IT is a rarely broken convention that no living people other than members of the Royal family can have their faces on stamps in Britain.

But this week, expert Peter Jennings suggested celebrities such as Posh Spice Victoria Beckham and her footballer husband David should be used to brighten up the post.

And now the painted faces of four child models, aged four and five, are to be depicted on the Hopes For The Future stamps to be issued on January 16.

Talk of such conventions caused a wry smile to appear on the face of one North-East man, whose own son was looking back at him when a parcel arrived from Canada recently.

John Walker picked up the package, which had been posted by a friend, to see son Peter looking back at him on the stamp.

On the two stamps, he also saw his friends and other familiar scenes in pictures taken during a kiting trip to Edinburgh, a year ago.

In Canada, it is possible to have legal postage stamps made up with any picture you want - which is what a friend had done for him.

He said: "He took the pictures and he sent them back on a stamp. You can buy a stamp in Canada and you can put your own picture in, or the post office will do it for you.

"I like the idea that you can put any picture you like on the stamps," he said, arguing the Royal Mail should take a leaf out of Canada's book.

Mr Jennings, a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London, argued the rule had already been flouted when Roger Taylor, drummer from the rock band Queen, was pictured on a stamp in June 1999 with the late singer Freddie Mercury.

But the Royal Mail said the key words in the ruling mean that any living non-Royal should not be "overtly featured".

A spokesman said: "You would need a magnifying glass to see Roger Taylor on those stamps."

He said other people to feature on special edition stamps in the past had not been identifiable, as was the case with the young models in the latest set.

"It's a noble idea to want to include celebrities on stamps, but stamps are a record of what we have achieved as a nation," he said.

For any non-Royal to feature, they would need to have made a huge impact on British life, he added