese constitution came into effect on May 3 1947 and is the only day of the year that the National Diet Building, seen on the artistamp, is open to the public.
I was looking for an emerald to use for an artistamp as that is the birthstone for the month of May when I came across this rather striking emerald green snake and thought I would use that for yesterday instead. A proper emerald artistamp to follow soon and apologies to those not keen on snakes!
There was plenty to vote for on Thursday (5th) here in the U.K. and you could even vote to change the voting system although we didn't!
In the United Kingdom, the alternative vote referendum is a public vote on whether to change the system for electing the House of Commons, the lower house of the national Parliament at Westminster. At present members are elected under the "first-past-the-post" (plurality) system; the question in the UK referendum will be whether to replace this with the alternative vote (AV) electoral system.
Source: Wikipedia
Friday's(6th) artistamp marked the official introduction on this day back in 1840 when the world's first stamp, the famous Penny Black, was introduced and is also National Stamp Day, an event which has kind of slid of the calendar and definitely needs pushing back into the spotlight!
Following on from Friday 6th's artistamp, I read that the first stamp collection was started on 7th May(year unknown although had it been 1840 the collection would not have amounted to much!) but the facts to back it up are a bit sketchy. However, I thought it made a good topic and it has made me wonder when exactly the first known stamp collection was indeed started, anybody know?
And you thought the trains in the U.K were crowded...
Monday's(9th) artistamp marked the birth on this day back in 1860 of the Scottish author and dramatist, J.M. Barrie, most famously known as the creator of Peter Pan. The artistamp features the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens in London.
I was looking for a way to mark the first comic strip which according to the website I was reading stated that the first one was introduced in The U.S. on 9th May back in 1754. I couldn't find a way to verify this but while I was researching I came across The Yellow Kid and that seemed to be a more likely candidate for the first such strip so I have "artistamped" him for today. If you have any further information about the first comic strip then please do let me know.
Wednesday's artistamp features Spencer Perceval who was a British statesman and Prime Minister and is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated which happened back on this day in 1812.
Limerick Day (according to the calendar of Special Event Days) was 12th May so if you have any stamp/postal related limericks, either original or made-up, then please do send them in and I will feature them here. In the meantime one of yesterday's two artistamps features the most famous limerick creator, Edward Lear born on this day back in 1812 while the second "stamp" marks kite day so maybe somebody has a limerick about a kite....see under the stamp for the one I came up with.
There was a young man with a kite Who went to the Post Office at night He found a big packet Wrapped it up in his jacket It moved and he got a bit of a fright!
He opened it back at the house And found it contained a brown mouse Which jumped out of the packet And into his jacket Where it stayed with its children and spouse.
The young man then wrapped up his jacket With brown paper he made a big packet He tied it so tight To the end of the kite While the mice inside made a racket.
The kite flew high up in the sky While the young man waved it goodbye
The mice were annoyed But somehow they enjoyed The flight of the kite in the sky.
Plus some Royal Mail stamps and a Miniature Sheet from 1988 marking Edward Lear's death centenary featuring a self-portrait of Edward Lear as a bird on the 27p stamp.
If you managed to clamber out from under the duvet, get dressed, make a coffee and everything was still o.k. then hopefully things didn't get worse when it was Friday 13th.....you can take a deep breath now as it's over!
Possibly one of the strangest but most fun special days in the calendar, May 14th is allegedly Dance-like-a-chicken Day so here are two chickens doing just that followed by two little videos - brace yourself!
Sunday's (15th) artistamp marks Chocolate Chip Day and there's no better place to find these than in a Chocolate Chip Cookie, yum!
May 16th's artistamp features the coat of arms of Middlesex County Council as it was Middlesex day.
In 2003, an early day motion with two signatures noted that 16 May is the anniversary of the Battle of Albuera and in recent years has been celebrated as Middlesex Day, commemorating the valiant efforts of the Middlesex Regiment (the "Die-hards") in that battle. The idea is to recognise and celebrate the historic county.
Source : Wikipedia.
Tuesday's(17th) artistamp shows Maureen O' Sullivan, born on this day back in 1911, an Irish actress and considered to be Ireland's first film star. She was chosen by American film producer Irving Thalberg to appear as Jane Parker in Tarzan the Ape Man opposite co-star Johnny Weissmuller, with whom she had a brief affair during the early 1930s.
Wednesday's(18th) artistamp marked International Museum Day and so what better museum to feature than The British Museum!
Thursday's(19th) artistamp shows an emerald, May's birthstone following on from when I was originally(May 4th) going to show one but got rather taken by that emerald green treesnake instead!
Almost forgot Taurus so I have just caught it here on the last day(20th) of his/her time in this year's Zodiac calendar! Over to Gemini tomorrow.
