Kermit the Frog. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters
Depending on whether or not you're a believer, he either started out life - as he likes to reminisce - as a tadpole in a pond with 3,265 brothers and sisters, or as a green coat chucked out by a teenage Jim Henson's mum.
Either way, the world's most famous frog, Kermit, turns 50 this month, writes James Sturcke. To mark his half century, he's off on a global tour which appropriately enough, kicks off today in Kermit, Texas, where - according to the local paper - police expect the population to swell six-fold for his arrival.
There's a three-day programme of events to celebrate. After the tedium of the dedication ceremonies, the party really gets going tomorrow with a gun and knife show, perhaps followed by a spot of impromptu frog baiting or dismemberment, fluffy or otherwise.
Kermit got his big break as a news reporter interviewing nursery rhyme characters on Sesame Street in 1971 before the Muppet Show started in 1976, with its paraphernalia of puppets.
With fierce competition from the Swedish chef, Miss Piggy, Gonzo the tyre-eating parrot and others for the affections of young (and old), it's arguable whether Kermit was the people's favourite muppet, but he is, without doubt, the most famous and enduring. Who'd bet on that new amphibian on the block, Crazy Frog, being around in 2055?
