Gef’s Daily Roundup

Stampy Stamp Stamp

Isle of Man Post Office has issued a set of four stamps, designed by artist and illustrator Stanley Chow too celebrate the Chinese New Year 2023.

Chinese New Year is on January 22 and will be represented by the rabbit.

IOMPO has worked alongside artist Stanley Chow, who was born in Manchester to parents who emigrated from Hong Kong. He is a well-established artist and illustrator who has worked with a list of internationally recognised brands such as Manchester United, McDonald’s, Lego and Ed Sheeran and is a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine and has produced artwork for The New York Times Magazine.

Stanley said: ‘I’m so pleased to have ‘illustrating a set of stamps’ ticked off on my bucket list. It has always been something I’d wanted to do ever since I started illustrating. Doing this set was extra special as it celebrates my heritage… My parents would have been so proud!’

Isle of Man stamps and coins GM, Maxine Cannon added: ‘We are delighted with the designs Stanley has created for our stamps. His unique style perfectly reflects the characteristics that the rabbit signifies: forgiveness, grace and beauty.’

Boakesey

Manx writer Boakesey Boakes put in a solid performance on Mastermind on Monday evening, coming third in the BBC2 quiz with her specialist topic of the Richard Sharpe Novels of Bernard Cornwell.

Those novels were, of course, brought to TV by a certain Sean Bean.

Boakesey picked up eight points in her specialist round, with no passes and seven in the general knowledge round to finish with a steady 15 points.

Love to see a Manxy on TV and NGL we found her section of general knowledge questions a tad tricky.

Man Writes Book

The Duke, formerly known as Prince, of Sussex’s book went on sale today, or you could just go on Twitter, all the best bits are there anyway.

Rocket Failure

Shares in Virgin Orbit, the company behind the failed first UK space launch have fallen by more than a quarter at the market open in the US, greater than the 20% drop seen in pre-market trading. The eagerly anticipated mission, which planned to place nine satellites in orbit via the company’s LauncherOne rocket, was scuppered on Monday night when a secondary engine failed to fire properly.