XANTHE'S
STAMP MAGAZINE

I was looking at Norwegian stamps this morning because of the death of King Harald V, and I discovered their latest stamp. It was issued on 11th June and shows the Norwegian national football team. If you're not a football fan, you might have missed Norway's great run in the World Cup. They beat Iraq, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Brazil before losing to England in the quarter-finals. This was the best ever performance by a Norwegian team at the World Cup so understandably people

A new issue from Canada is this one featuring wolves. Wolves are quite common in Canada. There are between 50,000 and 60,000 of them and they mainly live in the vast wilderness, forests and tundra of northern and western Canada (such as Yukon, the Northwest Territories, British Columbia and Alberta). The Canada Post website tells us more about these stamps and the animals pictured: "This issue... features four wolves found in different regions of the country: the grey wolf,

Norway's King, Harold V, died earlier today. Apart from being a king, he was a remarkable man. He represented Norway in three Olympic games (in sailing). As a former athlete he opened the 1994 Winter Olympics. He was an environmentalist and chair of WWF Norway for many years. He was definitely not a traditionalist and didn't have much time for conventions. His new approaches helped reshape the monarchy. So did his personal life. He fell in love with a commoner, Sonja Haralds