BEN AISLIE



Sir Charles Benedict Ainslie, CBE (born 5 February 1977), best known as Ben Ainslie, is an English competitive sailor. The most successful sailor in Olympic history, Ainslie won medals at five consecutive Olympics from 1996-2012, including gold at the last four.

Ben Ainslie was born in Macclesfield, England to Roderick and Sue Ainslie. Roderick captained a boat that took part in the first Whitbread Round The World Race in 1973.

He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours following the Beijing Games.

SPECIAL ISSUE

Royal Mail issued stamps to commemorate the great event and to immortalise great heroes. Next day stamps were issued for each gold medal winning event.
 
The self-adhesive miniature sheet was designed by True North and Royal Mail.  The template (base sheets) were printed under the control of Walsall Security Print, but the digital overprint was applied overnight by 6 regional printers. Under the Control may mean that Walsall and Cartor will both be printing the base sheet, or that either company will print the entire stock.
 
The six regional printers were:

1. Aquatint bsc, Wimbledon, London
2. Acorn Press, Swindon, Wiltshire
3. Breckland Print (Colchester Print Group)
4. Crescent Press, Solihull, West Midlands
5. Allander Print, Edinburgh
6. B&D Print Services Limited, Leyland, Lancashire

 
Each of the printers chosen had to undergo an 18-month-long selection process in order to participate in Royal Mail’s ambitious Olympic plans to produce stamps within 24 hours of each gold medal win.
 
PRINTING PROCESS
 
The process began for each stamp began with photography agency, Getty Images, sending a selection of action shots to Royal Mail’s internal design team. Within minutes the designers had to choose and crop each image, and position them into a template before gaining approval from LOGOC. Once approved, a digital file of the artwork was sent to the six printers located across the country. The printers then overprinted the stamp images on to pre-printed base sheets supplied by Walsall Security Printers.
 
Once printed, a fleet of almost 100 Royal Mail Sameday vehicles delivered the stamps to more than 500 post offices, along with additional assistance from A to Z Couriers.
 
The printing stamps were printed in lithography, with a digital overprint of the winner's image and winner and event details.  The phosphor was placed on the stamp avoiding the image area and the lower-right corner where the winners' details were digitally overprinted.
 
WITHDRAWAL
 
Due to strict Olympic licensing laws, Royal Mail has to withdraw all of its London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games stamps and products on 31 December 2012.
 
On its capacity as the postal operator of the host nation, Royal Mail was entitled to take advantage of Olympic licensing opportunities for a four-year period, starting from 1 January 2009. London’s licensing period runs out on 31 December 2012, at which point it transfers to the next host city, Rio in Brazil, on the 1 January 2013. Therefore, all Royal Mail London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games stamps and products will come off sale at the end of December 2012. This includes the first 10 stamps issued on 22 October 2009 and everything up to and including Memories of London 2012 issued on 27 September 2012.
 
COLLECTION



This is a set of self-adhesive Miniature Sheet, consisting 6 stamps.
 
Each stamp is for 1st Class mail and the value is 60p and each single one dimension is 47 x 29 (mm).
 
1st Class within UK for letter rate up to 100g, with size restrictions:  

GMW15

3356

Ben Ainslie - Sailing Finn Men's Heavyweight Dinghy - Weymouth & Portland

5

6

 
All the dates mentioned in WON and ISSUED columns correspond to date in August 2012.