Sir William Stephenson Postage Stamp

Citation:

Sir William Stephenson was a bit of an enigma.

The Winnipeg native is perhaps best known for the faceless British counter-espionage role he played during the Second World War, earning him the "Man Called Intrepid: moniker several years later.

Before becoming a seldom-photographed super spy for the Allied forces, however, Stephenson developed a technique that helped open the world of communications.

In 1922, he invented a radio facsimile method that enabled London's Daily Mail to transmit the first publishable press photograph without using telephone or telegraph wires.

At the time, Stephenson, who was later made a Companion of the Order of Canada, predicted that within "a few years", everyone could have "moving pictures in their own homes radiated from a central point." It was simply a matter of speeding up the wirephoto process.

The advent of television and the fact that newspapers around the world forever changed because of his wirephoto creation proved him right on both counts.

Issued by Canada Post within its 2000 Millenium Collection

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