Magical Stamp Of Approval

Britain's Royal Mail this week issued a series of stamps featuring a range of magical characters drawn from Arthurian legend and the work of three outstanding authors. The new set comprises eight stamps which show two creations from the imagination of each of J.K. Rowling, Terry Pratchett and C.S. Lewis, together with Merlin and Morgan le Fay from the Camelot sagas. Produced under the collective title of 'Magical Realms', the Round Table characters rub shoulders with others from the Harry Potter, Discworld and Narnia universes*. With the world of stamp production and collecting generating as much obsession and consequent trivia as any known human activity over the last hundred and seventy years, we at Highly Questionable are delighted to take stamps as the inspiration for today's quiz.
 Stamps Quiz 
 1  What one word term is given to those who study or collect stamps?

 2  Which actor appears on the 1st class British stamp pictured above, on which he is depicted as the character Lord Voldemort who he played in the Harry Potter films.
 3  What is the name of the first stamp to be issued anywhere in the world?
 4  A stamp from which country is the most expensive in the world having fetched £1,429,000 at auction in 1996?
 5  Which country has issued a stamp in the shape of a banana?
Answers to our stamps themed quiz will be published along with tomorrow's five question poser and associated Highly Questionable blog post.

 James Bond Quiz Answers 

The answers to yesterday's James Bond themed quiz are:-

 1  Ian Fleming was the author who created the Bond character.

 2  Roger Moore, who played Bond in seven films, is the actor who has depicted the character most often.** 

 3  Shaken not stirred are the three words with which Bond famously describes how he likes his drinks. 

 4  Paul McCartney wrote and performed the theme song for the Bond film 'Live And Let Die'.

 5  Jane is the forename of the Moneypenny character who is the ubiquitous secretary to M in the Bond series. 

* The eight featured characters in the British Royal Mail's 'Magical Realms' issue are Dumbledore & Voldemort from the Harry Potter books, Rincewind & Nanny Ogg from the Discworld series, Aslan & the White Witch out of the Narnia Chronicles together with the Arthurian characters of Merlin and Morgan Le Fay.   

**  Note that Sean Connery is often said to have tied Moore in this regard,  but he portrayed 007 in six 'official' Bond movies, his seventh outing as the spy in the 1983 film 'Never Say Never Again' being discounted by Bond purists because (a) it was made by Warner Brothers rather that EON Productions who made what are seen as the 'official' films, and, (b) it was a remake of the 1965 film 'Thunderball' in which Connery himself had played Bond. 

The author of the Highly Questionable? quiz and trivia blog, Harry Reid, is a freelance question setter, writer and blogger. He can be contacted at harryreid@btinternet.com.