Comedians honoured by Royal Mail

A set of stamps have today been released featuring a series of famous comedy faces from the 1950s to the present day.

The comedians and groups celebrated are: Norman Wisdom, Morecambe and Wise, The Two Ronnies, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, Spike Milligan, the Monty Python team, French and Saunders, Lenny Henry, Billy Connolly, Victoria Wood.

Royal Mail chose to focus performers who emerged from the tradition of stand-up and sketch, rather than comic actors, and to release them on April Fool's Day.

ndrew Hammond, the company's head of stamps and collectibles, said: 'For decades, the UK has long boasted some of the most influential and significant comedy talent in the world. This set of stamps rightly pays tribute to the comedians who have made the nation laugh out loud at their ground-breaking comedy genius.'

Royal Mail vans based in locations with strong links to the comedians will feature an image of the relevant stamp.

The stamps are on sale now at post offices and at royalmail.com, including as first-day cover sets with a special postmark.

Published: 1 Apr 2015