title: Punjabis

text: Traditionally, the Punjabi identity is primarily linguistic, geographical and cultural. Its identity is independent of historical origin or religion and refers to those who reside in the Punjab region or associate with its population and those who consider the Punjabi language their mother tongue. Integration and assimilation are important parts of Punjabi culture, since Punjabi identity is not based solely on tribal connections. While Punjabis share a common territory, ethnicity and language, they are likely to be followers of one of several religions, most often Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism or Christianity.


title: Punjabis

text: The term "Punjab" came into currency during the reign of Akbar in the late sixteenth century. Though the name Punjab is of Persian origin, its two parts ( and ) are cognates of the Sanskrit words, and , of the same meaning. The word "pañjāb" thus means 'The Land of Five Waters', referring to the rivers Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas. All are tributaries of the Indus River, the Sutlej being the largest. References to a land of five rivers may be found in the "Mahabharata", which calls one of the regions in ancient Bharat "Panchanada" (). The ancient Greeks referred to the region as "Pentapotamía" (), which has the same meaning as the Persian word.


title: Punjabis

text: Punjab is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of eastern Pakistan and northwestern India. The boundaries of the region are ill-defined and focus on historical accounts. The geographical definition of the term "Punjab" has changed over time. In the 16th century Mughal Empire it referred to a relatively smaller area between the Indus and the Sutlej rivers.


title: Punjabis

text: In the 19th century, Maharaja Ranjit Singh established the Sikh empire based in the Punjab. The empire existed from 1799, when Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849, when it was defeated and conquered in the Second Anglo-Sikh War. It was forged on the foundations of the Khalsa from a collection of autonomous Sikh "misls". At its peak in the 19th century, the Empire extended from the Khyber Pass in the west to western Tibet in the east, and from Mithankot in the south to Kashmir in the north. It was divided into four provinces: Lahore, in Punjab, which became the Sikh capital; Multan, also in Punjab; Peshawar; and Kashmir from 1799 to 1849. Religiously diverse, with an estimated population of 3.5 million in 1831 (making it the 19th most populous country at the time), it was the last major region of the Indian subcontinent to be annexed by the British Empire.


title: Punjabis

text: The Punjab was a region straddling the Afghan Durrani Empire and India. The following modern-day political divisions made up the historical Punjab region during the Sikh Empire:


title: Punjabis

text: After Ranjit Singh's death in 1839, the empire was severely weakened by internal divisions and political mismanagement. This opportunity was used by the East India Company to launch the First and Second Anglo-Sikh Wars. The country was finally annexed and dissolved at the end of the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849 into separate princely states and the province of Punjab. Eventually, a Lieutenant Governorship was formed in Lahore as a direct representative of the Crown.


title: Punjabis

text: In British India, until the Partition of India in 1947, the Punjab Province was geographically a triangular tract of country of which the Indus River and its tributary the Sutlej formed the two sides up to their confluence, the base of the triangle in the north being the Lower Himalayan Range between those two rivers. Moreover, the province as constituted under British rule also included a large tract outside these boundaries. Along the northern border, Himalayan ranges divided it from Kashmir and Tibet. On the west it was separated from the North-West Frontier Province by the Indus, until it reached the border of Dera Ghazi Khan District, which was divided from Baluchistan by the Sulaiman Range. To the south lay Sindh and Rajputana, while on the east the rivers Jumna and Tons separated it from the United Provinces. In total Punjab had an area of approximately 357 000 km square about the same size as modern day Germany, being one of the largest provinces of the British Raj.


title: Punjabis

text: It encompassed the present day Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, and some parts of Himachal Pradesh which were merged with Punjab by the British for administrative purposes (but excluding the former princely states which were later combined into the Patiala and East Punjab States Union) and the Pakistani regions of the Punjab, Islamabad Capital Territory and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.


title: Punjabis

text: In 1901 the frontier districts beyond the Indus were separated from Punjab and made into a new province: the North-West Frontier Province. Subsequently, Punjab was divided into four natural geographical divisions by colonial officials on the decadal census data:


title: Punjabis

text: While the total population of Punjab is 110 million as noted in the 2017 Pakistan census, ethnic Punjabis comprise approximately 44.7% of the national population. With an estimated national population of 243 million in 2022, ethnic Punjabis thus number approximately 108.5 million in Pakistan; this makes Punjabis the largest ethnic group in Pakistan by population.


title: Punjabis

text: Religious homogeneity remains elusive as a predominant Sunni population with Shia, Ahmadiyya and Christian minorities.


title: Punjabis

text: The Punjabi-speaking people make up 2.74% of India's population as of 2011. The total number of Indian Punjabis is unknown due to the fact that ethnicity is not recorded in the Census of India. Sikhs are largely concentrated in the modern-day state of Punjab forming 57.7% of the population with Hindus forming 38.5%. Ethnic Punjabis are believed to account for at least 40% of Delhi's total population and are predominantly Hindi-speaking Punjabi Hindus. The Indian censuses record the native languages, but not the descent of the citizens. Thus, there is no concrete official data on the ethnic makeup of Delhi and other Indian states.


title: Punjabis

text: Indian Punjab is also home to small groups of Muslims and Christians. Most of the East Punjab's Muslims left for West Punjab in 1947. However, a small community still exists today, mainly in Qadian, and Malerkotla.


title: Punjabis

text: The Punjabi people have emigrated in large numbers to many parts of the world. In the early 20th century, many Punjabis began settling in the United States, including independence activists who formed the Ghadar Party. The United Kingdom has a significant number of Punjabis from both Pakistan and India. The most populous areas being London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow. In Canada (specifically Vancouver, Toronto, and Calgary) and the United States, (specifically California's Central Valley as well as the New York and New Jersey region). In the 1970s, a large wave of emigration of Punjabis (predominately from Pakistan) began to the Middle East, in places such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. There are also large communities in East Africa including the countries of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Punjabis have also emigrated to Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia including Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong. Of recent times many Punjabis have also moved to Italy.


title: Punjabis

text: According to Pippa Virdee, the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan has shadowed the sense of loss of what used to be a homeland nation for the Punjabi people in the Indian subcontinent and its diaspora. Since the mid-1980s, there has been a drive for Punjabi cultural revival, consolidation of Punjabi ethnicity and a virtual Punjabi nation. According to Giorgio Shani, this is predominantly a Sikh ethno-nationalism movement led by some Sikh organizations, and a view that is not shared by Punjabi people organizations belonging to other religions.


title: Punjabis

text: The major tribes of West Punjab (Pakistan) are the Jats, Rajputs, Arains, Gujjars and Awans. Prior to the partition in 1947, major tribes of West Punjab also included the Khatris and Aroras.


title: Punjabis

text: While in East Punjab (India), Jats are almost 20 per cent of East Punjab's population. The Scheduled Castes constitute almost 32 per cent of its total population and 4.3 per cent of the SCs nationally, official data show. Of more than 35 designated Scheduled Castes in the state, the Mazhabis, the Ravidasias/Ramdasias, the Ad Dharmis, the Valmikis, and the Bazigars together make up around 87 per cent of East Punjab's total Scheduled Caste population. The Ravidasia Hindus and the Ramdasia Sikhs together constitute 26.2 per cent of East Punjab's total Scheduled Caste population. Both Ramdasias and Ravidasias are traditionally linked to leather-related occupations.


title: Punjabis

text: During the colonial era, census reports taken in the diverse Punjab Province detailed the various castes, subcastes & tribes, each forming parts of the various ethnic groups across the province, in which the Punjabi people formed a majority.


title: Punjabis

text: The Punjabi people first practiced proto-Hinduism, the oldest recorded religion in the Punjab region. The historical Vedic religion constituted the religious ideas and practices in the Punjab during the Vedic period (1500–500 BCE), centered primarily in the worship of Indra. The bulk of the Rigveda was composed in the Punjab region between circa 1500 and 1200 BC, while later Vedic scriptures were composed more eastwards, between the Yamuna and Ganges rivers. An ancient Indian law book called the Manusmriti, developed by Brahmin Hindu priests, shaped Punjabi religious life from 200 BC onward.


title: Punjabis

text: Later, the spread of Buddhisim and Jainism in the Indian subcontinent saw the growth of Buddhism and Jainism in the Punjab. Islam was introduced via southern Punjab in the 8th century, becoming the majority by the 16th century, via local conversion. There was a small Jain community left in Punjab by the 16th century, while the Buddhist community had largely disappeared by the turn of the 10th century. The region became predominantly Muslim due to missionary Sufi saints whose dargahs dot the landscape of the Punjab region.


title: Punjabis

text: The rise of Sikhism in the 1700s saw some Punjabis, both Hindu and Muslim, accepting the new Sikh faith. A number of Punjabis during the colonial period of India became Christians, with all of these religions characterizing the religious diversity now found in the Punjab region.


title: Punjabis

text: During the colonial era, the practice of religious syncretism among Punjabi Muslims and Punjabi Hindus was noted and documented by officials in census reports:


title: Punjabis

text: Due to religious tensions, emigration between Punjabi people started far before the partition and dependable records. Shortly prior to the Partition of India, Punjab had a slight majority Muslim population at about 53.2% in 1941, which was an increase from the previous years. With the division of Punjab and the subsequent independence of Pakistan and later India in 1947, mass migrations of Muslims from Indian Punjab to Pakistan, and those of Sikhs and Hindus from Pakistan to Indian Punjab occurred, making Pakistani Punjab almost entirely Muslim and the Indian Punjab almost entirely non-Muslim.


title: Punjabis

text: Today the majority of Pakistani Punjabis follow Islam with a small Christian minority, and less Sikh and Hindu populations, while the majority of Indian Punjabis are either Sikhs or Hindus with a Muslim minority. Punjab is also the birthplace of Sikhism and the movement Ahmadiyya.


title: Punjabis

text: Following the independence of Pakistan and the subsequent partition, a process of population exchange took place in 1947 as Muslims began to leave India and headed to the newly created Pakistan and Hindus and Sikhs left Pakistan for independent India. As a result of these population exchanges, both parts are now relatively homogeneous, as far as religion is concerned.


title: Punjabis

text: Punjabi Muslims are found almost exclusively in Pakistan with 97% of Punjabis who live in Pakistan following Islam, in contrast to Punjabi Sikhs and Punjabi Hindus who predominantly live in India.


title: Punjabis

text: Forming the majority of the Punjabi ethnicity in the greater Punjab region, Punjabi Muslims write the Punjabi language under the Perso-Arabic script known as Shahmukhi. With a population of more than 80 million, they are the largest ethnic group in Pakistan and the world's third-largest Islam-adhering ethnicity after Arabs and Bengalis. The majority of Punjabi Muslims are adherents of Sunni Islam, while a minority adhere to Shia Islam and other sects, including the Ahmadiyya community which originated in Punjab during the British Raj.


title: Punjabis

text: In the Indian state of Punjab, Punjabi Hindus make up approximately 38.5% of the state's population and are a majority in the Doaba region. Punjabi Hindus forms majority in five districts of Punjab, namely, Pathankot, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Fazilka and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar districts.


title: Punjabis

text: During the 1947 partition, many Hindkowan and Punjabi Hindus from West Punjab and North-West Frontier Province settled in Delhi. Determined from 1991 and 2015 estimates, Punjabi Hindus form approximately 24 to 35 per cent of Delhi's population; based on 2011 official census counts, this amounts to between 4,029,106 and 5,875,779 people.


title: Punjabis

text: Following the large scale exodus that took place during the 1947 partition, there remains a small Punjabi Hindu community in Pakistan today. According to the 2017 Census, there are about 200,000 Hindus in Punjab province, forming approximately 0.2% of the total population. Much of the community resides in the primarily rural South Punjab districts of Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalpur where they form 3.12% and 1.12% of the population respectively, while the rest are concentrated in urban centres such as Lahore. Punjabi Hindus in India use Nāgarī script to write the Hindi and Punjabi languages.


title: Punjabis

text: Sikhism from "Sikh", meaning a "disciple", or a "learner", is a monotheistic religion originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent during the 15th century. The fundamental beliefs of Sikhism, articulated in the sacred scripture Guru Granth Sahib, include faith and meditation on the name of the one creator, unity and equality of all humankind, engaging in selfless service, striving for social justice for the benefit and prosperity of all, and honest conduct and livelihood while living a householder's life. Being one of the youngest amongst the major world religions, with 25-28 million adherents worldwide, Sikhism is the fifth- largest religion in the world.


title: Punjabis

text: Gurmukhi is the writing script used by Sikhs and for scriptures of Sikhism. It is used in official documents in parts of India and elsewhere. The tenth Guru of Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh (1666 – 1708) established the Khalsa Brotherhood, and set for them a code of conduct.


title: Punjabis

text: Most of the modern Punjabi Christians are descended from converts during British rule; initially, conversions to Christianity came from the "upper levels of Punjab society, from the privileged and prestigious", including "high caste" Hindu families, as well as Muslim families. However, other modern Punjabi Christians have converted from the Chuhra group. The Churas were largely converted to Christianity in North India during the British Raj. The vast majority were converted from the Hindu Chura communities of Punjab, and to a lesser extent Mazhabi Sikhs; under the influence of enthusiastic army officers and Christian missionaries. Large numbers of Mazhabi Sikhs were also converted in the Moradabad district and the Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh. Rohilkhand saw a mass conversion of its entire population of 4500 Mazhabi Sikhs into the Methodist Church. Sikh organisations became alarmed at the rate of conversions among high caste Sikh families, and as a result, they responded by immediately dispatching Sikh missionaries to counteract the conversions.


title: Punjabis

text: Punjabi culture grew out of the settlements along the five rivers, which served as an important route to the Near East as early as the ancient Indus Valley civilization, dating back to 3000 BCE. Agriculture has been the major economic feature of the Punjab and has therefore formed the foundation of Punjabi culture, with one's social status being determined by landownership. The Punjab emerged as an important agricultural region, especially following the Green Revolution during the mid-1960's to the mid-1970's, has been described as the "breadbasket of both India and Pakistan". Besides being known for agriculture and trade, the Punjab is also a region that over the centuries has experienced many foreign invasions and consequently has a long-standing history of warfare, as the Punjab is situated on the principal route of invasions through the northwestern frontier of the Indian subcontinent, which promoted to adopt a lifestyle that entailed engaging in warfare to protect the land. Warrior culture typically elevates the value of the community's honour (izzat), which is highly esteemed by Punjabis.


title: Punjabis

text: Punjabi is the most popular first language in Pakistan, with 80.5 million native speakers as per the 2017 census, and the 11th most popular in India, with 31.1 million native speakers, as per the 2011 census.


title: Punjabis

text: The language is spoken among a significant overseas diaspora, particularly in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom.


title: Punjabis

text: In Pakistan, Punjabi is written using the Shahmukhi alphabet, based on the Perso-Arabic script; in India, it is written using the Gurmukhi alphabet, based on the Indic scripts. Punjabi is unusual among the Indo-Aryan languages and the broader Indo-European language family in its usage of lexical tone.


title: Punjabis

text: Punjabi developed from Prakrit languages and later (, 'deviated' or 'non-grammatical speech') From 600 BCE, Sanskrit was advocated as official language and Prakrit gave birth to many regional languages in different parts of India. All these languages are called Prakrit (Sanskrit: ) collectively. Paishachi Prakrit was one of these Prakrit languages, which was spoken in north and north-western India and Punjabi developed from this Prakrit. Later in northern India Paishachi Prakrit gave rise to Paishachi Aparbhsha, a descendant of Prakrit. Punjabi emerged as an Apabhramsha, a degenerated form of Prakrit, in the 7th century CE and became stable by the 10th century. The earliest writings in Punjabi belong to Nath Yogi era from 9th to 14th century CE. The language of these compositions is morphologically closer to Shauraseni Apbhramsa, though vocabulary and rhythm is surcharged with extreme colloquialism and folklore. The Arabic and modern Persian influence in the historical Punjab region began with the late first millennium Muslim conquests on the Indian subcontinent. Many Persian and Arabic words were incorporated in Punjabi. So Punjabi relies heavily on Persian and Arabic words which are used with a liberal approach to language. After the fall of the Sikh empire, Urdu was made the official language of Punjab (in Pakistani Punjab, it is still the primary official language), and influenced the language as well.


title: Punjabis

text: A Dastar is an item of headgear associated with Sikhism and is an important part of the Punjabi and Sikh culture. Among the Sikhs, the "dastār" is an article of faith that represents equality, honour, self-respect, courage, spirituality, and piety. The Khalsa Sikh men and women, who keep the Five Ks, wear the turban to cover their long, uncut hair ("kesh"). The Sikhs regard the "dastār" as an important part of the unique Sikh identity. After the ninth Sikh Guru, Tegh Bahadur, was sentenced to death by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru created the Khalsa and gave five articles of faith, one of which is unshorn hair, which the "dastār" covers. Prior to Sikhi, only kings, royalty, and those of high stature wore turbans, but Sikh Gurus adopted the practice to assert equality and sovereignty among people.


title: Punjabis

text: A Punjabi suit that features two items - a "qameez" (top), "salwar" (bottom) is the traditional attire of the Punjabi people. "Shalwars" are trousers which are atypically wide at the waist but which narrow to a cuffed bottom. They are held up by a drawstring or elastic belt, which causes them to become pleated around the waist. The trousers can be wide and baggy, or they can be cut quite narrow, on the bias. The "kameez" is a long shirt or tunic. The side seams are left open below the waist-line (the opening known as the "chaak"), which gives the wearer greater freedom of movement. The kameez is usually cut straight and flat; older kameez use traditional cuts; modern kameez are more likely to have European-inspired set-in sleeves. The combination garment is sometimes called "salwar kurta", "salwar suit", or "Punjabi suit". The shalwar-kameez is a widely-worn, and national dress, of Pakistan. When women wear the shalwar-kameez in some regions, they usually wear a long scarf or shawl called a dupatta around the head or neck. The dupatta is also employed as a form of modesty—although it is made of delicate material, it obscures the upper body's contours by passing over the shoulders. For Muslim women, the dupatta is a less stringent alternative to the chador or burqa (see hijab and purdah); for Sikh and Hindu women, the dupatta is useful when the head must be covered, as in a temple or the presence of elders. Everywhere in South Asia, modern versions of the attire have evolved; the shalwars are worn lower down on the waist, the kameez have shorter length, with higher splits, lower necklines and backlines, and with cropped sleeves or without sleeves.


title: Punjabis

text: Bhangra describes dance-oriented popular music with Punjabi rhythms, developed since the 1980s. Sufi music and Qawali, commonly practiced in Punjab, Pakistan; are other important genres in the Punjab region.


title: Punjabis

text: Punjabi dances are performed either by men or by women. The dances range from solo to group dances and also sometimes dances are done along with traditional musical instruments. Bhangra is one of the most famous dances originating in the Punjab by farmers during the harvesting season. It was mainly performed while farmers did agricultural chores. As they did each farming activity they would perform bhangra moves on the spot. This allowed them to finish their job in a pleasurable way. For many years, farmers performed bhangra to showcase a sense of accomplishment and to welcome the new harvesting season. Traditional bhangra is performed in a circle and is performed using traditional dance steps. Traditional bhangra is now also performed on occasions other than during the harvest season.


title: Punjabis

text: The Punjabi Muslims typically observe the Islamic festivals. The Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus typically do not observe these, and instead observe Lohri, Basant and Vaisakhi as seasonal festivals. The Punjabi Muslim festivals are set according to the lunar Islamic calendar (Hijri), and the date falls earlier by 10 to 13 days from year to year. The Hindu and Sikh Punjabi seasonal festivals are set on specific dates of the luni-solar Bikrami calendar or Punjabi calendar and the date of the festival also typically varies in the Gregorian calendar but stays within the same two Gregorian months.


title: Punjabis

text: Some Punjabi Muslims participate in the traditional, seasonal festivals of the Punjab region: Baisakhi, Basant and to a minor scale Lohri, but this is controversial. Islamic clerics and some politicians have attempted to ban this participation because of the religious basis of the Punjabi festivals, and they being declared haram (forbidden in Islam).


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Kermit the Frog is a Muppet character created and originally performed by Jim Henson. Introduced in 1955, Kermit serves as the everyman protagonist of numerous Muppet productions, most notably "Sesame Street" and "The Muppet Show", as well as in other television series, feature films, specials, and public service announcements through the years. He served as a mascot of The Jim Henson Company and appeared in various Henson projects.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Kermit performed the hit singles "Bein' Green" in 1970 for "Sesame Street" and "Rainbow Connection" in 1979 for "The Muppet Movie", the first feature-length film featuring the Muppets. Kermit's original performance of "Rainbow Connection" reached No. 25 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and was added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry in 2021. Henson performed Kermit until his death in 1990, and then Steve Whitmire performed Kermit from that time until his dismissal in 2016. Kermit has been performed by Matt Vogel from 2017. He was also voiced by Frank Welker in "Muppet Babies" and occasionally in other animation projects, and is voiced by Matt Danner in the 2018 reboot of "Muppet Babies".


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Kermit's look and voice have been recognizable in popular culture worldwide for many decades, and in 2006, the character was credited as the author of "Before You Leap: A Frog's Eye View of Life's Greatest Lessons", an "autobiography" told from the perspective of the character himself.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Kermit the Frog first appeared on May 9, 1955, in the premiere of WRC-TV's "Sam and Friends". This prototype Kermit was created from a discarded turquoise spring coat belonging to Jim Henson's mother and two ping pong ball halves for eyes.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Initially, Kermit was a vague lizard-like creature. He subsequently made a number of television appearances before his status as a frog was established in the television special "Hey, Cinderella!" in 1969. His triangular-pointed collar was added at the time to make him seem more frog-like and to conceal the seam between his head and body. According to Michael K. Frith, the relatively simple construction of the Kermit puppet allows the performer's arm and hand to produce a wide range of expression and gestures.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: The origin of Kermit's name is a subject of some debate. It is often claimed that Kermit was named after Henson's childhood friend Kermit Scott, from Leland, Mississippi. However, Karen Falk, head archivist and board of directors member for the Jim Henson Legacy organization, denies this claim on the Jim Henson Company's website:


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Joy DiMenna, the only daughter of Kermit Kalman Cohen who worked as a sound engineer at WBAL-TV during Jim Henson's time with "Sam and Friends", recalls that the puppet was named after her father. According to Kermit Cohen's obituary, as well as DiMenna and Lenny Levin, a colleague of Mr. Cohen's at WBAL:


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Another common belief is that Kermit was named for Kermit Love, who worked with Henson in designing and constructing Muppets, particularly on "Sesame Street", but Love's association with Henson did not begin until well after Kermit's creation and naming, and he always denied any connection between his name and that of the character.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: As "Sesame Street" is localized for some different markets that speak languages other than English, Kermit is often renamed. In Portugal, he is called "Cocas, o Sapo" ("sapo" means "toad"), and in Brazil, his name is similar: "Caco, o Sapo". In most of Hispanic America, his name is "la rana René" ("René the Frog"), while in Spain, he is named "Gustavo". In the Arabic version, he is known as "Kamel", which is a common Arabic male name that means "perfect". In Hungary, he is called "Breki" (onomatopoetic).


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Jim Henson originated the character in 1955 on his local television series, "Sam and Friends". Henson himself described Kermit as "kind of easy-going, very likable...sometimes slightly a wiseguy." Frank Oz remarked that Kermit possesses a natural sense of leadership within the Muppets, explaining that "he has all these zany characters and a world around him and he tries to be the center and hold everything together...sometimes he gets too much and blows his top, but essentially he kind of goes with the flow." Brian Henson described his father's performance as Kermit as "coming out of his own personality—was a wry intelligence, a little bit of a naughtiness, but Kermit always loved everyone around and also loved a good prank."


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Kermit has often been referred to as Henson's "soft-spoken alter-ego." Many of Henson's colleagues have confirmed how close and inseparable Jim and Kermit's personalities were. Henson's agent Bernie Brillstein has stated straightforwardly that "Kermit was Jim". Author Brian Jay Jones described the relationship accordingly: "The more Jim performed Kermit, the more the two of them seemed to become intertwined…it was becoming harder to tell where the frog ended and Jim began." Henson continued to perform the character until his death in 1990. Henson's last known performance as Kermit was for an appearance on "The Arsenio Hall Show" to promote the television special "The Muppets at Walt Disney World". Henson died twelve days after that appearance.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Following Henson's death, veteran Muppet performer Steve Whitmire was named Kermit's new performer. Whitmire claims that Henson had seemingly intended to pass on the role to him before he died, though it was Jane Henson and son Brian who had selected him after her father's death. Whitmire's first public performance as Kermit was at the end of the television special "The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson" in 1990. Whitmire explained that his main intent when he inherited Kermit, "was to make sure the character stayed the same and consistent, but didn't become stale and just a copy." Kermit's personality during Whitmire's tenure was widely described as more wholesome, lighthearted, and Pollyanna-ish than Henson's. Several critics of Whitmire's portrayal have come from the Henson family. Brian Henson stated that while Whitmire's performance was "sometimes excellent, and always pretty good", he also elaborated that "Kermit has, as a character, flattened out over time and has become too square and not as vital as it should have been." Cheryl Henson stated that Whitmire performed the character as a "bitter, angry, depressed, victim". He remained Kermit's principal performer until October 2016, when he was dismissed by The Muppets Studio. The Walt Disney Company (owner of The Muppets Studio) cited "unacceptable business conduct" as reason for the dismissal, while Whitmire claims the decision was made due to creative disagreements over Kermit's characterization and prolonged labor union negotiations that delayed his involvement in Muppet productions.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Disney announced that Matt Vogel would become Kermit's new performer on July 10, 2017. Vogel's first official appearance as Kermit was in a "Muppet Thought of the Week” YouTube video.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: John Kennedy performed Kermit for "Muppets Ahoy!", a 2006 Disney Cruise Line stage show (though Whitmire performed Kermit for the first few shows). Muppet performer Artie Esposito briefly performed Kermit in 2009 for a few personal appearances (an appearance on "America's Got Talent", the "MTV Video Music Awards", and at the 2009 D23 Expo). Voice actor Frank Welker provided the voice of Baby Kermit on the animated Saturday morning cartoon, "Muppet Babies". He also provided the voice of an adult Kermit for a short-lived spin-off, "Little Muppet Monsters". Brian Cummings voiced Kermit in a 1995 CBS promotion. Wally Wingert provided the voice of Baby Kermit in a "Muppet Babies" CD-ROM. Matt Danner voices Baby Kermit on the 2018 reboot of "Muppet Babies".


title: Kermit the Frog

text: A biography has been developed for Kermit the Frog as if he was an actual living performer rather than a puppet character. According to this fictional biography, he was born in Leland, Mississippi, alongside approximately 2,353 siblings, though a 2011 "interview" on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" has him state that he was from the swamps of Louisiana.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: As portrayed in the 2002 film "Kermit's Swamp Years", at the age of 12, he was the first of his siblings to leave the swamp, and one of the first frogs to talk to humans. He is shown in the film encountering a 12-year-old Jim Henson (played by Christian Kriebel) for the first time.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: According to "The Muppet Movie," Kermit returned to the swamp, where a passing agent (Dom DeLuise) noted he had talent and, thus inspired, he headed to Hollywood, encountering the rest of the Muppets along the way. Together, they were given a standard "rich and famous" contract by Lew Lord (Orson Welles) of Wide World Studios and began their showbiz careers. In "Before You Leap", Kermit again references encountering Jim Henson sometime after the events depicted in the course of "The Muppet Movie" and details their friendship and their partnership in the entertainment industry, crediting Henson as being the individual to whom he owes his fame. At some point after the events of "The Muppet Movie", Kermit and the other Muppets begin "The Muppet Show", and the characters remain together as a group, before starring in the other Muppet films and "Muppets Tonight", with Kermit usually at the core of the stories as the lead protagonist. Kermit is shown in "The Muppet Movie" as stating that the events of the film are "approximately how it happened" when asked by his nephew Robin about how the Muppets got started.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Fozzie Bear is portrayed as Kermit's best friend—a fact reiterated by Kermit in "Before You Leap"—and the two were frequently seen together during sketches on "The Muppet Show" and in other Muppet-related media and merchandise.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: On August 4, 2015, Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy "announced" that they had ended their romantic relationship. On September 2, 2015, Kermit was stated to have found a new girlfriend, a pig named Denise, but around February 2016, Denise supposedly broke up with Kermit after almost six months together.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Kermit has been featured prominently on both "The Muppet Show" and "Sesame Street". However, he had a prominent career before "Sesame Street"s debut in 1969, as he starred in "Sam and Friends", and numerous Muppets made guest appearances on "Today" from 1961 and "The Ed Sullivan Show" from 1966.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Kermit was one of the original main Muppet characters on "Sesame Street". Closely identified with the show, Kermit usually appeared as a lecturer on simple topics, a straight man to another Muppet foil (usually Grover, Herry Monster or Cookie Monster), or a news reporter interviewing storybook characters for Sesame Street News. He sang many songs on the show, including "Bein' Green", and appeared in the 1998 video "The Best of Kermit on Sesame Street".


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Unlike the rest of the show's Muppets, Kermit was never the property of Sesame Workshop and has rarely been a part of the show's merchandise. When Sesame Workshop bought full ownership of its characters from The Jim Henson Company for $180 million, Kermit was excluded from the deal. The character now belongs to The Muppets Studio, a division of The Walt Disney Company. His first "Sesame Street" appearance since Disney ownership was in an "Elmo's World" segment in the show's 40th-season premiere on November 10, 2009. His most recent appearance was in the 2019 television special "Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration", where he performed "Bein' Green" with Elvis Costello.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: In "The Muppet Show" television series, Kermit was the central character, the showrunner, and the long-suffering stage manager of the theater show, trying to keep order amidst the chaos created by the other Muppets. Henson once claimed that Kermit's job on the "Muppet Show" was much like his own: "trying to get a bunch of crazies to actually get the job done." It was on this show that the running gag of Kermit being pursued by leading lady Miss Piggy developed.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: On "Muppets Tonight", Kermit was still a main character, although he was the producer rather than frontman. He appeared in many parody sketches such as "NYPD Green", "City Schtickers", "Flippers", and "The Muppet Odd Squad", as well as in the "Psychiatrist's Office" sketch.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Kermit also served as the mascot for The Jim Henson Company, until the sale of the Muppet characters to Disney. A Kermit puppet can be seen at the National Museum of American History.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Kermit appears in "Muppet*Vision 3D", an attraction that opened in 1991 and continues to run presently at Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The character was also formerly featured in the aforementioned attraction in Disney California Adventure Park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California until its closure in 2014. Kermit also appeared in "The Muppets Present...Great Moments in American History" at the Magic Kingdom from 2016 to 2020. He also appeared in two parades; Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade which ran at Disney's Hollywood Studios from 2001 to 2008 and Disney's Honorary VoluntEars Cavalcade which was held during 2010 at the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Kermit the Frog has appeared in almost every Muppet production, as well as making guest appearances in other shows and movies.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Kermit was awarded an honorary doctorate of Amphibious Letters on May 19, 1996, at Southampton College, New York, where he also gave a commencement speech. He is also the only "amphibian" to have had the honor of addressing the Oxford Union. A statue of Henson and Kermit was erected on the campus of Henson's alma mater, the University of Maryland, College Park in 2003.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Kermit was also given the honor of being the Grand Marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade in 1996. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has featured a Kermit balloon since 1977.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: On November 14, 2002, Kermit the Frog received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star is located at 6801 Hollywood Blvd. Kermit has two stars on the Walk of Fame, the other as a member of the collective The Muppets.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: On Kermit's 50th birthday in 2005, the United States Postal Service released a set of new stamps with photos of Kermit and some of his fellow Muppets on them. The background of the stamp sheet features a photo of a silhouetted Henson sitting in a window well, with Kermit sitting in his lap looking at him.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: In 2013, the original Kermit puppet from "Sam and Friends" was donated to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. for display in the pop culture gallery. In 2015, the Leland Chamber of Commerce in Leland, Mississippi opened a small museum containing puppets and memorabilia dedicated to Kermit.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Kermit's legacy is also deeply entrenched in the science community. One of the famous WP-3D "Orion" research platforms flown by the NOAA Hurricane Hunters is named after Kermit. The other is named after Miss Piggy. In 2015, the discovery of the Costa Rican glass frog "Hyalinobatrachium dianae" also attracted viral media attention due to the creature's perceived resemblance to Kermit, with researcher Brian Kubicki quoted as saying "I am glad that this species has ended up getting so much international attention, and in doing so it is highlighting the amazing amphibians that are native to Costa Rica and the need to continue exploring and studying the country's amazing tropical forests".


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Kermit has made numerous guest appearances on popular television shows, including co-hosting individual episodes of a number of long-running talk shows; among other television media. On April 2, 1979, Kermit guest-hosted "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" to promote "The Muppet Movie". From 1983 to 1995, the French political satire show "Le Bébête Show" used copies of various Muppets to parody key political figures, and Kermit renamed "Kermitterrand", embodied President François Mitterrand. On May 21, 2018, Kermit and contestant Maddie Poppe performed "Rainbow Connection" live on "American Idol".


title: Kermit the Frog

text: A still photo of Kermit sitting in his Director's chair with his megaphone in his hand from "The Muppet Show" appeared on a technical difficulties telop graphic on Metromedia owned-and-operated station KTTV Channel 11 in Los Angeles during the late 1970s and early 1980s.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: As an April Fool's joke, Kermit hosted CNN's "Larry King Live" in 1994 and interviewed Hulk Hogan. Kermit was also a semi-regular during various incarnations of "Hollywood Squares", with other Muppets such as Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch also making appearances on the original "Hollywood Squares".


title: Kermit the Frog

text: In 2020, Kermit appeared on "Monday Night Football" with other Muppets characters as it was briefly rebranded "Muppet Night Football."


title: Kermit the Frog

text: On March 10, 2021, Kermit was the first celebrity to be unmasked on the fifth season of "The Masked Singer", having performed in costume as "Snail".


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Jim Henson's characters, including the Muppets, have inspired merchandise internationally, with Chris Bensch, chief curator of Rochester, New York's The Strong National Museum of Play, reporting "There seems to have been a particular craze for Kermit the Frog in Japan," likely due to the "cuteness appeal". Baby Kermit plush toys became popular in the 1980s after the success of "Muppet Babies." In 1991, one year after Jim Henson died, merchandise featuring Kermit and other Muppet characters was being sold at Disney theme parks, causing Henson Associates to file a lawsuit against Disney for copyright infringement. Henson alleged that the "counterfeit merchandise" falsely indicated that the characters belonged to Disney, although the latter company had the right to exercise use of the characters due to an earlier licensing agreement. The Henson Associates highlighted a T-shirt displaying Kermit, the Disney brand, and a copyright symbol. Disney representative Erwin Okun said the lawsuit was "outrageous" and "an unfortunate break with the legacy of a fine relationship with Disney that Jim Henson left behind". Disney later acquired the Muppets, and thusly, clothes, toys and souvenirs depicting Kermit and the Muppets continued to be sold at Disney theme parks and stores.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: The Leland Chamber of Commerce's small Kermit-themed museum set out to preserve some of the dolls and merchandise. In 2016, "The New Zealand Herald" reported a hat featuring Kermit sipping Lipton tea, associated with the "But That's None of My Business" Internet meme, became a popular seller after basketball player LeBron James drew attention for wearing one.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: In March 2007, "Sad Kermit", an unofficial parody, was uploaded to the website YouTube, showing a store-bought Kermit puppet performing a version of the Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt" in a style similar to Johnny Cash's famous cover version. In contrast to the real Kermit character's usual family-friendly antics, the video shows the puppet engaging in drug abuse, smoking, alcoholism, performing oral sex on Rowlf the Dog, smashing a picture of Miss Piggy (with a breast exposed) and attempting suicide. The video became an Internet meme. The "Victoria Times Colonist" called it an "online sensation". The "Chicago Sun-Times" said it "puts the high in 'Hi-ho!'" The "London Free Press" said "Sad Kermit is in a world of pain". The "Houston Press" described it as the "world's most revolting web phenomenon". SF Weekly described the unauthorized video as "ironic slandering". Clips have been featured on the Canadian television series "The Hour", where host George Stroumboulopoulos speculated that the Kermit version of "Hurt" was inspired by the Cash version rather than that of Nine Inch Nails.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: Kermit has also appeared in a popular meme in which he is shown sipping tea, "one used when you sassily point something out, and then slyly back away, claiming that it's not [your] business". The photo is taken from "Be More Kermit," a Lipton advertisement that aired in 2014, and was adapted into the "But That's None of My Business" meme by African American comedians on the Tumblr blog Kermit the Snitch, making appearances on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Charles Pulliam-Moore of the TV station "Fusion" praised "But That's None of My Business" as "a symbol for the comedic brilliance born out of black communities on the internet," but Stephanie Hayes of "Bustle" magazine criticized the memes as racist and obscene.


title: Kermit the Frog

text: In 2016, a "Good Morning America" post on Twitter referred to the "But That's None of My Business" meme as "Tea Lizard", becoming the subject of viral online derision. "New York" magazine replied that, "Kermit is a frog. A frog is an amphibian. A lizard is a reptile. It's just so insulting. Beyond a frog and a lizard both being clearly ectothermic, they couldn't be any more different. Not all green things are the same, you ignorant bastards". "Popular Science" also addressed the misnomer, writing "Frogs, which are amphibians, have quite a few significant differences from reptiles in how they breathe, their life cycles, whether they have scales or not... there's a lot to absorb here".


title: Kermit the Frog

text: In November 2016, a new meme surfaced of Kermit talking to a hooded version of himself which represents the self and its dark inner thoughts. It involves captioning of a screenshot taken from the "Muppets Most Wanted" movie of Kermit and Constantine looking at each other. In the meme, Constantine is supposed to represent a Sith Lord from Star Wars.


title: Mary Berry

text: Dame Mary Rosa Alleyne Hunnings (; born 24 March 1935), known professionally as Mary Berry, is an English food writer, chef, baker and television presenter. After being encouraged in domestic science classes at school, she studied catering at college. She then moved to France at the age of 22 to study at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, before working in a number of cooking-related jobs.


title: Mary Berry

text: She has published more than 75 cookery books, including her best-selling "Baking Bible" in 2009. Her first book was "The Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook" in 1970. She hosted several television series for the BBC and Thames Television. Berry is an occasional contributor to "Woman's Hour" and "Saturday Kitchen". She was a judge on the BBC One (originally BBC Two) television programme "The Great British Bake Off" from its launch in 2010 until 2016, when it relocated to Channel 4.


title: Mary Berry

text: Berry was born on 24 March 1935, the second of three children, to Margaret (‘Marjorie’, "née" Wilson; 1905–2011) and Alleyne William Steward Berry (1904–1989). Alleyne was a surveyor and planner who served as Mayor of Bath in 1952 and was closely involved in establishing the University of Bath at Claverton Down. Mary's great-great-grandfather on her father's side, Robert Houghton, was a master baker in the 1860s who provided bread for a local workhouse in Norwich. Her mother died in 2011 aged 105.


title: Mary Berry

text: At the age of 13, Berry contracted polio and had to spend three months in hospital. This resulted in her having a twisted spine, a weaker left hand and thinner left arm. She has said that the period of forced separation from her family while in the hospital "toughened [her] up" and taught her to make the most of every opportunity she would have.


title: Mary Berry

text: Berry attended Bath High School, where she described her academic abilities as "hopeless" until she attended domestic science classes with a teacher called Miss Date, who was particularly encouraging of her cooking abilities. Her first creation in the class was a treacle sponge pudding which she took home, and her father told her that it was as good as her mother's.


title: Mary Berry

text: Berry's first job was at the Bath Electricity Board showroom and then conducting home visits to show new customers how to use their electric ovens. She would typically demonstrate the ovens by making a Victoria sponge, a technique she would later repeat when in television studios to test out an oven she had not used before. Her catchment area for demonstrations was limited to the greater Bath area, which she drove around in a Ford Popular supplied as a company car.


title: Mary Berry

text: Her ambition was to move out of the family home to London, which her parents would not allow until she was 21. At the age of 22, she applied to work at the Dutch Dairy Bureau, while taking City & Guilds courses in the evenings. She then persuaded her manager to pay for her to undertake the professional qualification from the French Le Cordon Bleu school.


title: Mary Berry

text: She left the Dutch Dairy Bureau to become a recipe tester for PR firm Benson's, where she began to write her first book. She has since cooked for a range of food-related bodies, including the Egg Council and the Flour Advisory Board. In 1966 she became food editor of "Housewife" magazine. She was food editor of "Ideal Home" magazine from 1970 to 1973.


title: Mary Berry

text: Her first cookbook, "The Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook", was published in 1970. She launched her own product range in 1994 with her daughter Annabel. The salad dressings and sauces were originally only sold at Mary's AGA cooking school, but have since been sold in Britain, Germany and Ireland with retailers such as Harrods, Fortnum & Mason and Tesco.


title: Mary Berry

text: She has also appeared on a BBC Two series called "The Great British Food Revival", and her solo show, "Mary Berry Cooks", began airing on 3 March 2014.


title: Mary Berry

text: In December 2012, Berry became the first president of the new Bath Spa University Alumni Association.


title: Mary Berry

text: In her own kitchen, she uses a KitchenAid mixer which she describes as being the one gadget she could not live without. She has always had an AGA cooker, and used to run cooking courses for AGA users. She describes Raymond Blanc's restaurant Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons as one of her favourites as well as the Old Queen's Head, local to where she lives in Penn, High Wycombe.


title: Mary Berry

text: In February 2015 Berry featured in a programme in aid of the Third World charity Comic Relief. In May 2015 she began presenting a new BBC Two series called "Mary Berry's Absolute Favourites". In November 2015 she was the subject a two-part biographical documentary entitled "The Mary Berry Story".


title: Mary Berry

text: Starting on 30 November 2015, she was one of the two judges for a four-week American edition of the popular baking competition "The Great Holiday Baking Show" on ABC, which followed a similar format to the British competition.


title: Mary Berry

text: Berry became President of the National Garden Scheme in 2016 having opened her garden for charity for over 20 years.


title: Mary Berry

text: In November 2016, it was announced that Berry would present a new six-part series, "Mary Berry Everyday" in which she would share her cooking tips, family favourites and special occasion recipes. The show aired on BBC Two.


title: Mary Berry

text: In April 2017, Berry launched a series of cakes that could be bought from supermarkets. The cakes contain emulsifiers and preservatives that Berry has previously described as "unwanted extras".


title: Mary Berry

text: From 22 November 2017 to 13 December 2017, Berry presented a 4-part series called "Mary Berry's Country House Secrets" on BBC One. In this series, she ventured to four of the UK's stately homes and explored each through the prism of food and history. The locations were Highclere Castle, Scone Palace, Powderham Castle and Goodwood House.


title: Mary Berry

text: Berry's new six-part television cookery series called "Mary Berry's Simple Comforts" premiered on BBC2, 9 September 2020.


title: Mary Berry

text: "Mary Berry Saves Christmas", a BBC1 special in which Berry helps a group of amateur cooks make a Christmas feast for their families, was shown on Christmas Day 2020.


title: Mary Berry

text: In 2021, Berry was a celebrity judge on the BBC series "Celebrity Best Home Cook" alongside Angela Hartnett and Chris Bavin; while Claudia Winkleman was the show's presenter.


title: Mary Berry

text: In December 2021, Berry presented "Mary Berry's Festive Feasts", a BBC TV special in which she teaches three novice cooks to create a Christmas feast.


title: Mary Berry

text: In 2022, Berry was named as one of the judges for the Platinum Pudding, a competition to create a British pudding to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.


title: Mary Berry

text: In May 2022, Berry was a judge on the BBC One programme "The Jubilee Pudding: 70 Years in the Baking", where she helped chose a brand new pudding to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.


title: Mary Berry

text: In June 2022, the BBC commissioned the BBC Two series "Mary Berry Cook And Share"; which premiered on 7 September 2022.


title: Mary Berry

text: In September 2022, the BBC commissioned "Mary Berry’s Ultimate Christmas", a Christmas special that Berry will present.


title: Mary Berry

text: From 2010 to 2016 she was one of the judges on BBC One's (formerly, BBC Two's) "The Great British Bake Off" alongside baker Paul Hollywood, who specialises in bread. Berry says that since working together, she has learned from him. However, some viewers were outraged during the first series when a decision was made to make the contestants use one of Hollywood's recipes for scones instead of one of Berry's.


title: Mary Berry

text: Her work on the show with Hollywood led to "The Guardian"'s suggesting that it was the "best reality TV judging partnership ever." In September 2016, Love Productions announced that a three-year deal to broadcast the show on Channel 4 instead of the BBC from 2017 had been agreed. Co-hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins announced that they would not be continuing with "Bake Off" on its new network. Berry announced she was also leaving "Bake Off" on the same day that fellow judge Paul Hollywood announced he would be staying with the show.


title: Mary Berry

text: In January 2022 it was announced that Berry would chair and sit as a judge on The Platinum Pudding Competition, a nationwide baking competition launched throughout the United Kingdom on 10 January 2022 by Buckingham Palace, Fortnum & Mason and The Big Jubilee Lunch to find a brand new pudding dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II as part of the official Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022 marking the 70th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952.


title: Mary Berry

text: Berry married Paul John March Hunnings in 1966. He worked for Harvey's of Bristol and sold antique books and is now retired. The couple have two sons and a daughter; one of the sons died in 1989, in a car accident aged 19. Berry is a patron of Child Bereavement UK.


title: Mary Berry

text: In March 2013, Berry was placed second in a list of the fifty best-dressed over 50s by "The Guardian". In September 2014, Berry was the subject of an episode of the BBC genealogy series "Who Do You Think You Are?" and discovered among her ancestors illegitimacy, bankruptcy and a baker.


title: Mary Berry

text: Berry is a member of the Church of England and has worshipped at Holy Trinity Church in Penn since 1989. Her mother, who died in 2011, had also been an active church member. As part of the BBC2 programme "Mary Berry's Easter Feast" at Easter 2016, Berry visited Bishopthorpe Palace, the official residence of the Archbishop of York, who is the second most senior cleric in the Church of England, and filmed a special "Cooking with the Archbishop" segment.


title: Mary Berry

text: Berry has written more than seventy cookery books since her first book was published in 1970, and has sold over five million cookery books. She regularly works on her cookery books with Lucy Young, who has been her assistant for over twenty years. Her best-selling "Baking Bible" was rated one of the ten best baking books by "The Independent".


title: Mary Berry

text: Since September 2014, Berry's recipes have also been packaged in an interactive mobile app called "Mary Berry: In Mary We Trust".


title: Mary Berry

text: Berry was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to culinary arts.


title: Mary Berry

text: In 2012, she was awarded an honorary degree by Bath Spa University which incorporates the former Bath College of Domestic Science.


title: Mary Berry

text: On 7 June 2014, Berry was awarded the Freedom of the City of Bath; and, having already received the Freedom of the City of London, on 19 November 2014, she was made a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Bakers.


title: Mary Berry

text: She was awarded the Specsavers National Book Awards "Outstanding Achievement" prize in December 2014.


title: Mary Berry

text: On 25 January 2017, Berry won the award for Best TV Judge at the National Television Awards for "Great British Bake Off."


title: Mary Berry

text: Berry was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting, the culinary arts and charity. She received the honour on 20 October 2021 at Windsor Castle.


title: Robert Fripp

text: Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session musician and collaborator, notably with David Bowie, Blondie, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Daryl Hall, Midge Ure, Talking Heads, and David Sylvian. He also composed the startup sound of Windows Vista operating system, in collaboration with Tucker Martine and Steve Ball. His discography includes contributions to over 700 official releases.


title: Robert Fripp

text: His compositions often feature unusual asymmetric rhythms, influenced by classical and folk traditions. His innovations include a tape delay system known as Frippertronics and new standard tuning.


title: Robert Fripp

text: Robert Fripp was born in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England, the second child of a working-class family. His mother Edith ("née" Greene; 1914–1993) was from a Welsh mining family. Her earnings from working at the Bournemouth Records Office allowed his father, Arthur Henry Fripp (1910-1985) to start a business as an estate agent. In 1957, at age eleven, Fripp received a guitar for Christmas from his parents and recalled, "Almost immediately I knew that this guitar was going to be my life". He then took guitar lessons from Kathleen Gartell and Don Strike; at age 11, Elvis Presley's guitarist Scotty Moore inspired Fripp to play rock, moving on to traditional jazz at 13 and modern jazz at 15. He cited jazz musicians Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus as his musical influences during this time.


title: Robert Fripp

text: In 1961, the fifteen-year-old Fripp joined his first band, The Ravens, which also included Gordon Haskell on bass. After they split in the following year, Fripp concentrated on his O-level studies and joined his father's firm as a junior negotiator. At this point, he intended to study estate management and eventually, take over his father's business. However, at seventeen, Fripp decided to become a professional musician. He became the guitarist in the jazz outfit The Douglas Ward Trio, playing in the Chewton Glen Hotel of New Milton, followed by a stint in the rock and roll band The League of Gentlemen which included two former Ravens members.


title: Robert Fripp

text: In 1965, Fripp left the group to attend Bournemouth College, where he studied economics, economic history, and political history for his A-levels. In February 1965, Fripp went to see the Duke Ellington Orchestra, an experience which moved him deeply. He subsequently spent three further years playing light jazz in the Majestic Dance Orchestra at Bournemouth's Majestic Hotel (replacing future The Police guitarist Andy Summers, who had gone off to London with Zoot Money). It was during this time when he met musicians that he would collaborate with in his career: John Wetton, Richard Palmer-James, and Greg Lake. At age 21, going back home from college late at night, Fripp tuned on to Radio Luxemburg where he heard the last moments of "A Day in the Life". "Galvanized" by the experience, he went on to listen to "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", Béla Bartók's string quartets, Antonín Dvořák's "New World Symphony", Jimi Hendrix's "Are You Experienced" and John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. Many years later, Fripp would recall that "although all the dialects are different, the voice was the same... I knew I couldn't say no".


title: Robert Fripp

text: In 1967, Fripp responded to an advertisement placed by Bournemouth-born brothers Peter and Michael Giles, who wanted to work with a singing organist. Though Fripp was not what they sought, his audition with them was a success and the trio relocated to London and became Giles, Giles and Fripp. Their only studio album, "The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp", was released in 1968. Despite the recruitment of two further members – singer Judy Dyble (formerly with Fairport Convention and later of Trader Horne) and multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald – Fripp felt that he was outgrowing the eccentric pop approach favoured by Peter Giles (preferring the more ambitious compositions being written by McDonald) and the band broke up in 1968.


title: Robert Fripp

text: Almost immediately, Fripp, McDonald and Michael Giles formed the first lineup of King Crimson in mid-1968, recruiting Fripp's old Bournemouth College friend Greg Lake as lead singer and bass player, and McDonald's writing partner Peter Sinfield as lyricist, light show designer and general creative consultant. King Crimson's debut album, "In the Court of the Crimson King", was released in late 1969 to great success: drawing on rock, jazz and European folk/classical music ideas, it is regarded as one of the most influential albums in the history of progressive rock. The band was tipped for stardom but (due to growing musical differences between Fripp on one side and Giles and McDonald on the other) broke up at the end of its first American tour in 1969. A despondent Fripp offered to leave the group if it would allow King Crimson to survive; however, Giles and McDonald had independently decided that the band's music was "more Fripp's than theirs" and that it would be better if they were the ones to leave.


title: Robert Fripp

text: During the recording of the band's second album "In the Wake of Poseidon", Greg Lake departed to form Emerson, Lake and Palmer, leaving Fripp and Sinfield as the only remaining founder members. They issued two more albums ("Lizard" and "Islands") and were the only constants in a regularly changing King Crimson lineup. It included (at various times) Gordon Haskell, saxophonist/flute player Mel Collins, drummers Andy McCulloch and Ian Wallace and future Bad Company bass player Boz Burrell, in addition to a palette of guest players from Soft Machine, Keith Tippett's band, Brotherhood of Breath and Centipede. Fripp was listed as the sole composer of the band's music during this time, which built on the first album's blueprint but progressed further into jazz rock and free jazz while also taking form from Sinfield's esoteric lyrical and mythological concepts.


title: Robert Fripp

text: In 1971, Fripp ousted Sinfield and took over "de facto" leadership of King Crimson (although he has always formally rejected the label, preferring to describe his role as "quality control" or "a kind of glue"). From this point onwards, Fripp would be the only constant member of the band, which in turn would be defined primarily by his compositional and conceptual ideas (which drew on avant-garde jazz and improvisation mixed with a variety of hard rock and European influences, in particular the music of Béla Bartók). With avant-garde percussionist Jamie Muir, violinist David Cross, singing bass player John Wetton and former Yes drummer Bill Bruford now in the ranks, King Crimson produced three more albums of innovative and increasingly experimental rock, shedding members as they progressed: beginning with "Larks' Tongues in Aspic", progressing with "Starless and Bible Black" and culminating in the benchmark avant-power trio album "Red". Fripp formally disbanded the group in 1974, in what eventually turned out to be merely the first in a regular series of long hiatuses and further transformations.


title: Robert Fripp

text: Fripp pursued side projects during King Crimson's less active periods. He worked with Keith Tippett (and others who appeared on King Crimson records) on projects far from rock music, playing with and producing Centipede's "Septober Energy" in 1971 and "Ovary Lodge" in 1973. During this period he also worked with Van der Graaf Generator, playing on the 1970 album "H to He, Who Am the Only One", and in 1971, on "Pawn Hearts". He produced Matching Mole's "Matching Mole's Little Red Record" in 1972. Prior to forming the "Larks"-era KC, he collaborated on a spoken-word album with a woman he described as "a witch", but the resulting "Robert Fripp & Walli Elmlark: The Cosmic Children of Rock" was never officially released.


title: Robert Fripp

text: With Brian Eno, Fripp recorded "(No Pussyfooting)" in 1972, and "Evening Star" in 1974. These experimented with several avant-garde musical techniques that were new to rock. On "The Heavenly Music Corporation" from No Pussyfooting, Fripp used a tape delay system using two modified Revox A77 reel-to-reel tape machines for the first time. The technique went on to play a central role in Fripp's later work, and became known as "Frippertronics".


title: Robert Fripp

text: In 1973, Fripp performed the guitar solo on "Baby's on Fire", perhaps the best-known track on Eno's solo debut "Here Come the Warm Jets". In 1975, Fripp and Brian Eno played live shows in Europe, and Fripp also contributed guitar solos to Eno's landmark album "Another Green World".


title: Robert Fripp

text: Fripp started what was intended as a permanent sabbatical from his career in 1975, during which he cultivated an interest in the teachings of Gurdjieff via J. G. Bennett (studies which would later be influential in his work with Guitar Craft). He returned to musical work as a studio guitarist on Peter Gabriel's first self-titled album in 1976, released the following year. Fripp toured with Gabriel to support the album, but remained out of sight (either in the wings or behind a curtain) and used the pseudonym "Dusty Rhodes".


title: Robert Fripp

text: He produced and played on Gabriel's second album in 1978. "Robert is particularly skilful at keeping things fresh, and I like that a lot," Gabriel enthused. "I was very interested in Robert's experimental side; that corresponded exactly to what I wanted to do on this second record… There are two "(Fripp)" solos: one on 'On the Air' and the other on 'White Shadow'. And then he plays on 'Exposure'. He gives the colour to this piece, being fifty per cent responsible for its construction. And he also plays classical guitar here and there. He's a musician I admire a lot, because he's one of the only ones to mix discipline and madness with so much talent."


title: Robert Fripp

text: In 1977, Fripp received a phone call from Eno, who was working on David Bowie's album ""Heroes"". Fripp and Eno had collaborated on an album released in 1975 called "Evening Star". On this album – particularly 'An Index of Metals' – are strains that would influence the Bowie project two years later, notably its second side. Fripp's playing on "Heroes" initiated a series of collaborations with other musicians. Fripp soon collaborated with Daryl Hall on "Sacred Songs".


title: Robert Fripp

text: During this period, Fripp began working on solo material, with contributions from poet/lyricist Joanna Walton and several other musicians, including Eno, Gabriel, and Hall (including the latter's partner, John Oates), as well as Peter Hammill, Jerry Marotta, Phil Collins, Tony Levin and Terre Roche. This material eventually became his first solo album, "Exposure", released in 1979, followed by the "Frippertronics" tour in the same year.


title: Robert Fripp

text: While living in New York, Fripp contributed to albums and live performances by Blondie ("Parallel Lines") and Talking Heads ("Fear of Music"), and produced The Roches' first and third albums, which featured several of Fripp's characteristic guitar solos. A second set of creative sessions with David Bowie produced distinctive guitar parts on "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)" (1980) and prior to that, Peter Gabriel's third solo album known as "Melt". With Blondie, Fripp appeared live on stage at Hammersmith Odeon on 12 January 1980 participating in the band's cover version of Bowie's Heroes. This recording was on the 12" single of "Atomic" released the same year and later turned up as a bonus track on CD pressings of Blondie's album "Eat to the Beat".


title: Robert Fripp

text: Fripp's collaboration with bassist Busta Jones, drummer Paul Duskin, and vocals by David Byrne (Byrne credited as Absalm el Habib) produced "God Save the Queen/Under Heavy Manners" in the following year. He simultaneously assembled what he called a "second-division touring new wave instrumental dance band" under the name League of Gentlemen, with bassist Sara Lee, keyboardist Barry Andrews and drummer Johnny Elichaoff (credited as "Johnny Toobad"). Elichaoff was later replaced by Kevin Wilkinson. The LOG toured for the duration of 1980.


title: Robert Fripp

text: In 1985 he produced the album "Journey to Inaccessible Places" by classical pianist Elan Sicroff, released on the Editions E.G. label.


title: Robert Fripp

text: 1981 saw the formation of a new King Crimson lineup, reuniting Fripp with drummer Bill Bruford and opening a new partnership with two American musicians: bass guitarist/Chapman Stick player Tony Levin (who had played with Fripp on "Exposure" and in the first Peter Gabriel touring band) and Adrian Belew, a singer and guitarist who had previously played with Bowie, Talking Heads and Frank Zappa. Although the band had been conceptualised under the name Discipline it came to Fripp's attention that the other members thought the name King Crimson was more appropriate: for Fripp, King Crimson had always been "a way of doing things" rather than a particular group of musicians, and the current group felt that their music captured that methodology. With the more pop-inspired Belew as main songwriter (complementing Fripp as main instrumental composer) the band took on a new style incorporating a gamelan-inspired continuo minimalism, New York influences from post-punk to go-go, and textured experiments with guitar synthesizers. After releasing three albums ("Discipline", "Beat", "Three of a Perfect Pair"), this new King Crimson broke up in 1984.


title: Robert Fripp

text: During this period Fripp made two records with his old friend Andy Summers of The Police. On "I Advance Masked", Fripp and Summers played all the instruments. "Bewitched" was dominated more by Summers, who produced the record and collaborated with other musicians in addition to Fripp.


title: Robert Fripp

text: In 1982 Fripp produced and played guitar on "Keep on Doing" by The Roches. As in his previous guesting on David Bowie's "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)" (which also featured Pete Townshend and Chuck Hammer on guitar synthesizer), Fripp's distinctive guitar style and sound that characterised his music of this period is featured alongside the sisters' songs and harmony.


title: Robert Fripp

text: Fripp was offered a teaching position at the American Society for Continuous Education (ASCE) in Claymont Court, West Virginia in 1984. He had been involved with the ASCE since 1978, eventually serving on its board of directors, and had long been considering the idea of teaching guitar. His course, Guitar Craft, was begun in 1985, an offshoot of which was a performance group, "The League of Crafty Guitarists", which has released several albums. In 1986, he released the first of two collaborations with his wife, Toyah Willcox. The members of the California Guitar Trio are former members of The League of Crafty Guitarists and have also toured with King Crimson. Fripp is the patron of the Guitar Circle of Europe, which was founded in 2007, and of the Seattle Circle Guitar School, which was founded in 2010.


title: Robert Fripp

text: In February 2009, Fripp recommended that Guitar Craft cease to exist on its 25th anniversary in 2010.


title: Robert Fripp

text: Fripp returned to recording solo in 1994, using an updated version of the Frippertronics technique that creates loops employing digital technology instead of analogue tapes. Fripp has released a number of records that he called "soundscapes", including "1999", "Radiophonics", "A Blessing of Tears", "That Which Passes", "November Suite", "The Gates of Paradise", "Love Cannot Bear" and "At the End of Time", as well as numerous download-only live recordings. (The sampler "Pie Jesu" consists of material compiled from "A Blessing of Tears" and "The Gates of Paradise".)


title: Robert Fripp

text: Fripp's collaborations with David Sylvian feature some of his most exuberant guitar playing. Fripp contributed to Sylvian's twenty-minute track "Steel Cathedrals" from his "" album of 1985. Then Fripp performed on several tracks from Sylvian's 1986 release, "Gone to Earth".


title: Robert Fripp

text: In late 1991, Fripp had asked Sylvian to join a re-forming King Crimson as a vocalist. Sylvian declined the invitation, but proposed a possible collaboration between the two that would eventually become a tour of Japan and Italy in the spring of 1992.


title: Robert Fripp

text: Also in 1991, Fripp released an album with the project Sunday All Over The World, also featuring his wife Toyah Willcox, former League of Crafty Guitarists member Trey Gunn on Chapman Stick, and drummer Paul Beavis. The prior name of this band was Fripp Fripp, and they toured as such in 1988. They renamed to SAOTW, and toured again as SAOTW, in 1989.


title: Robert Fripp

text: In July 1993, Sylvian and Fripp released the collaborative effort "The First Day". Other contributors were soon-to-be King Crimson member Trey Gunn on Chapman Stick and Jerry Marotta (who, like Sylvian, almost became a member of King Crimson) on drums. When the group toured to promote the CD, future King Crimson member Pat Mastelotto took over the drumming spot. The live document "Damage" was released in 1994, as was the joint venture, "Redemption – Approaching Silence", which featured Sylvian's ambient sound sculptures (Approaching Silence) accompanying Fripp reading his own text (Redemption).


title: Robert Fripp

text: During the early and mid-1990s Fripp contributed guitar/soundscapes to "Lifeforms" (1994) by the Future Sound of London and "Cydonia" (released 2001) by the Orb, as well as "FFWD", a collaborative effort with the latter's members. In addition, Fripp worked with Brian Eno co-writing and supplying guitar to two tracks for a CD-ROM project released in 1994 entitled "Headcandy" created by Chris Juul and Doug Jipson. Eno thought the visual aspects of the disc (video feedback effects) were very disappointing upon completion, and regretted participation. During this period, Fripp also contributed to albums by No-Man and the Beloved (1994's "Flowermouth" and 1996's "X", respectively). He also contributed soundscapes and guitar to two albums by the UK band Iona: 1993's "Beyond These Shores" and 1996's "Journey into the Morn".


title: Robert Fripp

text: In late 1994, Fripp re-formed the 1981 line-up of King Crimson for its fifth incarnation, adding Trey Gunn and drummer Pat Mastelotto in a configuration known as the "double trio" (the line-up included two guitars, two bass/Stick players and two drummers). This line-up released the "VROOOM" EP in 1994, and the "Thrak" album in 1995.


title: Robert Fripp

text: Though musically (and relatively commercially) successful, the double-trio King Crimson proved difficult to sustain in the long-term. From 1997 to 1999, the band "fraKctalised" into five experimental instrumental sub-groups known as . By 1998 Bruford had quit the band altogether: in 2000, Fripp, Belew, Gunn and Mastelotto reunited as a four-piece King Crimson (minus Levin, who was busy with session work). This lineup produced two studio albums, "the construKction of light" in 2000 and "The Power to Believe" in 2003, which took on a more metallic, heavily electronic approach. Gunn departed at the end of 2003.


title: Robert Fripp

text: Although Levin immediately returned to the band, another hiatus followed until King Crimson reappeared in 2007 with a second drummer - Gavin Harrison of Porcupine Tree - appended to the lineup, This version of the band played a brief eastern USA tour in 2008, reassessing its 1981-2003 back catalogue and approach and introducing lengthy percussion duets between the two drummers. No new original material was recorded, and in 2010, Fripp announced that King Crimson were on another indefinite hiatus.


title: Robert Fripp

text: In 2004, Fripp toured with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai as the guitar trio G3. He also worked at Microsoft's studios to record the startup sound for Windows Vista. Fripp designed the soundscape and composed the melody, while Tucker Martine created the rhythm and Microsoft's own Steve Ball added the harmonies and created the final arrangement.


title: Robert Fripp

text: In late 2005 and early 2006, Fripp joined sometime R.E.M./Nine Inch Nails drummer Bill Rieflin's improvisational Slow Music project, along with guitarist Peter Buck, Fred Chalenor (acoustic bass), Matt Chamberlain (drums) and Hector Zazou (electronics). This collective of musicians toured the west coast of America in May 2006.


title: Robert Fripp

text: In 2006 Fripp contributed his composition "At The End Of Time" to the Artists for Charity album "Guitarists 4 the Kids", produced by Slang Productions, to assist World Vision Canada in helping underprivileged children. Throughout 2006, Fripp would perform many solo concerts of soundscapes in intimate settings in churches around England and Estonia. In October 2006, ProjeKct Six (Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew) played at select venues on the east coast of the U.S., opening for Porcupine Tree. In the same year, Fripp contributed soundscapes to two songs for Porcupine Tree's "Fear of a Blank Planet" - "Way Out of Here" and "Nil Recurring," the second of which was released in September 2007 as part of the Nil Recurring EP. Fripp also sporadically performed Soundscapes as an opening act for Porcupine Tree on various tours from 2006 through 2009.


title: Robert Fripp

text: In 2008, Fripp collaborated with Theo Travis on an album of guitar and flute-or-saxophone duets called 'Thread', and the duo played a brief English tour in 2009 (repeating the collaboration with the "Follow" album in 2012). Also in 2009, Fripp played a concert with the band the Humans (which consists of his wife Toyah Willcox, Bill Rieflin and Chris Wong), appeared on Judy Dyble's "Talking With Strangers" (along with Pat Mastelotto and others) and played on two tracks on Jakko Jakszyk's album "The Bruised Romantic Glee Club". In 2010, Fripp contributed a guitar solo to an extended version of the song 'Heathen Child' by Grinderman, released as a B-side on the 'Super Heathen Child' single.


title: Robert Fripp

text: In 2021, the ambient/electronica album Leviathan was released. Fripp produced it and played guitar, in collaboration with British EDM Duo The Grid.


title: Robert Fripp

text: In May 2011, Jakko Jakszyk, Robert Fripp and Mel Collins released a song album called "A Scarcity of Miracles: A King Crimson ProjeKct" on the Panegyric label. The album also featured contributions by Tony Levin and Gavin Harrison, leading to speculation that the project was a dry run for a new King Crimson.


title: Robert Fripp

text: In an interview published 3 August 2012, Fripp stated that he had retired from working as a professional musician, citing long-standing differences with Universal Music Group and stating that working within the music industry had become "a joyless exercise in futility". This retirement proved to be short-lived, lasting as long as it took to come to a settlement with UMG.


title: Robert Fripp

text: In his online diary entry for 6 September 2013, Fripp announced the return of King Crimson as a seven-piece unit with "four Englishmen and three Americans". The new lineup was Fripp, Levin, both Mastelotto and Harrison on drums, returning 1970s band member Mel Collins and two new members: Jakko Jakszyk as singer and second guitarist, and Bill Rieflin as a third drummer. This version of the band went on tour in 2014 and 2015 with a setlist reworking and reconfiguring the band's 1960s and 1970s material (plus songs from "A Scarcity of Miracles" and new compositions). In early 2016, it was announced that former Lemon Trees/Noel Gallagher drummer Jeremy Stacey would substitute for Rieflin on that year's tour while the latter was on sabbatical. King Crimson has since continued touring as a seven- or eight-piece unit with Stacey as a permanent member on drums and keyboards, plus Rieflin (when available) on keyboards and "fairy dusting." Rieflin last played with Crimson on the 2018 tours; he died 24 March 2020.


title: Robert Fripp

text: During the early years of King Crimson (1968–74), Fripp used two Gibson Les Paul guitars from 1957 and 1959. The '57 guitar featured three humbucker pick-ups (with one volume control on the pickguard controlling the middle pick-up). In the band's 1980s era, he favoured Roland GR-303 & GR-808 guitars for both straight guitar and synth control. In subsequent years, Fripp has used customized Les Paul-style guitars by Tokai, 48th St Custom, and Fernandes (the latter being his current choice).


title: Robert Fripp

text: A signature model named for the guitarist (Crimson Guitars Robert Fripp Signature) features Fernandes Sustainer and MIDI pickups with a Les Paul-style body. A significant difference from the Gibson Les Paul is that the signature model is built using a deep set neck tenon rather than a traditional set neck.


title: Robert Fripp

text: Fripp recommended that Guitar Craft students adopt the Ovation 1867 Legend steel-string guitar, which had a shallow body. "Fripp liked the way the Ovation 1867 fitted against his body, which made it possible for him to assume the right-arm picking position he had developed using electric guitars over the years; on deeper-bodied guitars, the Frippian arm position is impossible without uncomfortable contortions", according to Tamm. While the 1867 Legend is no longer manufactured, it influenced the design of the Guitar Craft Pro Model of Guitar Craft Guitars, which has been endorsed by Fripp.


title: Robert Fripp

text: Fripp began playing guitar at the age of eleven. When he started, he was tone deaf and had no rhythmic sense, weaknesses which led him later to comment "Music so wishes to be heard that it sometimes calls on unlikely characters to give it voice." He was also naturally left-handed but opted to play the guitar right-handed.


title: Robert Fripp

text: While being taught guitar basics by his teacher Don Strike, Fripp began to develop the technique of crosspicking, which became one of his specialities. Fripp teaches crosspicking to his students in Guitar Craft.


title: Robert Fripp

text: In 1985, Fripp began using a tuning he called "New Standard tuning" (C-G-D-A-E-G), which would also become popularised in Guitar Craft.


title: Robert Fripp

text: Fripp's guitar technique, unlike most rock guitarists of his era, is not blues-based but rather influenced by avant-garde jazz and European classical music. He combines rapid alternate picking and crosspicking with motifs employing whole-tone or diminished pitch structures and sixteenth-note patterns for long stretches in a form called "moto perpetuo" (perpetual motion).


title: Robert Fripp

text: Rather than stand when performing, he seats himself on a stool (unusual for a performer in rock music), and by doing so was called in a May 1974 issue of "Guitar Player" "the guitarist who sits on stage".


title: Robert Fripp

text: Many artists have cited Fripp as an influence or have expressed their admiration for him, including Steven Wilson, Omar Rodríguez-López, Trey Anastasio of Phish, St. Vincent, Kirk Hammett of Metallica, Michael Angelo Batio, Geoff Tate of Queensrÿche, Nels Cline of Wilco, Adam Jones of Tool, Merzbow, Vernon Reid of Living Colour, Ben Weinman of The Dillinger Escape Plan, Paul Masvidal of Cynic, Steve Stevens of Billy Idol, Chris Haskett of Rollins Band, Ivar Bjørnson of Enslaved, Dylan Carlson of Earth, Dan Briggs, Denis "Piggy" D'Amour of Voivod, Daniel Mongrain, Marcus Henderson, Paul Lemos of Controlled Bleeding, Richard Pinhas, Nick Reinhart of Tera Melos, Leopold Ross, electronic musician Rustie, film director Hal Hartley, and Sean Beavan.


title: Robert Fripp

text: Fripp married singer and actress Toyah Willcox on 16 May 1986 in Poole, Dorset, England. From December 1987 until July 1999 they lived at and renovated Reddish House, the former home of Cecil Beaton, in the village of Broad Chalke in Wiltshire.


title: Robert Fripp

text: Fripp previously lived at Thornhill Cottage, Holt, Dorset (1971-1980) and Fernhill House, Witchampton (1980-1987). After Reddish House, the couple lived at Evershot Old Mansion (1999-2001). They then moved to their present home in Pershore, Worcestershire. The couple have no children and have arranged their will so as to leave their entire fortune to the establishment of a musical educational trust for children.


title: Robert Fripp

text: Fripp is the patron of the Seattle Circle Guitar School in the United States and the Shallal Dance Theatre in Penzance, England. He also has had engagements as a motivational speaker, often at events with his sister Patricia, who is a keynote speaker and speech coach.


title: Robert Fripp

text: Alfie Fripp, the last of the "39ers", shot down by the Luftwaffe and then held in 12 different POW camps during World War II, was his uncle.


title: Robert Fripp

text: During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Fripp and Willcox uploaded many short, humorous videos to YouTube, usually covers of well-known songs, and mostly titled "Toyah and Robert's Sunday Lunch". According to rock and metal news website MetalSucks, their stories about these covers were extremely popular; their cover of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” was the site’s 6th-most popular story that year.


title: Robert Fripp

text: Asteroid 81947 Fripp, discovered by Marc Buie at Cerro Tololo in 2000, was named in his honour. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 18 May 2019 ().


title: Robert Fripp

text: Fripp is ranked 62nd on "Rolling Stone" magazine's 2011 list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time after having been ranked 42nd by David Fricke on its 2003 list. Tied with Andrés Segovia, he is ranked 47th on Gibson's Top 50 guitarists of all time.


title: Robert Fripp

text: In 1992, Fripp and producer/online content developer David Singleton co-founded Discipline Global Mobile (DGM) as an independent music label. DGM releases music by Fripp, KC, related acts, and other artists in CDs and in downloadable files. A 1998 "Billboard" profile stated that DGM had ten staff-members in Salisbury (England) and Los Angeles (USA). DGM has an aim "to be a model of ethical business in an industry founded on exploitation, oiled by deceit, riven with theft and fueled by greed." DGM insists that its artists retain all copyrights; consequently, even DGM's "knotwork" corporate-logo "(pictured above)" is owned by its designer, Steve Ball; the "knotwork" logo appeared earlier on the cover of later versions of the "Discipline" album. DGM's aims were called "exemplary" by Bill , who wrote that "Fripp has done something very important for the possibilities of experimental music" in creating DGM, which "has played a major role in creating favorable conditions for" King Crimson.


title: Robert Fripp

text: DGM publishes an on-line diary by Fripp, who often comments on performances and on relations with fans. A moderated forum allows fans to ask questions or to leave comments. Together, Fripp's diary and the fan forum display delayed dialogs in which Fripp and fans discuss diary-entries and forum-postings.


title: Robert Fripp

text: In 2009, Fripp released a statement claiming that EMI & Sanctuary Universal had uploaded music to various music stores without his consent, stating "NONE of these downloads were licensed, authorised or legitimised. that is, every single download of any KC track represents copyright violation. or, to use one syllable instead of seven, theft."


title: Robert Fripp

text: In 2011, Fripp complained that the music-distribution service Grooveshark continued to stream his music despite his having delivered repeated takedown notices. Fripp and Grooveshark's correspondence was published by "Digital Music News" and in his diaries, which appear on the website of Discipline Global Mobile.


title: Robert Fripp

text: Fripp's published exchange was included in a suit against Grooveshark by Universal Music Group, which was filed in November 2011. UMG cited internal documents revealing that Grooveshark employees uploaded thousands of illegal copies of UMG-owned recordings. Fripp had previous experience protecting his music in litigation with music companies.


title: Robert Fripp

text: Fripp has stated he believes "Unauthorised streaming or MP3 giveaways - it amounts to the same thing - copyright theft."


title: Robert Fripp

text: Fripp has been extremely active as a recording musician and a producer. He has contributed to more than 700 official releases. The Robert Fripp Discography Summary, compiled by John Relph, also lists 120 compilations and 315 unauthorised releases (such as bootlegs). This means that more than 1100 releases (including both official and unofficial ones, as well as both studio and live recordings) can be found with Fripp participating. Studio releases are listed here.


title: Nicki Clyne

text: Nicki Clyne is a Canadian actress, known for her role as Cally Henderson on the SyFy television series "Battlestar Galactica". Clyne is a member of NXIVM, a multi-level marketing company founded by Keith Raniere. Former members, the media, and cult experts have all described NXIVM as a "cult". Clyne is part of the remaining NXIVM members and has continued to defend NXIVM and its practice. Clyne has continued to support NXIVM founder Keith Raniere following his racketeering conviction for acts of human trafficking and sexual abuse.


title: Nicki Clyne

text: Clyne is known for her role as Cally Henderson in the 2003 reimagining of "Battlestar Galactica". Like several members of the cast, she was originally cast in a minor, non-recurring role but, having impressed the showrunners, became a major part of the series until her character's death in season four. In 2018, she appeared with fellow "Battlestar" alumnus Richard Hatch in the web series "Personal Space".


title: Nicki Clyne

text: She was also featured in two episodes of the podcast "Tiki Bar TV", and presented an episode of "HypaSpace". She stars alongside Lance Henriksen, Danielle Harris, Bill Moseley, and AFI's Davey Havok in the "illustrated film" series "Godkiller". Clyne hosted two seasons of Syfy's Blastr TV, covering science fiction pop culture and events. She appeared in the independent film "Lunamancer".


title: Nicki Clyne

text: Clyne is a member of NXIVM, a now defunct multi-level marketing large-group awareness training company founded by Keith Raniere and headquartered in Albany, New York. By her own account, she attended her first NXIVM event In November 2005, an "intensive with Executive Success Programs (ESP)," one of several NXIVM companies. It has been reported that Clyne left "Battlestar Galactica" in 2008 to focus on being a full-time member of NXIVM. Clyne denies the claim.


title: Nicki Clyne

text: Prosecutors dismantled NXIVM's corporation structures in 2020 by seizing First Principles Inc., the company with title to NXIVM and Keith Raniere's intellectual property. Nevertheless, Clyne and a small group of NXIVM members continue to proclaim Raniere's innocence and are described in media as NXIVM "die-hards," or "loyalists."


title: Nicki Clyne

text: Clyne has given statements to a federal court and the press that she has been a sexual partner of Keith Raniere for over a decade. Clyne married American actress Allison Mack, a fellow member of NXIVM and DOS and a sexual partner of Raniere, in 2017 and witnessed by another NXIVM member. The marriage was little discussed until Mack was arrested in 2018. In 2020 Allison Mack filed paperwork in Orange County, California to divorce Clyne.


title: Nicki Clyne

text: Fox News, quoting Frank Parlato, Jr. reported that the marriage was an immigration-related sham to keep Clyne (a Canadian citizen) in the United States. "The New York Times", citing prosecutors from the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, have said similar.


title: Nicki Clyne

text: In 2014, NXIVM adherent Rosa Laura Junco (daughter of Alejandro Junco de la Vega) founded the media organization "The Knife of Aristotle", later shortened to "The Knife". Clyne was given a job with the organization, and was credited as its "Executive Producer."By Clyne's own account, she helped Keith Raniere found a "secret sisterhood" that started in 2015 called "," (also known as "the Sorority," and "the Vow.") The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York would allege that DOS was arranged as a pyramidal organization with Raniere at the apex and subordinates Clyne, Mack and others as its "First Line." The First Line were Raniere's direct slaves, instructed to become "masters" by recruiting slaves of their own. The slaves of the First Line (and below) were to treat Raniere as "Grandmaster," but were not allowed at first to know of Raniere's participation.


title: Nicki Clyne

text: The DOS sorority required a number of acts of devotion involving masochism or submission. These acts included ceremonies conducted in the nude, one involving branding with a symbol that (undisclosed to several recipients) was a monogram of the initials of Keith Raniere. Members were instructed to provide humiliating photos and derogatory information about themselves as "collateral" used to blackmail them into obedience. At Raniere's trial, several recruits to DOS indicated their masters told them to have sex with Keith Raniere or an individual acting as his proxy. The group also practiced forms of corporal punishment ("penances") as well as severe caloric restriction and sleep deprivation.


title: Nicki Clyne

text: In October 2017 the "New York Times" ran an expose of Raniere, NXIVM and its relationship to DOS. The article featured Sarah Edmondson who gave her account of the branding ceremony. The following month, the "New York Post" reported Raniere fled to Mexico. Clyne later accidentally revealed his location on her Instagram, sharing a photo of a Puerto Vallarta landmark revealing his whereabouts to the FBI. In March 2018, Mexican police raided the vacation home where Raniere and DOS members Clyne, Mack, and Lauren Salzman were staying. The Mexican government deported Raniere as "persona non grata", and he was arrested by the United States. Lauren Salzman later testified that the day of the raid was supposed to be a "recommitment ceremony" involving group sex with Raniere.


title: Nicki Clyne

text: After Raniere's arrest, a grand jury in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York continued investigating Raniere and his associates, including Clyne. In addition to Keith Raniere, prosecutors charged Allison Mack, Clare Bronfman and several others for activities involving either DOS or NXIVM. Several were indicted in a racketeering enterprise indictment centering on human and sex trafficking of NXIVM and DOS members, as well as illegal acts targeting enemies of the organization. In the course of the investigation, the government subpoenaed Clyne to testify before the grand jury. She invoked her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, and was not indicted.


title: Nicki Clyne

text: At Raniere's trial, cooperating witness Lauren Salzman (a fellow DOS "First Line" member) testified that Clyne joined her in editing the recording of Sarah Edmondson's branding in a failed bid to preempt the October 2017 "New York Times" report.


title: Nicki Clyne

text: Salzman also testified at trial to the existence of a DOS "Sorority House" in Halfmoon, New York which hosted events where DOS slaves paddled and whipped one another, and where DOS slaves planned "seduction assignments" intended to traffic women for Raniere's gratification. Sex toys including a human-size cage and puppy play gear were also introduced as proof the house was used for human and sex trafficking.


title: Nicki Clyne

text: An FBI agent's affidavit supporting asset forfeiture indicates that while Rosa Laura Junco provided funds and owned the LLC that bought the DOS Sorority House, Clyne was Managing Member of the LLC and her passport included in purchase paperwork. After the DOS Sorority House was sold in 2018, proceeds were deposited into a trust account held by Clyne's lawyer, Edward Sapone. After Raniere's conviction, a magistrate judge authorized the seizure of the funds in August 2019.