How glorious is this stamp?! The colours are fantastic; it looks almost like a collage in its construction and the expression on Shaw’s face is gorgeous. It should also be noted that this is a very tall, skinny stamp. I wondered if this was due to Shaw’s height. The Internet of True Facts informs me that he was 1.88m or 6 ft 2ins (roughly), so tall, but not overly so…
Shaw was a prolific playwright, critic, journalist, activist and man-about-various-towns. Born in Dublin in 1856 (it’s his birthday this weekend), he became a major player on the London literary scene. His plays tend towards comedy with a heavy helping of social and political commentary. Perhaps his best known work is Pygmalion (which formed the basis for several movie adaptations and the musical My Fair Lady); but it was his Saint Joan (1923) which secured him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925. He was a commentator on many of the events that shaped 20th century Europe and continued writing into his 90s. He died in 1950 at the age of 94.
Stamp of the Day 