Sheffield Steel Takes a Licking

Sheffield's most famous export will be gracing the corner of envelopes. Stainless Steel's been picked as an example of "Inventive Britain" in the Royal Mail's latest special stamp set. Other stamps in the series are: Colossus computer, World Wide Web, Catseyes, Fibre Optics, Carbon Fibre, DNA Sequencing and the i-limb.

Andrew Hammond, Royal Mail Director of Stamps and Collectibles, said, "Great Britain has a long and proud history of developing world-changing innovations. From the splitting of the atom to the discovery of penicillin to the invention of the jet engine, Britain’s creative and resourceful spirit has not been restricted to any particular field, crossing the breadth of science and technology, engineering and medicine. "The eight inventions featured on the stamps comprise only a handful of the transformative great British inventions from the century."

Royal Mail vans in Sheffield will also feature the stamp.