‘Uncle’ Joe Mercer, football player and manager, is one of 10 remarkable individuals being celebrated on a stamp – in the centenary of their births – in Royal Mail’s Remarkable Lives stamp issue.
The set, available this week, commemorates individuals who have all made a major contribution to British society.
They include Joe Mercer, who played club football with Everton and Arsenal and also won five full caps for England.
Mercer’s management career included spells at Aston Villa and Manchester City. He was also interim manager of England for a brief period in 1974.
Voted Footballer of the Year in 1950, he was made an OBE in 1976.
Launching the stamps in the Port Arcades Shopping Centre on Mercer Way in Joe Mercer’s home town, Ellesmere Port, was local MP Andrew Miller.
Mr Miller said: “The Joe Mercer stamp is a fitting tribute to a local son of Ellesmere Port who made his mark both on and off the football field. He is certainly worthy of Royal Mail’s tribute to Remarkable Lives .”
Other well-known names featured within the set include film actor Sir Alec Guinness, Welsh poet and writer Dylan Thomas and Noorunissa Inayat Khan, British special operations executive in Nazi-occupied France during the Second World War.
Andrew Hammond, Royal Mail director of stamps and collectibles, said: “The Remarkable Lives stamp issue creates a great sense of history, and captures both the achievement and endeavour of these exceptional people."
