Roald Dahl stamps honour writer's most popular characters

A series of stamps celebrating Roald Dahl's classic children's books have been released by the Royal Mail.

They include illustrations of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Fantastic Mr Fox.

The Cardiff-born author's other books featured on stamps are James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, The Twits, The Witches and the BFG.

Ophelia Dahl said her father, who died in 1990, would have been "thrilled" by the tribute.

Each stamp features illustrations by Quentin Blake, whose drawings are synonymous with the children's classics.

The 30th anniversary of The BFG, or Big Friendly Giant, one of Dahl's most popular characters, is marked by a sheet of four stamps all of which feature scenes from the book.

His daughter said: "My dad wrote thousands of letters home throughout his life and never dreamed that one day one of his own characters would grace a stamp.

"He'd be thrilled. This is an excellent way for us to kick off a year of celebrations to mark 30 years in print for The BFG and it's great that the stamps include a collector's set, devoted to The BFG and other characters from this book."

Dahl was born and grew up in Llandaff, Cardiff, and spent his later years in Buckinghamshire.