From Dr Hannes W. Kleineke
Sir, The Royal Mail's - or is it Professor Black's - view of the past 1,000 years of British history, as represented on the recently launched millennium stamps (report, November 13), is oddly out of balance. It is striking that only six out of 48 stamps celebrate individuals, events or achievements dating from the first 500 years of the present millennium, while more than twice as many represent the 20th century.
Even the choice of themes representing the medieval period is strange: one of the few individuals honoured is Robert the Bruce, but he appears under the heading of "Soldiers' tale". While Robert's military achievements are not to be denigrated, he seems a peculiar choice to stand for the whole of medieval warfare, if that is the intention. Might I tentatively suggest that he is being included as a token gesture to Scottish national sentiment?
While Dr Who and Bobby Moore are characters familiar to the present generation, their cultural significance compared with some of the great works of medieval art which could have been celebrated (Chaucer, or manuscript illumination, to name just two possibilities) is surely limited.
Do the last 98 years really sum up and subsume most of the preceding 900?
Yours faithfully,
HANNES KLEINEKE,
17F Cherry Orchard,
Staines, Middlesex TW18 2DE.
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