Queen on British postage stamps

Britain’s Royal Mail unveiled a series of stamps featuring British rock band Queen’s Brian May, Roger Taylor, Freddie Mercury and John Deacon. Mercury died at age 45 in 1991.

“With their truly original, theatrical sound and effortless ability to mix musical styles, Queen are rock royalty. We pay tribute to one of the most loved bands of all time with these stunning stamps,” Royal Mail’s Philip Parker said in a statement.

The 13-stamp set features eight of Queen’s album covers, including Queen II and News of the World, a classic photo of the band and four shots from live shows. The Royal Mail previously honoured the Beatles in 2007 and Pink Floyd in 2016.

Disney to re-theme Splash Mountain

Disney has announced that the Splash Mountain ride will be ‘completely reimagined,’ following an online petition highlighting the ride’s original connection to a film featuring offensive portrayals of African Americans.

The company said the rides at both its East and West Coast parks — which currently feature characters from the 1946 film Song of the South — will be transitioned to a new theme inspired by the 2009 animated film, The Princess and the Frog.

Halsey to release poetry book in November

The 25-year-old singer-songwriter Halsey announced I Would Leave Me If I Could, a collection of autobiographical poems to be released in November.

“I wrote a few thousand sentences but am somehow struggling to string together a single one to summarise how excited I am about this,” she wrote on Instagram.

Simon & Schuster is publishing the book, slated for release November 10.

“These autobiographical poems explore and dismantle conventional notions of what it means to be a feminist in search of power,” Simon & Schuster said.

The I Would Leave Me If I Could cover features ‘American Woman,’ an original piece of artwork by Halsey.

Published in Dawn, Young World, July 11th, 2020