Philately - What it teaches and How I enjoyed collecting in the mid 20th Century

Here is a first day cover, from 1960, sent to me by a fellow young stamp collector when I was thirteen years old. His name is Isato Yoshimura who then lived in Kumamoto City - Japan. Would be interesting if I  found his name in a search here! I learned that this was the 100 year commemorative of the Kanrin Maru's sailing from Japan to San Francisco Bay in the US. Here is the Wiki summary : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_warship_Kanrin_Maru

Here are coronation issues for the colonies around the Straits of Malacca. 1937 George VI with Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon, his wife, known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
In 1936, her husband unexpectedly became King when her brother-in-law, Edward VIII, abdicated in order to marry the American divorcée Wallis Simpson. As Queen consort, Elizabeth accompanied her husband on diplomatic tours to France and the United States in the run-up to World War II. During the war, her seemingly indomitable spirit provided moral support to the British public. In recognition of her role as a propaganda tool, Adolf Hitler described her as "the most dangerous woman in Europe" Going to see The Kings Speech, a new movie about King George VI soon today, Thinking about King George VI, Queen Elizabeth II's father and how I collected stamps with their portraits on them. The Britiish Commonweath was a big deal when I was a little boy, and then many countries became independent in the 60's. I remember mounting the stamps as a boy and looking up where they were on a world map. Here are the stamps of Straits Settlements, then the states of Malaya that began a federation. I hope to learn more of the history as I travel to Asia in 2011!

Here are stamps in 1957 building up to independence. I like the 30 cent one with the neat map showing the states. Always liked maps. a real cartophile :-)