QUIZ: How's your local history?

A day such as yesterday would have delighted Simon when he was a lad. Why? I’ll let him explain.

‘Not all summer days were sunny and warm, so on wet and grey days I would often arrange my stamp album.

‘This activity was assisted by a copy of the Stanley Gibbons catalogue borrowed from the local library. I loved learning the names of the colours used on the different definitive stamps.

‘Here I have selected a range of postage stamps mainly from Great Britain with a local connection.

‘I have created a little quiz around them to make them more interesting.

The questions refer to the stamps running down each column starting with Henry VIII. You’ll find the answers at the bottom.’

1 This stamp was issued in 1982 to celebrate the raising of the Mary Rose. Who was Mary Rose?

2 This stamp is from St Vincent and celebrates the 175th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. What were his parents’ names?

3 What is Peter Sellers’s connection with Southsea?

4 In which Portsea street was Isambard Kingdom Brunel born in 1806?

5 HMS Victory is shown here on two British postage stamps. In which year was the 2s 6d stamp issued – her first depiction on a British postage stamp?

6 Gypsy Moth IV was built at Gosport. Who sailed it 50 years ago this year to much acclaim?

7 This stamp shows the 1988 Pompey line-up and is on a stamp from St Vincent in the Caribbean. In which year was the club founded?

8 What link does this 1976 Christmas stamp have with Brockhampton at Havant?

9 This shows reflections in the water of Portsmouth Harbour. Who dug out the harbour and created Whale Island?

10 Can you identify other postage stamps relating to our area? The 65p centenary of Royal Navy submarines in 2001 depicted the Holland 1 in 1901 which is now at Gosport.

And Simon adds: ‘I’m amazed HMS Warrior has not been commemorated as a postage stamp.’