The Bank of England issued a new £20 note on 13 March 2007. The note features a portrait of Adam Smith, who is described as one of the fathers of modern economics. It is the same size and colour as the old-style £20 note that features Sir Edward Elgar.

Smilers is the common name for the Royal Mail scheme for issuing personalised sheets of stamps. The sheets are available with 10 or 20 first class stamps and each stamp is supported by a graphic or photograph.

The smiler sheets issued by the Royal Mail cover a whole range of commemorative issues. Recent popular sheets incorporated the theme of Harry Potter, designed to appeal to fans.

The area on which Royal Mail Mount Pleasant now stands was originally open fields on rising ground above the River Fleet. In the 18th century, a cold spring on the site was reputed to have great medicinal properties. This attracted many bathers and the site became known as ‘Cold Bath Fields’.

In the 1850’s, the post office realised it needed a quick way of transporting mail short distances between post offices, primarily in London. In 1853 the first ever so called “mail tube” went in to service. Although it was just over 200 metres long, it used the equivalent of a giant Vacuum cleaner to power the system and shoot the mail between depots. It was very successful. Over the next few years various forms of this system were built and tested, even to the point of carrying passengers!

On 9th October 1874, at the end of a conference held in Berne, Switzerland, the General Postal Union was founded, with 22 countries as members. Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Rumania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and The United States Of America.

Henry Archer was an Irish Born Writer and Classicist born in the 19th Century, who invented the first officially adopted machine for perforating postage stamps.

Archer left Ireland in 1829 and headed for London to work as an advisor for the General Post Office, and in 1847 he explained his concept to the Postmaster General, The Marques Of Clanricarde, and the following year the treasury authorised a trial of Archers plans. He was granted a provisional patent in England on November 23rd 1848.