You probably thought they'd gone already, as they were withdrawn from the UK in 1982 and the US in 2006. They lived on in our culture in wedding speeches and in the titles of leading newspapers but in other countries they continued to play an important role until Sunday when the last one was sent.
Article links.
In other new the Royal Mail is trying to do this and this. The letter's days are numbered.
Daily Telegraph might want to reconsider their name.