Britain is the only country whose stamps carry no country name.
It goes back to the world's first stamp, the 1840 Penny Black: there were no others, so no need to say where it was from. The monarch's head does the job.
More amazing facts
- 1839 · 1842 The word 'dinosaur' is younger than photography: the daguerreotype was unveiled in 1839, while Richard Owen coined the 'terrible lizard' only in 1842.
- 1839 · 1860 Tyre rubber was invented by dropping some on a stove.
- 1840 Before the railways, Bristol kept its own time, ten minutes behind London.
- 1840 Before stamps, the recipient paid for a letter, so people cheated.
- 1840 A bell in Oxford has been ringing since 1840, and nobody dares find out what powers it. Its dry piles have driven some 10 billion rings, and opening them would end one of the longest-running experiments ever.
- 1841 · 1848 Russia's fort in California was bought by John Sutter — the man whose sawmill started the Gold Rush.