The hottest place in the world
We think we’ve had it hot in the last few months – and historically we have, with records tumbling. But our heat is nothing compared to that of the subject of this stamp, Death Valley in California.
The stamp is part of a series issued by the US Postal Service in 2018, called ‘O Beautiful’, showing wilderness landscapes in, whose lyrics were written by English professor Katharine Lee Bates after a train ride across the US in 1893. It has been set to music by many people, though the best-known version was written beforehand, for other words, and later repurposed (Bates and the composer never met). The result has been suggested as an alternative national anthem for the country – the author of the official one, , had owned slaves.
