Some TT greats of yesteryear, both man and machine, are to feature in a set of 12 ground-breaking stamps, commissioned by Isle of Man Post Office.
The Great British Motorcycles set celebrates innovation in a new Isle of Man Post Office collection, incorporating both artwork and classic archive images.
Among those featured are some of the greats: Harold Daniell, who raced the Manx Norton Single and was a three-time TT winner both before and after World War One, and Freddie Dixon, known as 'Flying Freddie' after his victories in the 1920s on both solo machine and sidecar.
The ground-breaking engines in the issue include the iconic Norton 'Manx' from the early 1960s, the four-cylinder, supercharged, air-cooled V-four AJS and the Excelsior Manxman, a machine at the forefront of road racing in the 1930s.
Maxine Cannon, General Manager of Isle of Man Stamps & Coins, said, "This is a celebration of some of the biggest manufacturers, many of whose machines and riders went onto become household names at the Isle of Man TT. That is recognised as the sternest test for machine and rider alike. We expect this to be a popular collection with motorcycling fans of all ages."
Each of the First Class stamps feature an image, from the Mortons archive, of the motorcycle in action or a painting of a classic engine, as created by motorcycle enthusiast Graham Crowley.
Graham Crowley, previously a Professor of Paintings at the prestigious Royal College of Arts (1998-2006) who is the artist behind the paintings, added, "I'm thrilled to have had the opportunity to work with the Isle of Man Post Office to help celebrate innovation in some truly great British motorcycles. As a fan of road-racing I've visited the Island more than 40 times since the late 1960s for the TT, Manx Grand Prix and Southern 100 and so it's important to be able to bring to life some astonishing skills and talents which went into developing such iconic machines and, ultimately, led to the racing feats of TT heroes."
The stamp collection which issue date is 17th May 2018, includes mint and CTO sets of stamps, first day cover, Set Mint and Set CTO, are all available online.