The stamps show 1st England - 42p Italy - 44p Argentina
50p Germany - 64p France - 72p Brazil
The Football World Cup of 2006 will take place in Germany from 9 June to 9 July.
2006 marks the 40th anniversary of England beating Germany in the 1966 World Cup Final, and each of the 6 stamps issued by Royal Mail features one of the six national teams that have won the Cup since 1966.
The sheet is captioned "England's Finest Hour... Wembley Stadium London, 30 July 1966". Each of the labels is different, and charts the day from 1pm when the gates were opened to let in 93,000 fans, through to 5.30pm when the England team saluted the crowd and paraded the cup which had been presented to England captain, the late Bobby Moore, by Her Majesty the Queen. The centre stamp on the 4th column includes the legendary words of commentator Kenneth Wolstenhome, "Some people are on the pitch. They think it's all over .... it is now.", uttered as Geoff Hurst scored the final goal.
This Smilers sheet was to have been issued at the same time as the miniature sheet to commemorate the opening of the new Wembley Stadium. The postponement of both the opening of the new Wembley Stadium, and of the miniature sheet to commemorate that event meant a change of plans for Royal Mail.
Technical details:
The stamps were designed by Madeleine Bennett using photography from the
Getty Images agency. 35mm square, they are printed in litho by Walsall
Security Printers, perf 14.5, with PVA gum. All images
except FDCs are from Royal Mail's Philatelic Bulletin and Postmark
Bulletin, and are Copyright 2005 by Royal Mail.
We have produced exclusive FDCs for this issue as usual. As the Smilers sheet has 20 different labels this is offered as single stamps and sets of 4 covers.
FDC with a full set of World Cup Winners stamps are available with
postmarks L10070 and L10071 - price £8.95 each.
NB: the cover caption reads 1966-2002 because the Winners are shown
for those years.
Pictures of Norvic FDCs are actual postmarked covers.
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Set of 6 mint or very fine used |
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Postmarks available for the day of issue are shown below. These may
not be to scale.
These cannot be obtained after 6 June and must be ordered from us by 1
June.
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| Ref FD621 Philatelic Bureau Official Postmark |
Ref FD622 Balls Park, Hertford, Official Postmark |
Ref FD622NP Balls Park, Hertford, Official non-pictorial postmark |
Ref L10069 40th Anniversary of World Cup Winners, Wembley Middlesex |
Ref L10071 England Winners, Wembley, Middlesex |
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| Ref L10064 40th Anniversary England World Cup Winners, Englands Lane, London NW3 |
Ref L10065 Bobby Moore OBE, West Ham, London E13 "My Captain, My Leader, My Right Hand Man" |
Ref L10067 Wembley Middlesex |
Ref M10074 World Cup Winners, Hurst Street, Birmignham |
Ref L10070 They think it's all over - It is now!, England 4 West Germany 2, Wembley |
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| Ref M10076 The Referees' Association, Coundon, Coventry |
Ref N10078 England The World at their Feet, The Ball, Widnes (Addidas-style boots) |
Ref L10073 World Cup Winners, Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes |
Ref L10072 Football Heroes, Wembley, Middlesex (Nike-style boots) |
Ref L10066 World Cup Winners, Wembley |
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| Ref L10084 World Cup Winners, Wembley, Middx |
Ref L10081 A Glorious Past, Wembley, Middlesex changeable datestamp |
Ref L10068 Football Lane, Harrow, Middlesex |
Ref M10108 Football Tavern, Derby Late announcement: please order by 23 June |
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This page updated 21 June 2006
As all postmarks have been added, and we now show actual Norvic FDCs, this page should not be updated again. To order, please follow the link above the FDCs. For any other questions please email us.
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| January 10 Animal Tales Joint issue with USA Paddington Bear Smilers |
February 7 British Journey - England 23 Bicentenary of Isambard Kingdom Brunel |
March 1 Welsh Assembly MS 7 Fun Fruit 'n' Veg Smilers 21 Ice Age Animals 28 New definitives and country stamps |
April 18 80th Birthday of HM The Queen |
May 25 Smilers Sheet for Washington 2006 Stamp Expo |
June 6 World Cup (Soccer) & Smilers Sheet 20 Modern Architecture |
| July 4 Generic Smilers Sheet - pictorial definitives 18 150th ann National Portrait Gallery |
August 1 & 15 New PIP definitives for new postage rate structure 31 Miniature sheet: Year of the Three Kings 1936 |
September 12 New PIP definitives 21 Victoria Cross |
October 3 Sounds of Britain (Europa) 17 Smilers Booklet and Generic sheet |
November 7 Christmas 9 Lest We Forget 14 Belgica 2006 Smilers Sheet 30 St Andrew's Day |
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