It’s hard to believe that it’s been 30 years since the Spice Girls first got together, but here we are, with Royal Mail – the UK’s version of MaltaPost if you will – marking the girl band’s pearl anniversary with a new stamp collection.
The 10 main stamps can be split into two: five featuring the individual Spice Girls performing at one point or another in their careers, and another five showing the group as a whole. Then, there is another set of portraits dating to the time the girl band were working on their feature-length film, Spice World.
Apart from miniature sheets, first-day covers, envelopes, press sheets, presentation packs, and souvenir stamp sheets, Royal Mail has also issued a Prestige Stamp Book, a 24-carat-gold-laid set of the 10 main stamps, a platinum-laid set of the five portrait stamps, and framed collectors’ sheets of both sets.
While the Spice Girls were formed in 1994, following auditions held by Heart Management, their debut single ‘Wannabe’ was released in 1996. It went on to become a number-one hit single in 37 countries, and was followed by their first album, Spice, which sold more than 23 million copies world-wide, making it the biggest-selling album by a female group in history. Their follow-up album, Spiceworld, sold a further 14 million copies.
The girl band continued to dominate the cultural scene in the UK and beyond, releasing a feature film and having their episode of An Audience With… being watched by a fifth of the UK’s population at the time. Then, in 1998, Ginger Spice announced she would be leaving the band. This led to the eventual break up of the band, but they have made a number of returns since: in 2007, the first London date of their reunion tour sold out in 38 seconds and, in 2012, they closed the London Olympics opening ceremony.
