Postcodes have reached their Third Age – they are now officially 50 years old.

After a successsful trial run in Norwich in 1959, the whole of the UK was divided into postal districts some 100 years after Sir Rowland Hill first introduced postal districts to London in 1857.

Hill, the inventor of the postage stamp and creator of the modern postal service, was knighted in 1860 for his services which included not only creating the postal system now used the world over, but also education reform and shaping the way our modern railway system works.