Hasta La Ideas

As holders, England went in to the 1970 World Cup with a degree of confidence. Such optimism was matched by the Royal Mail which decided to commission a stamp to commemorate the team’s imminent victory…

The design for the never-used stamp, by prolific stamp designer David Gentleman (see his work here), has recently been uncovered by the British Postal Museum & Archive.

© Royal Mail Group Ltd 2010, courtesy of The British Postal Museum & Archive

Apparently, Gentleman was briefed to prepare the 1970 designs after the more hasty production of the celebratory stamp for the World Cup four years previously. For the 66 stamp, there was only time to modify Gentleman’s existing stamp commemorating the tournament as a whole with the words ‘ENGLAND WINNERS’ to celebrate the triumph.

© Royal Mail Group Ltd 2010, courtesy of The British Postal Museum & Archive

The unused 1970 designs were discovered by archivists at the British Postal Museum & Archive during, conveniently enough, its London 2010: Festival of Stamps (see here).

You can find more about the BPMA here.

It is not known whether the Royal Mail has made similar plans for this year’s tournament.