We three Queens

The weather today is unutterably bad. It hasn't stopped raining all day, the wind has howled continuously and darkness has prevailed, the lamplighter having forgotten to turn on the lights.

Despite it all we ventured down to the village hall for carol singing and are safely returned replete with mulled wine and mince pies. The last carol sung was We Three Kings which put me in mind of blipping three queens.

When I was a school boy I was a keen collector of British stamps and I still remember the utter thrill of acquiring my first penny black, penny red and two penny blue. Here they are!

The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp for use in a public postal system. It was issued in Britain on May 1 1840, for official use from May 6. The stamps weren't perforated but instead had to be cut or turn from a large sheet.

The Penny Black was in use for only a little over a year. It was found that the red cancellation mark was hard to see on a black background and the red ink was easy to remove, making it possible to re-use stamps after they had been cancelled. In 1841, the Treasury switched to the Penny Red and issued cancellation devices with black ink, much more effective as a cancellation and harder to remove.

The Two Penny Blue was the world's second official postage stamp, issued after the Penny Black. It was issued in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and was first sold to the public at the London Inland revenue office on the 6th May 1840. Except for its denomination, the design is exactly the same as the 1d black and was struck from the same die.