In 2023 Great Britain’s Royal Mail issued various philatelic items to commemorate the remarkable 70-year career of the Welsh-born singer Dame Shirley Bassey. Shown above is the cover of a Royal Mail Prestige Stamp Book, an informative 24-page publication written by British music journalist and broadcaster Lucy O’Brien. The book tells the story of Dame Shirley Bassey’s journey from humble beginnings to global superstar. It’s packed with photography, quotes and stories. The Prestige Stamp Book includes three pages incorporating the eight main stamps and the Miniature Sheet stamps in the issue. A fourth stamp pane is unique to the stamp issue and is the very first Prestige Stamp Book pane to include definitive stamps with the portrait of King Charles III.
Here we have a miniature sheet that incorporates two First Class and two £2.00 stamps with a beautiful selection of informal photographs taken of Dame Shirley Bassey during recording and rehearsal sessions throughout her career. The 1978 First Class stamp pictures Shirley Bassey rehearsing before a concert at the Royal Albert Hall to celebrate her 25 years in showbusiness; that from 1962 was taken from a rehearsal for a performance at London’s Talk of the Town theatre; the 1961 £2.00 shows Bassey in a recording studio; and the 2009 £2.00 is from a photograph taken at Grouse Lodge Studios, Ireland.
