For broadcast on CBS Radio Network stations 
January 8-9, 2000:


Learning history painlessly.


The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.


It's amazing some of the stuff you pick up when you're 
collecting stamps. When the U-S issued its Big Bandleaders 
stamps a few years ago, I discovered that Glenn Miller, 
Jimmy Dorsey and Benny Goodman were roommates in 1930, while 
they played in a couple of Gershwin shows.


Writing in LINN'S STAMP NEWS recently, Alison Cusick reveals 
that the story about Betsy Ross sewing our first American 
flag after a visit from George Washington is a myth, created 
by her grandson more than a century later.


Not all stamps feature history, or legends, of course. Some 
show flowers or birds or buildings. Even so, working with 
your collection, you can't help but pick up a few factoids: 
Which African colonies were ruled by France -- because the 
stamps are in French -- or that this is the Year of the Dragon 
AND the International Year of Thanksgiving.


The great humanitarian Albert Schweitzer was born 125 years 
ago this week. How did I know? Germany is issuing a stamp.


And that's stamp collecting this week. 

I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News.

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