title: Christopher Nolan

text: Impressed by his work on "Memento", filmmaker Steven Soderbergh recommended Nolan to Warner Bros. to direct the psychological thriller "Insomnia" (2002), although the studio initially wanted a more seasoned director. A remake of the 1997 Norwegian thriller of the same name, the film is viewed as "the outlier of Nolan's filmography" due to its perceived lack of unconventionality he is known for. Starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank, "Insomnia" follows two Los Angeles detectives sent to a northern Alaskan town to investigate the murder of a local teenager. It received positive reviews from critics and earned $113million against a budget of $46million. Film critic Roger Ebert praised the film for introducing new perspectives and ideas on the issues of morality and guilt, adding, "Unlike most remakes, the Nolan "Insomnia" is not a pale retread, but a re-examination of the material, like a new production of a good play." Richard Schickel of "Time" deemed "Insomnia" a "worthy successor" to "Memento" and "a triumph of atmosphere over a none-too-mysterious mystery". "Following", "Memento" and "Insomnia" established Nolan's image as an "auteur". After the lattermost, he wrote a screenplay for a biopic based on Howard Hughes's life. Nolan reluctantly tabled his script after learning that Martin Scorsese was already making one such film: "The Aviator" (2004). He turned down an offer to direct the historical epic "Troy" (2004).


title: Christopher Nolan

text: In early 2003, Nolan approached Warner Bros. with the idea of making a new Batman film, based on the character's origin story. Nolan was fascinated by the notion of grounding it in a more realistic world than a comic-book fantasy. He relied heavily on traditional stunts and miniature effects during filming, with minimal use of computer-generated imagery (CGI). "Batman Begins" (2005), the biggest project Nolan had undertaken to that point, was released to critical acclaim and commercial success. Starring Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman—along with Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman and Liam Neeson—"Batman Begins" revived the franchise, heralding a trend towards darker films that rebooted backstories. "Batman Begins" was 2005's ninth-highest-grossing film and was praised for its psychological depth and contemporary relevance; it is cited as one of the most influential films of the 2000s. Film author Ian Nathan wrote that within five years of his career, Nolan "[went] from unknown to indie darling to gaining creative control over one of the biggest properties in Hollywood, and (perhaps unwittingly) fomenting the genre that would redefine the entire industry".


title: Christopher Nolan

text: Nolan directed, co-wrote, and produced "The Prestige" (2006), an adaptation of the Christopher Priest novel about two rival 19th-century magicians. The screenplay was the result of an intermittent, five-year collaboration between him and his brother Jonathan, who had begun writing it already in 2001. Nolan initially intended to make the film as early as 2003, but had postponed the project after agreeing to make "Batman Begins". Starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale in the lead roles of rival magicians, "The Prestige" received critical acclaim and received two Academy Award nominations. Roger Ebert described it as "quite a movieatmospheric, obsessive, almost satanic", and Kenneth Turan of the "Los Angeles Times" called it an "ambitious, unnerving melodrama". "The Guardian" Philip French wrote: "In addition to the intellectual or philosophical excitement it engenders, "The Prestige" is gripping, suspenseful, mysterious, moving and often darkly funny." Despite a negative box-office prognosis, the film earned over $109million against a budget of $40million.


title: Christopher Nolan

text: "The Dark Knight" (2008), the follow-up to "Batman Begins", was Nolan's next venture. Initially reluctant to make a sequel, he agreed some time after Warner Bros. insisted. Nolan wanted to expand on the noir quality of the first film by broadening the canvas and taking on "the dynamic of a story of the city, a large crime story... where you're looking at the police, the justice system, the vigilante, the poor people, the rich people, the criminals". Continuing to minimalise the use of CGI, Nolan employed high-resolution IMAX cameras, making it the first major motion picture to utilise this technology. "The Dark Knight" has been ranked as one of the best films of the 2000s and one of the best superhero films ever made. Many critics cite "The Dark Knight" as "the most successful comic book film ever made". Manohla Dargis of "The New York Times" found the film to be of higher artistic merit than many Hollywood blockbusters: "Pitched at the divide between art and industry, poetry and entertainment, it goes darker and deeper than any Hollywood movie of its comic-book kind." Ebert expressed a similar point of view, describing it as a "haunted film that leaps beyond its origins and becomes an engrossing tragedy". "The Dark Knight" set many box-office records during its theatrical run, earning over $1billion worldwide. At the 81st Academy Awards, the film was nominated in eight categories, winning two: Best Sound Editing for Richard King and a posthumous Best Supporting Actor award for Heath Ledger. The film's failure to garner a Best Picture nomination was criticised by the media. Beginning in 2010, the Academy increased their Best Picture nominees from five to ten, a change known as "The Dark Knight Rule". Nolan received many awards and nominations for his work on the film.


title: Christopher Nolan

text: The success of "The Dark Knight" allowed Warner Bros. to sign Nolan to write, direct and co-produce "Inception" (2010) – a film for which he had the idea around nine years before its release. Nolan described the film as "a contemporary sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind". Starring a large ensemble cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio, the film became a critical and commercial success upon its release. Film critic Mark Kermode named it the best film of 2010, stating ""Inception" is proof that people are not stupid, that cinema is not trash, and that it is possible for blockbusters and art to be the same thing." Philosophy professor David Kyle Johnson wrote that ""Inception" became a classic almost as soon as it was projected on silver screens", praising its exploration of philosophical ideas, including leap of faith and allegory of the cave. The film grossed over $836million worldwide. Nominated for eight Academy Awards—including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay—it won Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing and Best Visual Effects. Nolan was also nominated for a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Director, among other accolades.


title: Christopher Nolan

text: In 2012, Nolan directed his third and final Batman film, "The Dark Knight Rises", in which Christian Bale reprised the title role. After initial hesitation, he agreed to return to direct and worked with his brother and David S. Goyer to develop a story that he felt would end the trilogy on a high note. The film was released to positive reviews; Kenneth Turan found the film "potent, persuasive and hypnotic" and "more than an exceptional superhero movie, it is masterful filmmaking by any standard". Christy Lemire of "HuffPost" wrote in her review that Nolan concluded his trilogy in a "typically spectacular, ambitious fashion", but disliked the "overloaded" story and excessive grimness. "The Dark Knight Rises" was a box office success, becoming the thirteenth film to gross $1billion. During a midnight showing of the film in Aurora, Colorado, a gunman opened fire inside the theatre, killing 12 people and injuring 58 others. Nolan released a statement to the press expressing his condolences for the victims of what he described as a "senseless tragedy".


title: Christopher Nolan

text: "The Dark Knight" trilogy inspired a trend in future superhero films seeking to replicate its gritty, realistic tone to little success. The second installment revitalised the genre at a time when recent superhero films had failed to meet expectations. Ben Child of "The Guardian" wrote that the three films "will remain thrilling totems of the genre for decades to come". During story discussions for "The Dark Knight Rises" in 2010, Goyer told Nolan of his idea to present Superman in a modern context. Impressed with Goyer's first contact concept, Nolan pitched the idea for "Man of Steel" (2013) to Warner Bros, who hired Nolan to produce and Zack Snyder to direct. Starring Henry Cavill as Clark Kent who learns that he is a powerful alien, "Man of Steel" grossed more than $660million at the worldwide box office and received mixed reviews.


title: Christopher Nolan

text: Nolan next directed, wrote, and produced the science-fiction film "Interstellar" (2014). The first drafts of the script were written by Jonathan Nolan, and it was originally to be directed by Steven Spielberg. Based on the scientific theories of theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, the film follows a group of astronauts who travel through a wormhole in search of a new home for humanity. Starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain, "Interstellar" was released to positive reviews and strong box office results, grossing $773million worldwide. Observing its "visual dazzle, thematic ambition", "The New York Times" A. O. Scott wrote that "Interstellar" is a "sweeping, futuristic adventure driven by grief, dread and regret". Documentary filmmaker Toni Myers called the film "a real work of art" and praised it for exploring a story spanning multiple generations. "Interstellar" was particularly praised for its scientific accuracy, which led to the publication of two academic papers. The American Journal of Physics called for it to be shown in school science lessons. At the 87th Academy Awards, the film won Best Visual Effects and received four other nominations. Also in 2014, Nolan and Emma Thomas served as executive producers on "Transcendence", the directorial debut of his longtime cinematographer Wally Pfister.


title: Christopher Nolan

text: In the mid-2010s, Nolan took part in several ventures for film preservation and distribution of the work of lesser-known filmmakers. His production company, Syncopy, formed a joint venture with Zeitgeist Films to release Blu-ray editions of Zeitgeist's films. As part of the Blu-ray release of the animation films of the Brothers Quay, Nolan directed the documentary short "Quay" (2015). He also initiated a theatrical tour, showcasing the Quays' "In Absentia", "The Comb", and "Street of Crocodiles". IndieWire wrote that the brothers "will undoubtedly have hundreds, if not thousands more fans because of Nolan, and for that "The Quay Brothers in 35mm" will always be one of latter's most important contributions to cinema". An advocate for the survival of the analogue medium, Nolan and visual artist Tacita Dean invited representatives from leading American film archives, laboratories and presenting institutions to participate in an informal summit entitled "Reframing the Future of Film" at the Getty Museum in March 2015. Subsequent events were held at Tate Modern in London, Museo Tamayo in Mexico City and Tata Theatre in Mumbai. In April 2015, Nolan joined the board of directors of The Film Foundation, a non-profitable organisation dedicated to film preservation, and was appointed, along with Martin Scorsese, by the Library of Congress to serve on the National Film Preservation Board as DGA representatives.


title: Christopher Nolan

text: After serving as an executive producer on Zack Snyder's "" (2016) and "Justice League" (2017), Nolan returned to directing with "Dunkirk" (2017). Based on his own original screenplay and co-produced with Thomas, the film is set amid World War II in 1940 and the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk, France. Describing the film as a survival tale with a triptych structure, Nolan wanted to make a "sensory, almost experimental movie" with minimal dialogue. He said he waited to make "Dunkirk" until he had earned the trust of a major studio to let him make it as a British film but with an American budget. Before filming, Nolan sought advice from Spielberg, who later said in an interview with "Variety", "knowing and respecting that Chris [Nolan] is one of the world's most imaginative filmmakers, my advice to him was to leave his imagination, as I did on "Ryan", in second position to the research he was doing to authentically acquit this historical drama". Starring an ensemble cast, "Dunkirk" was released to widespread critical acclaim and strong box office results. It grossed over $526million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing World WarII film of all time. In his review, Mick LaSalle of the "San Francisco Chronicle" wrote: "It's one of the best war films ever made, distinct in its look, in its approach and in the effect it has on viewers. There are movies—they are rare—that lift you out of your present circumstances and immerse you so fully in another experience that you watch in a state of jaw-dropped awe. "Dunkirk" is that kind of movie." The film received many accolades, including Nolan's first Oscar nomination for Best Director.


title: Christopher Nolan

text: In 2018, Nolan supervised a new 70mm print of Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968), made from the original camera negative; he presented it at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. "USA Today" observed that festival-goers greeted the director "like a rock star with a standing ovation". A year later, Nolan and Thomas received executive producer credits on "The Doll's Breath" (2019), an animated short directed by the Quay brothers.


title: Christopher Nolan

text: Nolan's next directorial effort was the science fiction film "Tenet" (2020), a project Tom Shone of "The Sunday Times" described as "a globe-spinning riff on all things Nolanesque". Nolan had worked on the screenplay for more than five years after deliberating about its central ideas for over a decade. Delayed three times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, "Tenet" was the first Hollywood tent-pole to open in theatres after the pandemic shutdown. The film tells the story of a CIA agent who travels through time to stop a world-threatening attack. It grossed $363million worldwide against a production budget of $200million, becoming Nolan's first to underperform at the box-office. "Tenet" was described as the most polarising effort of his career; critics praised the direction but found its story confusing. Peter Bradshaw of "The Guardian" awarded the film a full five stars, calling it "a cerebral cadenza, a deadpan flourish of crazy implausibility—but supercharged with steroidal energy and imagination". Leslie Felperin of "The Hollywood Reporter" described it as "a chilly, cerebral film—easy to admire, especially since it's so rich in audacity and originality, but almost impossible to love, lacking as it is in a certain humanity". At the 93rd Academy Awards, the film won Best Visual Effects and was nominated for Best Production Design. Following the release of "Tenet", Nolan joined the Advisory Board of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. He served as an executive producer on "Zack Snyder's Justice League" (2021), a director's cut of 2017's "Justice League".


title: Christopher Nolan

text: Nolan's twelfth directorial venture will be "Oppenheimer" (2023), a biopic based on J. Robert Oppenheimer (played by Cillian Murphy) and his role in the development of the atom bomb. The film will be financed and distributed by Universal Pictures, making it Nolan's first since "Memento" that was not made for Warner Bros. Nolan secured the deal with Universal after he was promised a production budget of around $100 million with an equal marketing budget, total creative control, 20 per cent of first-dollar gross, a 100-day theatrical window and a blackout period from the studio wherein the company would not release another film three weeks before or after "Oppenheimer" release.


title: Christopher Nolan

text: Nolan is married to Emma Thomas, whom he met at University College London when he was 19. She has worked as a producer on all of his films since 1997. The couple have four children and reside in Los Angeles, California.


title: Christopher Nolan

text: Nolan rarely grants promotional interviews about his films and prefers to maintain a certain level of mystery about his work. Refusing to discuss his personal life, he feels that too much biographical information about a filmmaker detracts from the experience of his audiences. "I actually don't want people to have me in mind at all when they're watching the films." Author Stuart Joy felt that Nolan's unwillingness to talk about his personal life shows a desire for control, one of the recurring themes in his work.


title: Christopher Nolan

text: Nolan has publicly shared some of his socio-political concerns for the future, such as the current conditions of nuclear weapons and environmental issues that he says need to be addressed. He has expressed his admiration for scientific objectivity, wishing it were applied "in every aspect of our civilisation". Nolan serves on the Motion Picture & Television Fund Board of Governors.


title: Christopher Nolan

text: Nolan's films are majorly centred in metaphysical themes, exploring the concepts of time, memory, and personal identity. His work is characterised by mathematically inspired ideas and images, unconventional narrative structures, materialistic perspectives, and evocative use of music and sound. Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro called Nolan "an emotional mathematician". BBC's arts editor Will Gompertz described him as "an art house auteur making intellectually ambitious blockbuster movies that can leave your pulse racing and your head spinning". Nolan views himself as "an indie filmmaker working inside the studio system".


title: Christopher Nolan

text: In the sixteen-essay book "The Philosophy of Christopher Nolan", professional philosophers and writers analysed Nolan's work; they identified themes of self-destruction, the truth's nature and value, and the political mindset of the hero and villain, among others. Robbie B. H. Goh, a professor of English literature, described Nolan as a "philosophical filmmaker" who includes philosophical ideas—existentialism, morality, epistemology and the distinction between appearance and reality—in films that frequently portray suspense, action and violence. Goh appreciated his ability to incorporate such themes in films that possess "elements of the Hollywood blockbuster"—which help keep the audiences engaged—but simultaneously remain "more thoughtful and self-reflexive than the typical consumerist action film". He further wrote that Nolan's body of work reflect "a heterogeneity of conditions of products" extending from low-budget films to lucrative blockbusters, "a wide range of genres and settings" and "a diversity of styles that trumpet his versatility".


title: Christopher Nolan

text: Film theorist David Bordwell opined that Nolan has been able to blend his "experimental impulses" with the demands of mainstream entertainment, further describing his oeuvre as, "experiments with cinematic time by means of techniques of subjective viewpoint and crosscutting." Nolan's use of practical, in-camera effects, miniatures and models, as well as shooting on celluloid film, has been highly influential in early 21st century cinema. "IndieWire" wrote in 2019 that the director "kept a viable alternate model of big-budget filmmaking alive" in an era where blockbuster filmmaking has become "a largely computer-generated art form". Because of Nolan's deep involvement in the technical facet of his films, Stuart Joy described him as a "complete filmmaker" who "oversees all aspects of production while also managing cultural and industrial factors outside of the text".


title: Christopher Nolan

text: Nolan has made some of the most influential and popular films of his time. Many of his films have been regarded by critics as among the best of their respective decades, and according to "The Wall Street Journal", his "ability to combine box-office success with artistic ambition has given him an extraordinary amount of clout in the industry". His films have earned $4.9billion, making him the most commercially successful filmmaker from the British Isles since Alfred Hitchcock. Nolan's films "Memento" and "The Dark Knight" have been selected by the US Library of Congress to be preserved in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". These films and "Inception" appeared in BBC's 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century and "The Hollywood Reporter" poll of best films ever made. In 2017, "The Dark Knight", "Inception" and "Interstellar" featured in "Empire" magazine's poll of "The 100 Greatest Movies". Nolan has been described as "American cinema's most experimental blockbuster auteur" and a "franchise unto himself". In 2022, "Parade" ranked Nolan number eight in its list of 75 Best Movie Directors of All Time.


title: Christopher Nolan

text: Nolan's work has been as "intensely embraced, analysed and debated by ordinary film fans as by critics and film academics". Calling him "a persuasively inventive storyteller", Geoff Andrew of the British Film Institute named Nolan one of the few contemporary filmmakers producing highly personal films within the Hollywood mainstream. Andrew wrote that Nolan's films are "not so much [notable] for their considerable technical virtuosity and visual flair as for their brilliant narrative ingenuity and their unusually adult interest in complex philosophical questions". David Bordwell observed that Nolan is "considered one of the most accomplished living filmmakers", citing his ability to turn genre movies into both art and event films, as well as his box office numbers, critical acclaim, and popularity among cinemagoers. In 2008, Philip French deemed Nolan "the first major talent to emerge this [21st] century". Mark Kermode complimented Nolan for bringing "the discipline and ethics of art-house independent moviemaking and apply[ing] them to Hollywood blockbusters. He's living proof that you don't have to appeal to the lowest common denominator to be profitable". "The Observer" Ryan Gilbey described Nolan as a "skillful, stylish storyteller, capable of combining the spectacle of Spielberg with the intellectual intricacy of Nicolas Roeg or Alain Resnais". Mark Cousins applauded Nolan for embracing big ideas, "Hollywood filmmakers generally shy away from ideas—but not Christopher Nolan". Scott Foundas of "Variety" declared Nolan "the premier big-canvas storyteller of his generation", and Justin Chang of the "Los Angeles Times" called him "the great proceduralist of 21st century blockbuster filmmaking, a lover of nuts-and-bolts minutiae".


title: Christopher Nolan

text: Nolan has been praised by many of his contemporaries, and his work has influenced them. Kenneth Branagh called Nolan's approach to large-scale filmmaking "unique in modern cinema", adding, "regardless of how popular his movies become, he remains an artist and an auteur. I think for that reason he has become a heroic figure for both the audience and the people working behind the camera." Michael Mann complimented Nolan for his "singular vision" and credited with "invent[ing] the post-heroic superhero". Nicolas Roeg said of Nolan, "People talk about 'commercial art' and the term is usually self-negating; Nolan works in the commercial arena and yet there's something very poetic about his work." Martin Scorsese identified Nolan as a filmmaker creating "beautifully made films on a big scale".


title: Christopher Nolan

text: Damien Chazelle lauded Nolan for his ability "to make the most seemingly impersonal projects—superhero epics, deep-space mind-benders—feel deeply personal". Discussing the difference between art films and big studio blockbusters, Steven Spielberg referred to Nolan's "Dark Knight" series as an example of both; he has described "Memento" and "Inception" as "masterworks". Denis Villeneuve was impressed by Nolan's ability "to keep his identity and create his own universe in that large scope... To bring intellectual concepts and to bring them in that scope to the screen right now—it's very rare. Every movie that he comes out with, I have more admiration for his work." James Cameron expressed disappointment that Nolan was not Academy Award-nominated as Best Director for "Inception", calling it "the most astounding piece of film creation and direction of the year, hands down".


title: Christopher Nolan

text: Nolan has been nominated for five Academy Awards, five British Academy Film Awards and six Golden Globe Awards. Nolan was named an Honorary Fellow of UCL in 2006, and conferred an honorary doctorate in literature (DLit) in 2017. From 2011 to 2014, he appeared in "Forbes" Celebrity 100 list based on his income and popularity. In 2012, he became the youngest director to receive a hand-and-footprint ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. Nolan appeared in "Time" 100 most influential people in the world in 2015. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to film.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently released the extended play, "No. 5 Collaborations Project". He signed with Asylum Records the same year.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Sheeran's debut album, "+" (pronounced "plus"), was released in September 2011 and topped the UK Albums Chart. It contained his first hit single "The A Team". In 2012, Sheeran won the Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act. Sheeran's second studio album, "×" (pronounced "multiply"), topped charts around the world upon its release in June 2014. It was named the second-best-selling album worldwide of 2015. In the same year, "×" won Album of the Year at the 2015 Brit Awards, and he received the Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. A single from "×", "Thinking Out Loud", earned him the 2016 Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Sheeran's third album, "÷" (pronounced "divide"), was released in March 2017, and was the best-selling album worldwide of 2017. The first two singles from the album, "Shape of You" and "Castle on the Hill", broke records in a number of countries by debuting in the top two positions of the charts. He also became the first artist to have two songs debut in the US top 10 in the same week. By March 2017, Sheeran had accumulated ten top 10 singles from "÷" on the UK Singles Chart, breaking the record for most top 10 UK singles from one album. His fourth single from "÷", "Perfect", reached number one in the US, Australia and the UK, where it became the Christmas number one in 2017. The world's best-selling artist of 2017, he was named the Global Recording Artist of the Year. Released in 2019, his fourth studio album "No.6 Collaborations Project" debuted at number one in most major markets, and spawned three UK number one singles, "I Don't Care", "Beautiful People" and "Take Me Back to London". His fifth studio album, "=" (pronounced "equals"), topped the charts in most major markets in 2021.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Sheeran has sold more than 150 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists. He has 101 million RIAA-certified units in the US, and two of his albums are in the list of the best-selling albums in UK chart history. In December 2019, the Official Charts Company named him artist of the decade, with the most combined success in the UK album and singles charts in the 2010s. Globally, Spotify named him the second most streamed artist of the decade. Beginning in March 2017, his ÷ Tour became the highest-grossing of all time in August 2019. An alumnus of the National Youth Theatre in London, Sheeran's acting roles include appearing in the 2019 film "Yesterday".


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Edward Christopher Sheeran was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England on 17 February 1991. His early childhood home was on Birchcliffe Road in nearby Hebden Bridge. His father was a curator at Cartwright Hall in Bradford and his mother worked at Manchester City Art Gallery. In December 1995 he moved with his family from Hebden Bridge to Framlingham in Suffolk, where he attended the independent Brandeston Hall preparatory school (now Framlingham College Prep School), then Thomas Mills High School, also in Framlingham. He has an older brother named Matthew, who works as a composer. Sheeran's parents, John and Imogen, are from London. His paternal grandparents are Irish, and Sheeran has stated that his father is from a "very large" Catholic family. John is an art curator and lecturer, and Imogen is a culture publicist turned jewellery designer. His parents ran Sheeran Lock, an independent art consultancy, from 1990 to 2010.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Sheeran sang at a local church choir at the age of four, learned how to play the guitar at age eleven, and began writing songs while at Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham. He also played the cello when he was younger. A 2004 school report described him as a "natural performer", and his classmates also voted him "most likely to be famous". He was accepted at the National Youth Theatre in London as a teenager. He successfully auditioned for Youth Music Theatre UK in 2007 and joined their production of "Frankenstein – A New Musical" in Plymouth. He is a patron of Youth Music Theatre UK (now renamed British Youth Music Theatre) and of Access to Music, where he studied Artist Development. Sheeran is a second cousin of Northern Irish broadcaster Gordon Burns, who hosted the British game show "The Krypton Factor".


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Sheeran began recording music in 2004, and at the age of thirteen independently released his first collection of work, titled "Spinning Man". He has been friends with fellow English singer, Passenger, since he was 15, with the two playing the same gig in Cambridge. He moved to London in 2008 and began playing in small venues. In 2008, he auditioned for the ITV series "Britannia High". He also opened for Nizlopi in Norwich in April 2008, after being one of their guitar technicians. In the autumn of 2009, Sheeran began studying music at the Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) in Guildford, Surrey as an undergraduate at the age 18, but left without permission in the same year to support hip-hop artist Just Jack.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: He released another EP in 2009, "You Need Me", and also collaborated several times with Essex singer Leddra Chapman, including CeeLo Green's "Fuck You". In February 2010, Sheeran posted a video through SB.TV – a channel launched by British entrepreneur Jamal Edwards – and rapper Example invited Sheeran to tour with him. In the same month, he also released his critically acclaimed "Loose Change" EP, which featured his future debut single, "The A Team".


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Sheeran began to be seen by more people over the internet through YouTube and his fan base expanded, with him also receiving praise from "The Independent" newspaper and Elton John. He played a "Station Session" in St. Pancras International in June 2010. Some of the episode is on their Facebook page Sheeran also self-released two other EPs in 2010, "Ed Sheeran: Live at the Bedford" and "Songs I Wrote with Amy", which is a collection of love songs he wrote in Wales with Amy Wadge. When in Los Angeles in 2010, he was invited to perform at The Foxxhole, a club run by actor Jamie Foxx, which ended with an invitation to stay at Foxx's home.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: On 8 January 2011, Sheeran released another independent EP, "No. 5 Collaborations Project", featuring grime artists such as Wiley, Jme, Devlin, Sway and Ghetts. With this EP, Sheeran gained mainstream attention for having reached number 2 in the iTunes chart without any promotion or label, selling over 7,000 copies in the first week. Three months later, Sheeran put on a free show to fans at the Barfly in Camden Town. Over 1,000 fans turned up, so Sheeran played four different shows to ensure everyone saw a gig, including a gig outside on the street after the venue had closed. Later that month, Sheeran was signed to Asylum Records.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: On 26 April 2011, Sheeran appeared on the BBC music show "Later... with Jools Holland", where he performed his debut single "The A Team". Six weeks later, "The A Team" was released as a digital download in the UK. The release served as the lead single from Sheeran's debut studio album, "+" (pronounced "plus"). "The A Team" entered the UK Singles Chart at number three, selling over 58,000 copies in the first week. It was the best-selling debut single and the overall eighth-best selling single of 2011, selling 801,000 copies. The lead single also became a top ten hit in Australia, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway and the Netherlands. During a headline set in the BBC Introducing tent at Glastonbury Festival 2011, Sheeran announced that "You Need Me, I Don't Need You" would be released on 26 August as the second single from the album. The second single peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart. "Lego House" was released as the third single, reaching the top ten on the Australian, Irish and New Zealand Singles Charts. The music video for "Lego House" features actor Rupert Grint, as a play on their similar appearance. "Drunk", released on 19 February 2012, became Sheeran's fourth consecutive top ten single in the UK, peaking at number nine.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Sheeran released "+" on 12 September 2011. The album received generally favourable reviews from music critics and debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart for sales of 102,000 copies. By end of 2011, sales of the album in the UK stand at 791,000; it became the second best-selling debut album and the ninth biggest-selling album there. The album has been certified platinum six times by the British Phonographic Industry, denoting shipments of 1,800,000 copies. As of March 2012, the album had sold 1,021,072 copies in the UK. The album also reached the top five in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the US.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: The song, "Moments", on the debut album by boy band One Direction, released in November 2011, was co-written by Sheeran. At the 2012 Brit Awards on 21 February, Sheeran won the Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist, and British Breakthrough Act of the Year. On 10 January 2012, it was announced that Sheeran would support Snow Patrol on their US tour from late March until May. His song, "Give Me Love", was featured in the episode "Dangerous Liaisons" of "The Vampire Diaries". At the Ivor Novello Awards in May 2012, Sheeran's "The A Team" bested Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" and Florence and the Machine's "Shake It Out" for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. Sheeran performed "The A Team" at the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II concert held on The Mall outside Buckingham Palace on 4 June 2012 and a cover of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London on 12 August 2012.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Taylor Swift contacted Sheeran after hearing his music while touring Australia in March 2012. He later co-wrote and provided vocals for "Everything Has Changed", a single featured on Swift's fourth studio album, "Red". Sheeran also contributed two songs to One Direction's second studio album, "Take Me Home", released in November 2012; the single "Little Things" became the group's second number-one in the UK. Sheeran's album peaked at No. 5 on the "Billboard" 200, while "The A Team" reached No. 16 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100. In late 2012 and early 2013, he headlined a US tour of 6,000–9,000 capacity venues. "The A Team" received a nomination for Song of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards. Elton John, who runs Sheeran's management company, canvassed the award organisers to get Sheeran a performance slot at the ceremony but was told that Sheeran alone was not high-profile enough. John decided to appear with Sheeran to circumvent this problem. Sheeran was also featured on some tracks from Irish singer Foy Vance's fourth album "Joy of Nothing".


title: Ed Sheeran

text: From March to September 2013, Sheeran played at arenas and stadiums across North America as the opening act for Swift's The Red Tour. According to Sheeran, it was then his biggest tour, and he added a scarlet RED tattoo to commemorate it. In October 2013, Sheeran headlined three sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden. At the concert, Sheeran debuted new songs, including "Tenerife Sea", a future track on his second studio album. Sheeran released "I See Fire" on 5 November 2013. The song is featured in the end credits of the film "", the film's soundtrack, and on the deluxe version of his second album. Sheeran was nominated for Best New Artist at the 2014 Grammy Awards.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: On 24 March 2014, Sheeran performed at the Teenage Cancer Trust charity concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London where he unveiled "Take It Back", a track that would appear on the deluxe version of the second album. "Sing", the lead single, was released on 7 April 2014. Sonically, the song is a departure from Sheeran's previous recordings. "Sing" was intended to create hype over the album release, but from concern that this might alienate Sheeran's fan base, "One", an acoustic ballad, was released on 16 May 2014; "One" also marked the first of several promotional singles released leading to the album release. By early June 2014, "Sing" had earned Sheeran his first number-one single in the UK.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Sheeran's second studio album, "×" (pronounced "multiply"), was released worldwide on 23 June 2014. Spanning three years, Sheeran wrote more than 120 songs for the album. The album features tracks produced by Rick Rubin, Pharrell Williams and Benny Blanco, as well as that of Gosling's. "×" peaked at number one in both the UK Albums Chart and the US "Billboard" 200. To support the album, Sheeran embarked on a world tour starting on 6 August 2014 at Osaka, Japan. On 27 September 2014, Sheeran was one of the headline acts at the Melbourne Cricket Ground prior to the 2014 AFL Grand Final.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Following "Don't", "Thinking Out Loud" was released on 24 September 2014 as the album's third single. Unlike his previous music videos, Sheeran took the lead role in the single's accompaniment, where he performed a ballroom dance. It became his second single to reach number one in the UK, and it also spent eight weeks at number two on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 (with only "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars keeping it from top spot). In 2014, combined streams on Sheeran's catalogue in Spotify reached 860 million; Spotify named him the most-streamed artist and "×" the most-streamed album. In the same year, the album made Sheeran iTunes' best-selling artist in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: "×" was nominated for Album of the Year at the 57th Grammy Awards. Sheeran performed "Thinking Out Loud" alongside John Mayer, Questlove and Herbie Hancock at the ceremony. On 25 February, Sheeran won British Male Solo Artist and British Album of the Year for "×" at the 2015 Brit Awards. On 21 May he received the Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year. On 21 June, Sheeran co-hosted the 2015 Much Music Video Awards in Toronto, where he performed the singles, "Thinking Out Loud" and "Photograph"; he also won two awards, Best International Artist and Most Buzzworthy International Artist or Group. On 27 June, Sheeran performed as the opening act for The Rolling Stones in their Zip Code Tour date in Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium. On 10–12 July 2015, Sheeran performed sold-out shows at London's Wembley Stadium. The shows, which were announced in November 2014, were part of his world tour. The concert was documented and aired on 16 August 2015 on NBC; the one-hour special "Ed Sheeran – Live at Wembley Stadium" also included behind-the-scenes footage. In November 2015 Sheeran released the DVD ""; the title is a nod to playing concerts at Wembley Stadium, the home of English football.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: In 2015, Sheeran wrote "Love Yourself" for Justin Bieber's fourth album. Sheeran had initially planned to put the song on his third album ÷ and added that the track would have been scrapped before Bieber took the song. In August 2015, he sang along with Macklemore on the track "Growing Up". On 26 September, Sheeran performed at the 2015 Global Citizen Festival in Central Park's Great Lawn in New York, an event organised by Coldplay lead singer, Chris Martin, that advocates an end to extreme global poverty. Sheeran headlined the festival along with Beyoncé, Coldplay, and Pearl Jam. The festival was broadcast on NBC in the US on 27 September and the BBC in the UK on 28 September. Sheeran co-hosted the 2015 MTV Europe Music Awards on 25 October in Milan, Italy. He won the awards for Best Live Act and Best Live Stage; the latter was in recognition for his performance at the 2014 V Festival in England. Sheeran won the Breakthrough award at the 2015 "Billboard" Touring Awards. His single from "×", "Thinking Out Loud", earned him two Grammy Awards at the 2016 ceremony: Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. In May 2016, "×" was named the second-best-selling album worldwide in 2015, behind "25" by Adele.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: On 13 December 2016, after a year long hiatus and social media break, Sheeran tweeted a picture and changed his Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to a light blue, implying the release of a new album – each of Sheeran's previous albums were a single coloured background with a solid mathematical symbol. On 2 January, he posted a 10-second video on Twitter and other social media showing what was the cover design of his forthcoming album entitled "÷" (pronounced "divide") which was released on 3 March 2017. The album debuted at number one in the UK, the US, Germany, Australia, Canada and other major markets. With first week sales of 672,000 it is the fastest selling album by a male solo artist in the UK, and third fastest in UK chart history behind "25" by Adele and "Be Here Now" by Oasis. It had the biggest first week sales of 2017 in the US, until it was surpassed by Taylor Swift's "Reputation".


title: Ed Sheeran

text: On 6 January, Sheeran released two singles, "Shape of You" and "Castle on the Hill"; the theme of the latter single Sheeran's upbringing in his home town of Framlingham in Suffolk, with the castle referring to Framlingham Castle. Following the release of these singles, Sheeran co-hosted the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Scott Mills where it was implied that he would possibly make an appearance at the Glastonbury Festival in 2017. It was also during this show that Sheeran used a new Martin guitar that featured the ÷ logo (of his new album) on both the headstock and body of the acoustic guitar. Both singles went on to break the Spotify day one streaming record, with a combined total of over 13 million streams in 24 hours.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: On 13 January, "Shape of You" and "Castle on the Hill" entered the UK Singles Chart at number one and number two, the first time in history an artist has taken the top two UK chart positions with new songs. The same day he also became the first artist to debut at number one and number two on the German Single Charts. On 15 January, the songs debuted at number one and number two on the ARIA Singles Chart, the first time this has been achieved in the history of the Australian chart. On 17 January, "Shape of You" debuted at number one on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, while "Castle on the Hill" entered at number six; this made Sheeran the first artist ever to have two songs simultaneously debut in the US top 10. The team behind TLC's song "No Scrubs" were given writing credits on "Shape of You" after fans and critics found similarities between elements of the two songs.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: On 26 January, Sheeran announced dates for the beginning of the Divide Tour with shows in Europe, South America and North America from 17 March until 14 June 2017. On 17 February, Sheeran released "How Would You Feel (Paean)". Though not an official single, the song peaked at number two in the UK. By 11 March 2017 Sheeran had accumulated ten top 10 singles from "÷" on the UK Singles Chart, breaking Scottish DJ Calvin Harris's record of nine top 10 singles from one album. On 25 June, Sheeran headlined the final night of Glastonbury, performing in front of 135,000 people. At the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards Sheeran was named Artist of the Year. The fourth single from "÷", "Perfect", reached number one in the UK and Australia, and a stripped-down acoustic version of the song titled "Perfect Duet", a collaboration with Beyoncé, reached number one in the US and the UK, becoming the year's UK Christmas number one. On 7 November, Taylor Swift revealed that Sheeran collaborated on the song "End Game" for her sixth studio album "Reputation". The song, which also features rapper Future, was released on 10 November.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: On 4 December, Sheeran was named Spotify's most streamed artist of 2017 with 6.3 billion streams. He has Spotify's biggest album of the year with "÷" streamed 3.1 billion times, and the top song with "Shape of You" with 1.4 billion streams. On 5 December 2017, hip-hop artist Eminem announced that Sheeran had collaborated on the song "River" for his ninth studio album "Revival". On working with Eminem, Sheeran stated, "He is one of the reasons I started writing songs, and was such a pleasure to work with him." In December 2017, Sheeran appeared on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge, performing his song "Perfect" and a duet of The Pogues' festive classic "Fairytale of New York" with Anne-Marie.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: On 3 January 2018, "Shape of You" was named the best selling single of 2017 in the UK, and the best selling single of 2017 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in the US. The same day, "÷" was named the best selling album of 2017 in the UK, and the US. As the best-selling artist worldwide for 2017 the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) named him the Global Recording Artist of the Year. At the 2018 Brit Awards held at the O Arena in London on 21 February, Sheeran performed "Supermarket Flowers", and received the Global Success Award from Elton John and Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood. Sheeran played to over 950,000 people in Australia and New Zealand in March and April, making it the biggest concert tour in Australasian music history, overtaking the previous record set by Dire Straits in 1986. In April, the IFPI named "÷" the best-selling album worldwide of 2017. At the 2018 "Billboard" Music Awards on 20 May, Sheeran performed "Galway Girl" from Phoenix Park in Dublin, Ireland, and picked up six awards, including Top Artist and Top Hot 100 Artist. In 2018 Sheeran wrote songs for boy bands. "Trust Fund Baby", by Why Don't We, was released on 1 February 2018, and "Summer On You", by PrettyMuch, was released on 21 June 2018.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: On 10 May 2019, Sheeran released the single "I Don't Care", a duet with Justin Bieber, from his fourth studio album "No.6 Collaborations Project". On Spotify, "I Don't Care" debuted with 10.977 million daily global streams, breaking the platform's single-day streaming record. The song debuted at number one in the UK, Australia and other markets, and number two in the US. On 31 May, "Cross Me" featuring Chance the Rapper and PnB Rock, debuted at number 9 in the UK. Released on 28 June 2019, "Beautiful People" featuring Khalid debuted at number 3 in the UK and number 4 in Australia. On 5 July, Sheeran released two new songs, "Best Part of Me" featuring Yebba, and "Blow" with Bruno Mars and Chris Stapleton. On 12 July, he released the album, along with "Antisocial" with Travis Scott. The album debuted at number one in the UK, the US, Australia and other markets. As of 9 August 2019, his four albums have spent a combined 41 weeks at number one in the UK, the most weeks at number one in the UK Album Charts in the 2010s, five weeks more than Adele in second. On 26 August, Sheeran wrapped up the 260-show Divide Tour with the last of four homecoming gigs in Ipswich, Suffolk; the tour included, for example, his performance for over 100,000 people at Malmi Airport in Helsinki, Finland on 24 July. On 30 August, the seventh single from the album, "Take Me Back to London" featuring Stormzy, reached number one in the UK.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: In 2019, Sheeran co-wrote country music singer Kenny Chesney's single "Tip of My Tongue". In December 2019, Sheeran was named artist of the decade by the Official Charts Company for being the most successful performer in the UK album and singles charts of the 2010s. Eight of his songs featured in the Official Chart Company's chart of the decade with three songs inside the top 5 – "Shape of You" was named number one. Globally, Spotify named him the second most streamed artist of the decade behind Drake. On 21 December 2020, after being on hiatus after having his first child with Cherry Seaborn in August, he released the surprise single, "Afterglow".


title: Ed Sheeran

text: On 25 June 2021, Sheeran released "Bad Habits", the lead single from his upcoming fifth studio album. His 10th UK number one single, the song spent eleven consecutive weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart and Irish Singles Chart, topped the charts in Australia, Canada and Germany among others, and peaked at number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in the US. His eleventh week at number one in the UK saw him become the first British solo artist to notch up 52 weeks at Number 1 across his catalogue, with only Elvis Presley (80 weeks) and The Beatles (69 weeks) achieving more weeks at the summit. On 19 August, Sheeran announced that his fifth studio album would be called "=" (pronounced "equals") and released on 29 October 2021 with a total of 14 songs. The cover was painted by him during the first COVID-19 lockdown, and is based on the changes his life had during the last four years, including marriage, having a child and losing friends. The promotional single "Visiting Hours" was released alongside the announcement. On 9 September, he was part of the 2021 Kickoff Experience ahead of the American NFL season opening game. Released on 10 September, "Shivers" dethroned "Bad Habits" at the top of the UK and Irish singles charts. Topping the charts in most major markets, "=" became his fifth UK number one album, and fourth US number one.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: On 29 November 2021, Sheeran and Elton John released "Merry Christmas", a duet single for charity. Inspired by a scene from the 2003 romantic-comedy film "Love Actually", the song's music video sees the duo pay homage to scenes from past British Christmas hits, including "Last Christmas", "Walking in the Air", "Merry Christmas Everyone", and "Stay Another Day". All of the UK profits from the song went to the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Debuting at number one in the UK Singles Chart on 10 December, it was Sheeran's 12th chart-topper. On 23 December, Sheeran featured on the remix of Fireboy DML's song "Peru".


title: Ed Sheeran

text: On 11 February 2022, Sheeran released a duet version of "The Joker and the Queen" featuring Taylor Swift. On 4 March, he featured in "Bam Bam", collaborating for the second time with Camila Cabello. Later that month he collaborated with Colombian singer J Balvin in the singles "Sigue" and "Forever My Love". Sheeran commenced his +–=÷x Tour (Mathematics Tour) on 21 March. He played warm-up shows at the Electric Ballroom in Camden Town, London before the main tour began with two concerts at Croke Park in Dublin. On 22 April, Sheeran released the fifth single from "=", "2step" featuring Lil Baby, before releasing a version of the song featuring Ukrainian pop-rock band Antytila. 2022 also saw Sheeran venture into heavier styles of music, releasing a new version of "Bad Habits" with the pop metal group Bring Me the Horizon in February. Later that year it was reported that he was in contact with Suffolk extreme metal group Cradle of Filth over a possible project, with frontman Dani Filth confirming progress on the collaboration in August.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: In November 2022, "Shivers" became Sheeran's 11th song to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify. He celebrated via an Instagram post, saying that he was currently filming a music video for his next album which is set to be released in 2023. Sheeran was spotted at a beach in coastal Suffolk town Lowestoft.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Ed Sheeran's musical style has been described as pop, folk-pop, and soft rock. Sheeran also incorporates rap into his music. Sheeran's earliest memories include listening to the records of Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Elton John's "Greatest Hits". According to Sheeran, the album that introduced him to music was Van Morrison's "Irish Heartbeat". During his childhood his father took him to live concerts that would inspire his musical creations. These included seeing Eric Clapton at the Royal Albert Hall, Paul McCartney in Birmingham, and Bob Dylan. On the influence of Clapton, Sheeran states, "He's the reason I started playing guitar". He singled out Clapton's performance at the Party at the Palace in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, "I was eleven when I saw Eric Clapton play at the Queen's Golden Jubilee concert in June 2002. I remember him walking on stage with this rainbow-coloured Stratocaster and playing the first riff of 'Layla'. I was hooked. Two days later I bought a black Stratocaster copy for £30 that came with an amp. All I did for the next month was try to play that 'Layla' riff."


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Sheeran has also cited The Beatles, Nizlopi and Eminem as his biggest musical influences. He is also a fan of heavier music and cites bands such as Cradle of Filth, Slipknot, Korn, Marilyn Manson and Bring Me the Horizon as other influences. As a teenager, he also had a "Kerrang!" subscription. According to Sheeran, he had a stutter in his speech when he was younger, and he credited rapping along to Eminem's "The Marshall Mathers LP" for helping him stammer less. He was also inspired by "Cannonball" singer-songwriter Damien Rice in 2002, with Sheeran stating, "seeing him play this small club in Ireland, I was able to meet him, and he was unbelievably cool. I went straight home and started writing songs. I would not be doing what I'm doing now if he'd been a jerk." He also played the guitar to Westlife's Greatest hits album when he was ten, citing them as one of his influences. Sheeran collaborated with his idol Eric Clapton in April 2016, with Sheeran stating to "People" magazine, "I sang on Eric Clapton's album "I Still Do". It's one thing having him on mine, but being on his, that's an honour that you can't ever pinpoint on how great that is. I did something for his record, and I was credited as 'Angelo Mysterioso,' appearing as a guest on Clapton's "I Will Be There", in addition to performing the song with Clapton on stage, and he did something for my record performing a guitar solo on "Dive" on Sheeran's album "÷" and was credited as 'Angelo Mysterioso.'" Sheeran also cited Taylor Swift as one of his influences, suggesting in 2015 their respective success drives each other on.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: In March 2015, Sheeran announced he was setting up a record label, Gingerbread Man Records, which is a deal with Warner Music Group. The label was launched in August 2015 alongside its accompanying YouTube channel. Jamie Lawson, the label's first signee, met Sheeran while they were both in London's folk circuit. Lawson released his self-titled debut album on 9 October 2015, which has earned him a number one in the UK Albums Chart. Sheeran signed his second artist, Foy Vance, in November 2015. Maisie Peters also signed with the label in 2021.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: On 29 September 2019, Sheeran announced he was teaming up with his manager Stuart Camp to open a bar located on Portobello Road in Notting Hill. The bar is called "Bertie Blossoms", and named after his wife Cherry Seaborn.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Sheeran performed a gig in Bristol, which raised £40,000 for a charity that reaches out to street sex workers. "It's good to show insight that these people are real people with real emotions and they deserve the same charity work as anyone else," Sheeran said. "There's a lot more popular charities that get a lot of attention. And with certain subjects like this they're often washed over and people don't necessarily give them the attention they deserve." Tickets were available to those taking part in the charity's Give it up for One25 campaign by giving something up for 125 hours and hitting the £40,000 fundraising mark.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Sheeran frequently gives away his clothes to charity shops around Suffolk, his home county. An ambassador for East Anglia's Children's Hospice, he has donated clothes to the St Elizabeth Hospice charity shop in his home town Framlingham, including eight bags of clothes to the shop in February 2014. In 2016 he donated 13 bags of clothes to the shop. The tartan shirt worn by Sheeran when he met Renee Zellweger's character, Bridget, in "Bridget Jones's Baby", was auctioned online to raise further funds for the hospice.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: On 15 November 2014, Sheeran joined the charity supergroup Band Aid 30 along with other British and Irish pop acts, recording the latest version of the track "Do They Know It's Christmas?" at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, to raise money for the West African Ebola virus epidemic.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: In November 2015, Sheeran supported the No Cold Homes campaign by the UK charity, Turn2us. Sheeran was one of nearly thirty celebrities, which included Helen Mirren, Jeremy Irons and Hugh Laurie, to donate items of winter clothing to the campaign, with the proceeds used to help people in the country struggling to keep their home warm in winter.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Sheeran teamed up with the cast of the BBC3 mockumentary sitcom "People Just Do Nothing" to perform a charity single for the BBC's biennial telethon Comic Relief which aired in March 2017. He appeared in a November 2017 episode of "Gogglebox" along with other UK celebrities such as Ozzy Osbourne, former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher, and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn as part of Channel 4 and Cancer Research UK's "Stand Up to Cancer" fundraising campaign.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: In December 2019, he launched his own music foundation, Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation (ESSMF). In the statement, Sheeran stated it will help artists aged under 18 with "small but hopefully useful grants". In May 2020, Sheeran donated £170,000 to his former school Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham, Suffolk. The donations, which have been made over a two-year period via the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation, helped the school to purchase items such as MacBooks, cameras and a photography darkroom. The same month, Sheeran made a donation to Ipswich Hospital. In June 2020, Sheeran made a "founding gift" to launch Suffolk Community Foundation's "Rebuilding Local Lives Appeal" in response to the COVID-19 pandemic on the celebration day of the county, "Suffolk Day". Sheeran has donated over £1 million to local charities in Suffolk amid the COVID-19 pandemic, including to a children's hospital ward.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Sheeran's parents organised "The Ed Sheeran Made in Suffolk Legacy Auction" on 23 October 2020 which ran until 8 November. The auction had 220 lots, including items donated by other celebrities such as David Beckham, Kylie Minogue and Usain Bolt. Sheeran has donated some of his personal items including handwritten lyrics from his song "Perfect", lego bricks he played with as a kid, handmade "You Need Me" EP from 2009 and a £3 ticket to his first gig at the British Legion in Framlingham. The auction was made to raise money for Suffolk charities such as GeeWizz and Zest who both support children and young adults in the county, including redeveloping a playground for kids with special educational needs and disabilities in Ipswich. In November Sheeran sold one of his paintings, marking the first and only time his art has been made available for sale, which he titled "Dab 2 2020", to the same auction. Later that month, Sheeran backed footballer Marcus Rashford's free school meals campaign and opened his own breakfast club at his Notting Hill restaurant, Bertie Blossoms. He announced on his Instagram that he provided hot breakfasts for "anyone who is normally entitled to a free school meal or who is struggling in these strange times". Sheeran's charity, the Framlingham Foundation Trust, is reported to have donated money to give a primary school teacher to take an imperative course to help children create songs with untraditional instruments which will benefit children with learning difficulties.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Sheeran made his acting debut in 2014, a cameo role as himself on New Zealand soap opera "Shortland Street", filmed while he was in the country for a one-off performance. In May 2015, he appeared as himself and performed on a live episode of the NBC sitcom "Undateable". Later that year, while in Australia, he recorded scenes for the soap "Home and Away", as a character based on himself.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: After recording a cover version of Foy Vance's "Make It Rain" for "Sons of Anarchy", Sheeran was cast by creator Kurt Sutter to play Sir Cormac in the medieval drama "The Bastard Executioner" on FX. Sheeran also appeared as himself in the 2016 film "Bridget Jones's Baby" in a scene where Bridget Jones, played by Renée Zellweger, encounters the singer at the Glastonbury Festival.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: In July 2017, Sheeran appeared in a scene on "Game of Thrones" opposite Maisie Williams, who plays Arya Stark. David Benioff explained that since Williams was a big fan of the singer, they wanted to have Sheeran appear on the show to surprise Williams, and that they had tried to get him on for years. It received a mix of positive and very negative reviews.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: In June 2019, Sheeran made his debut appearance in an advertisement for Heinz Tomato Ketchup. A lifelong fan of the product — he has it with everything from fish and chips to his morning sausage "butty" to upmarket dinners, carries a bottle on tour, and has a Heinz Ketchup tattoo on his arm — he put forward an idea he had written for their next TV campaign, and the company responded. A representative from Heinz started that "1/3 of @HEINZ Instagram posts include people mentioning or tagging Ed, dating all the way back to 2014." Poking fun at people who turn their nose up at those who ask for ketchup in fancy restaurants, the advert sees him walking into a "super posh" restaurant while narrating the message he had sent to the company. As the other wealthy diners look on in horror at the sight of a ketchup bottle, he flips the bottle, bangs it against his hand to budge the ketchup and smothers it all over his food. The company released a limited edition ketchup product known as Ed Sheeran X Heinz ketchup, also known as "Heinz Edchup".


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Released in June 2019, Sheeran appeared as himself in a supporting role in the Richard Curtis/Danny Boyle film "Yesterday", a film about a struggling singer-songwriter who wakes up to find that no one but he remembers the Beatles.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Music journalist Alexis Petridis has stated that Ed Sheeran "brought pop back down to earth" with his music style, introducing himself "touting an even more austere version of Coldplay's dressed-down authenticity: one unassuming man, his guitar and a loop pedal". Noting him as "one of the most influential" artists of his generation, as he spawned "endless imitators", Petridis remarked that the music charts were "packed with Sheeran-alikes" after "×", describing it as "the wave of earnest, dressed-down, boy-next-door troubadours" that reached critical mass. Similarly, "The Guardian" writer Laura Snapes cited him as "the godfather of the current crop of singer-songwriters" in 2019, stating that Sheeran inspired "troubadours" to enter the music charts, and marked "the calcification of the everyman male pop star", and the end of record labels marketing them "exclusively to teenage girls and their mums." "Billboard" writer Jason Lipshutz noticed that his appeal and performance style had influenced up-and-coming soloists, impacting "a significant number of pop artists who crave his type of singular success." The "Financial Times" considered that the scale of Sheeran's commercial accomplishments has "broken through to such a wide and lucrative extent, far beyond the achievements of any of the other singer-songwriters in the market" in the UK.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: iHeartMedia senior executive Sharon Dastur declared that Sheeran's success has allowed newer artists to be given an opportunity in the mainstream scene with quieter material at the forefront, instead of dance music. "GQ"s George Chesterton deemed Sheeran "the de facto voice of a generation" as a consequence of his music reflecting his personality and "the defining characteristics of his audience", with such recurring qualities of his discography corresponding "with those that his own generation, the millennials, most value: authenticity, realness, earnestness, sincerity." BBC Radio 1 executive George Ergatoudis has stated that his "lyrical candour" and his "professional hunger" resonated with younger listeners, giving him a "very clear edge" to breakthrough in a music industry that is "saturated with singer-songwriters", while Sheeran's "niche combination" has made him able to perform at hip-hop, grime and underground events and "convince the urban crowd that he was authentic". According to "Vox", Sheeran has reached "global pop culture ubiquity". In 2017, the BBC named him the second-best performing artist of the decade, after Adele, while in 2021, "The Independent" said he had "one of the biggest pop careers of this generation." "Billboard", "The Financial Express", "Brandon Sun", and "Arab News" have cited him as a "British music icon". Sheeran and his work have influenced various recording artists, including Shawn Mendes, Louis Tomlinson, Camila Cabello, and Cody Simpson, while English singer Hrvy has called him "such a good songwriter".


title: Ed Sheeran

text: On 19 October 2015, Sheeran received an honorary degree from the University of Suffolk in Ipswich for his "outstanding contribution to music". Sheeran commented: "Suffolk is very much where I call home. Receiving this recognition is a real privilege." He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for "services to music and charity". Sheeran received the award from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace on 7 December 2017. In 2012, he was named a baron of Sealand.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: In addition to having the highest-grossing concert tour and being one of the world's best-selling music artists with more than 150 million records sold, Sheeran has received a number of awards. As of 2019, he has received four Grammy Awards (including Song of the Year in 2016 for "Thinking Out Loud"), five Brit Awards (including British Male Solo Artist in 2015), and six "Billboard" Music Awards (including Top Artist in 2018). In 2015 and 2018, he received the Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Although he regards Suffolk as home having moved to the county as a young child, Sheeran was recognised by his county of birth in a 2018 poll when he was ranked the fourth greatest Yorkshireman ever behind Monty Python comedian Michael Palin, and actors Sean Bean and Patrick Stewart.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: In early 2011, after securing recording and publishing deals, Sheeran purchased and renovated a farm near Framlingham, Suffolk, where he was raised. He has stated that he hopes to raise a family there. During 2013, he lived between Hendersonville, Tennessee and Los Angeles, California. In 2014, he bought a house in South London.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Sheeran was in a relationship with Scottish singer-songwriter Nina Nesbitt (who was in his music video for "Drunk") in 2012, before breaking up. Nesbitt is the subject of Sheeran's songs "Nina" and "Photograph", while most of Nesbitt's album, "Peroxide", is about Sheeran. In 2014, Sheeran was in a relationship with Athina Andrelos, who works for chef Jamie Oliver. She is the inspiration of Sheeran's song "Thinking Out Loud". They broke up in February 2015. He is also close friends with singer-songwriter Taylor Swift; the pair collaborated on her albums "Red" (original and re-recorded versions) and "Reputation", as well as on a remix of the song "The Joker and the Queen" from Sheeran's album "=".


title: Ed Sheeran

text: In July 2015, Sheeran began a relationship with childhood friend and former secondary school classmate Cherry Seaborn. They announced their engagement in January 2018 and were married a year later. She is the inspiration of the song "Perfect". It was reported on 12 August 2020 that the couple were expecting their first child. On 1 September, Sheeran announced on Instagram that Seaborn had given birth to a baby girl the previous week. On 19 May 2022, it was announced that the couple's second child, a girl, was born.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Sheeran is a supporter of his local football club Ipswich Town, and his +–=÷x Tour kit sponsored their 2021–22 season. Additionally, Sheeran was named in the club's squad list and given the squad number of 17. His +–=÷x Tour kit sponsorship deal with Ipswich Town was renewed for the 2022–23 season. A collector of Panini's FIFA World Cup sticker album, he completed the 2014 World Cup album. Appearing as a guest on BBC Radio 4's "Desert Island Discs" on 7 May 2017, Sheeran chose "His Dark Materials" by Philip Pullman as his book of choice, and a lifetime supply of ketchup as the one inanimate luxury item that he would take with him on a desert island.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: In June 2015, "Forbes" listed his earnings at $57 million for the previous 12 months, and ranked him the 27th-highest-earning celebrity in the world. In July 2018, "Forbes" named Sheeran 9th on their list of the highest paid celebrities. According to "The Sunday Times" Rich List of 2019, Sheeran is worth £160 million ($207 million) as the 17th richest musician in the UK. Sheeran's net worth is estimated at £200 million in 2020.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: On 24 October 2021, Sheeran tested positive for COVID-19 less than a week before the release of his fifth album.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: In 2017, Sheeran settled out of court over claims his song "Photograph" was a "note-for-note" copy of the chorus in the song "Amazing" by "X Factor" UK winner Matt Cardle. Sheeran later regretted the decision to settle, saying that it was done on the advice of his lawyers who thought the case was "more trouble than it was worth". He said he regretted settling the claim for "Photograph" not because of the money involved, but because it changed his relationship with the song. He said: "I didn't play 'Photograph' for ages after that. I just stopped playing it. I felt weird about it, it kind of made me feel dirty." He also thought that settling the case opened a floodgate of claims, including the "Shape of You" lawsuit.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: In 2018, legal action was brought against Sheeran, Sony/ATV Music Publishing and Atlantic Records by the estate and heirs of the late producer Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the song "Let's Get It On" with Marvin Gaye. US District Judge Louis Stanton rejected Sheeran's call in 2019 for dismissal of a legal case accusing him of copying parts of the song in "Thinking Out Loud". Stanton said that a jury should decide but that he found "substantial similarities between several of the two works' musical elements". A previous case by Townsend's estate was dismissed without prejudice in February 2017.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Sheeran was taken to court in March 2022 for a copyright lawsuit over "Shape of You". Musicians Sami Chokri and Ross O'Donoghue alleged that the song infringed "particular lines and phrases" of their 2015 composition "Oh Why". Sheeran won the case, with Mr Justice Zacaroli ruling he "neither deliberately nor subconsciously" copied a phrase from Oh Why when writing Shape of You.


title: Ed Sheeran

text: Sheeran publicly opposed Brexit (the United Kingdom leaving the European Union), and supported "remain". Following the June 2016 referendum result where the British public voted to leave, Sheeran was among a group of British musicians (which included Sting, Queen drummer Roger Taylor, Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason and Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz) who signed a letter to then Prime Minister Theresa May, drafted by Bob Geldof in October 2018, calling for "a 2nd vote". Stating that Brexit will "impact every aspect of the music industry. From touring to sales, to copyright legislation to royalty collation", the letter adds: "We dominate the market and our bands, singers, musicians, writers, producers and engineers work all over Europe and the world and in turn, Europe and the world come to us. Why? Because we are brilliant at it ... [Our music] reaches out, all inclusive, and embraces anyone and everyone. And that truly is what Britain is."


title: Ed Sheeran

text: In 2017, Sheeran publicly endorsed the centre-left British Labour Party and described himself as a "fan" of its then-leader Jeremy Corbyn, while adding that "I'm not Mr Political. I vote the way I feel I should, but won't tell somebody else what to do."


title: Ed Sheeran

text: In 2021, Sheeran, along with several other celebrities, urged the United States Congress to pass the proposed Equality Act, which would expand the Civil Rights Act in order to outlaw discrimination against LGBT people. Sheeran stated in the open letter that the Act is "essential to protect [...] the most marginalized communities."


title: Ed Sheeran

text: In 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sheeran expressed support for Ukraine and participated in the Concert for Ukraine.


title: Nepal

text: Nepal (; ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal (), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, bordering the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, and India in the south, east, and west, while it is narrowly separated from Bangladesh by the Siliguri Corridor, and from Bhutan by the Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural state, with Nepali as the official language. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and the largest city.


title: Nepal

text: The name "Nepal" is first recorded in texts from the Vedic period of the Indian subcontinent, the era in ancient Nepal when Hinduism was founded, the predominant religion of the country. In the middle of the first millennium BC, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born in Lumbini in southern Nepal. Parts of northern Nepal were intertwined with the culture of Tibet. The centrally located Kathmandu Valley is intertwined with the culture of Indo-Aryans, and was the seat of the prosperous Newar confederacy known as Nepal Mandala. The Himalayan branch of the ancient Silk Road was dominated by the valley's traders. The cosmopolitan region developed distinct traditional art and architecture. By the 18th century, the Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal. The Shah dynasty established the Kingdom of Nepal and later formed an alliance with the British Empire, under its Rana dynasty of premiers. The country was never colonised but served as a buffer state between Imperial China and British India. Parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1951 but was twice suspended by Nepalese monarchs, in 1960 and 2005. The Nepalese Civil War in the 1990s and early 2000s resulted in the establishment of a secular republic in 2008, ending the world's last Hindu monarchy.


title: Nepal

text: The Constitution of Nepal, adopted in 2015, affirms the country as a secular federal parliamentary republic divided into seven provinces. Nepal was admitted to the United Nations in 1955, and friendship treaties were signed with India in 1950 and China in 1960. Nepal hosts the permanent secretariat of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), of which it is a founding member. Nepal is also a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Bay of Bengal Initiative. The Nepalese Armed Forces are the fifth-largest in South Asia; and are notable for their Gurkha history, particularly during the world wars, and has been a significant contributor to United Nations peacekeeping operations.


title: Nepal

text: Before the unification of Nepal, the Kathmandu Valley was known as "Nepal". The precise origin of the term "Nepāl" is uncertain. "Nepal" appears in ancient Indian literary texts dated as far back as the fourth century BC. An absolute chronology can not be established, as even the oldest texts may contain anonymous contributions dating as late as the early modern period. Academic attempts to provide a plausible theory are hindered by the lack of a complete picture of history and insufficient understanding of linguistics or relevant Indo-European and Tibeto-Burman languages.


title: Nepal

text: According to Hindu mythology, Nepal derives its name from an ancient Hindu sage called "Ne", referred to variously as "Ne Muni" or "Nemi". According to "Pashupati Purāna", as a place protected by "Ne", the country in the heart of the Himalayas came to be known as "Nepāl". According to "Nepāl Mahātmya", "Nemi" was charged with protection of the country by Pashupati. According to Buddhist mythology, Manjushri Bodhisattva drained a primordial lake of serpents to create the Nepal valley and proclaimed that "Adi-Buddha" "Ne" would take care of the community that would settle it. As the cherished of "Ne", the valley would be called "Nepāl". According to "Gopalarājvamshāvali", the genealogy of ancient Gopala dynasty compiled , Nepal is named after "Nepa" the cowherd, the founder of the Nepali scion of the Abhiras. In this account, the cow that issued milk to the spot, at which "Nepa" discovered the "Jyotirlinga" of "Pashupatināth" upon investigation, was also named "Ne".


title: Nepal

text: Norwegian indologist Christian Lassen had proposed that "Nepāla" was a compound of "Nipa" (foot of a mountain) and "-ala" (short suffix for "alaya" meaning abode), and so "Nepāla" meant "abode at the foot of the mountain". He considered "Ne Muni" to be a fabrication. Indologist Sylvain Levi found Lassen's theory untenable but had no theories of his own, only suggesting that either "Newara" is a vulgarism of sanskritic "Nepala," or "Nepala" is Sanskritisation of the local ethnic; his view has found some support though it does not answer the question of etymology. It has also been proposed that "Nepa" is a Tibeto-Burman stem consisting of "Ne" (cattle) and "Pa" (keeper), reflecting the fact that early inhabitants of the valley were "Gopalas" (cowherds) and "Mahispalas" (buffalo-herds). Suniti Kumar Chatterji believed "Nepal" originated from Tibeto-Burman roots – "Ne," of uncertain meaning (as multiple possibilities exist), and "pala" or "bal", whose meaning is lost entirely.


title: Nepal

text: By 55,000 years ago, the first modern humans had arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa, where they had earlier evolved. The earliest known modern human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago. The oldest discovered archaeological evidence of human settlements in Nepal dates to around the same time.


title: Nepal

text: After 6500 BC, evidence for the domestication of food crops and animals, construction of permanent structures, and storage of agricultural surplus appeared in Mehrgarh and other sites in what is now Balochistan. These gradually developed into the Indus Valley civilisation, the first urban culture in South Asia. Prehistoric sites of palaeolithic, mesolithic and neolithic origins have been discovered in the Siwalik hills of Dang district. The earliest inhabitants of modern Nepal and adjoining areas are believed to be people from the Indus Valley civilisation. It is possible that the Dravidian people whose history predates the onset of the Bronze Age in the Indian subcontinent (around 6300 BC) inhabited the area before the arrival of other ethnic groups like the Tibeto-Burmans and Indo-Aryans from across the border. By 4000 BC, the Tibeto-Burmese people had reached Nepal either directly across the Himalayas from Tibet or via Myanmar and north-east India or both. Stella Kramrisch (1964) mentions a substratum of a race of pre-Dravidians and Dravidians, who were in Nepal even before the Newars, who formed the majority of the ancient inhabitants of the valley of Kathmandu.


title: Nepal

text: By the late Vedic period, Nepal was being mentioned in various Hindu texts, such as the late Vedic "Atharvaveda Pariśiṣṭa" and in the post-Vedic "Atharvashirsha" Upanishad. The Gopal Bansa was the oldest dynasty to be mentioned in various texts as the earliest rulers of the central Himalayan kingdom known by the name 'Nepal'. The Gopalas were followed by Kiratas who ruled for over 16 centuries by some accounts. According to the Mahabharata, the then Kirata king went to take part in the Battle of Kurukshetra. In the south-eastern region, Janakpurdham was the capital of the prosperous kingdom of Videha or Mithila, that extended down to the Ganges, and home to King Janaka and his daughter, Sita.


title: Nepal

text: Around 600 BC, small kingdoms and confederations of clans arose in the southern regions of Nepal. From one of these, the Shakya polity, arose a prince who later renounced his status to lead an ascetic life, founded Buddhism, and came to be known as Gautama Buddha (traditionally dated 563–483 BC). Nepal came to be established as a land of spirituality and refuge in the intervening centuries, played an important role in transmitting Buddhism to East Asia via Tibet, and helped preserve Hindu and Buddhist manuscripts.


title: Nepal

text: By 250 BC, the southern regions had come under the influence of the Maurya Empire. Emperor Ashoka made a pilgrimage to Lumbini and erected a pillar at Buddha's birthplace, the inscriptions on which mark the starting point for properly recorded history of Nepal. Ashoka also visited the Kathmandu valley and built monuments commemorating Gautama Buddha's visit there. By the 4th century AD, much of Nepal was under the influence of the Gupta Empire.


title: Nepal

text: In the Kathmandu valley, the Kiratas were pushed eastward by the Licchavis, and the Licchavi dynasty came into power 400 AD. The Lichchhavis built monuments and left a series of inscriptions; Nepal's history of the period is pieced together almost entirely from them. In 641, Songtsen Gampo of the Tibetan Empire sends Narendradeva back to Licchavi with an army and subjugates Nepal. Parts of Nepal and Licchavi was later under the direct influences of the Tibetan empire. The Licchavi dynasty went into decline in the late 8th century and was followed by a Thakuri rule. Thakuri kings ruled over the country up to the middle of the 11th century AD; not much is known of this period that is often called the dark period.


title: Nepal

text: In the 11th century, a powerful empire of Khas people emerged in western Nepal whose territory at its highest peak included much of western Nepal as well as parts of western Tibet and Uttarakhand of India. By the 14th century, the empire had splintered into loosely associated , literally 22 states as they were counted. The rich culture and language of the Khas people spread throughout Nepal and as far as Indo-China in the intervening centuries; their language, later renamed the Nepali language, became the lingua franca of Nepal as well as much of North-east India.


title: Nepal

text: In south-eastern Nepal, Simraungarh annexed Mithila around 1100 AD, and the unified Tirhut stood as a powerful kingdom for more than 200 years, even ruling over Kathmandu for a time. After another 300 years of Muslim rule, Tirhut came under the control of the Sens of Makawanpur. In the eastern hills, a confederation of Kirat principalities ruled the area between Kathmandu and Bengal.


title: Nepal

text: In the Kathmandu valley, the Mallas, who make several appearances in Nepalese history since ancient times, had established themselves in Kathmandu and Patan by the middle of the 14th century. The Mallas ruled the valley first under the suzerainty of Tirhut but established independent reign by late 14th century as Tirhut went into decline. In the late 14th century, Jayasthiti Malla introduced widespread socio-economic reforms, principal of which was the caste system. By dividing the indigenous non-Aryan Buddhist population into castes modelled after the four Varna system of Hinduism, he provided an influential model for the Sanskritisation and Hinduisation of the indigenous non-Hindu tribal populations in all principalities throughout Nepal. By the middle of the 15th century, Kathmandu had become a powerful empire which, according to Kirkpatrick, extended from Digarchi or Sigatse in Tibet to Tirhut and Gaya in India. In the late 15th century, Malla princes divided their kingdom in four – Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur in the valley and Banepa to the east. The competition for prestige among these brotherly kingdoms saw the flourishing of art and architecture in central Nepal, and the building of famous Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur Durbar Squares; their division and mistrust led to their fall in the late 18th century, and ultimately, the unification of Nepal into a modern state.


title: Nepal

text: Apart from one destructive sacking of Kathmandu in the early 13th century, Nepal remains largely untouched by the Muslim invasion of India that began in the 11th century. The Mughal period saw an influx of high-caste Hindus from India into Nepal. They soon intermingled with the Khas people and by the 16th century, there were about 50 Rajput-ruled principalities in Nepal, including the 22 (Baisi) states and, to their east in west-central Nepal, 24 "Chaubisi" states. There emerged a view that Nepal remained the true bastion of unadulterated Hinduism at a time when Indian culture had been influenced by centuries of Mughal, followed by British rule. Gorkha, one of the Baisi states, emerged as an influential and ambitious kingdom with a reputation for justice, after it codified the first Hinduism-based laws in the Nepalese hills.


title: Nepal

text: In the mid-18th century, Prithvi Narayan Shah, a Gorkha king, set out to put together what would become present-day Nepal. He embarked on his mission by securing the neutrality of the bordering mountain kingdoms. After several bloody battles and sieges, notably the Battle of Kirtipur, he managed to conquer the Kathmandu Valley in 1769.


title: Nepal

text: The Gorkha control reached its height when the Kumaon and Garhwal Kingdoms in the west to Sikkim in the east came under Nepalese control. A dispute with Tibet over the control of mountain passes and inner Tingri valleys of Tibet prompted the Qing Emperor of China to start the Sino-Nepali War compelling the Nepali to retreat to their own borders in the north. The rivalry between the Kingdom of Nepal and the East India Company over the control of states bordering Nepal eventually led to the Anglo-Nepali War (1815–16). At first, the British underestimated the Nepali and were soundly defeated until committing more military resources than they had anticipated needing. Thus began the reputation of Gurkhas as fierce and ruthless soldiers. The war ended in the Sugauli Treaty, under which Nepal ceded recently captured lands.


title: Nepal

text: Factionalism inside the royal family led to a period of instability. In 1846, a plot was discovered revealing that the reigning queen had planned to overthrow Jung Bahadur Kunwar, a fast-rising military leader. This led to the Kot massacre; armed clashes between military personnel and administrators loyal to the queen led to the execution of several hundred princes and chieftains around the country. Bir Narsingh Kunwar emerged victoriously and founded the Rana dynasty, and came to be known as Jung Bahadur Rana. The king was made a titular figure, and the post of Prime Minister was made powerful and hereditary. The Ranas were staunchly pro-British and assisted them during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (and later in both World Wars). In 1860 some parts of the western Terai region were gifted to Nepal by the British as a friendly gesture because of her military help to sustain British control in India during the rebellion (known as "Naya Muluk", new country). In 1923, the United Kingdom and Nepal formally signed an agreement of friendship that superseded the Sugauli Treaty of 1816.


title: Nepal

text: The Hindu practice of Sati, in which a widow sacrificed herself in the funeral pyre of her husband, was banned in 1919, and slavery was officially abolished in 1924. Rana rule was marked by tyranny, debauchery, economic exploitation and religious persecution.


title: Nepal

text: In the late 1940s, newly emerging pro-democracy movements and political parties in Nepal were critical of the Rana autocracy. Following the success of Indian Independence Movement which Nepalese activists had taken part in, with India's support and cooperation of King Tribhuvan, Nepali Congress was successful in toppling the Rana regime, establishing a parliamentary democracy. After a decade of power wrangling between the king and the government, King Mahendra (ruled 1955–1972) scrapped the democratic experiment in 1960, and a "partyless" Panchayat system was made to govern Nepal. The political parties were banned and politicians imprisoned or exiled. The Panchayat rule modernised the country, introducing reforms and developing infrastructure, but curtailed liberties and imposed heavy censorship. In 1990, the People's Movement forced King Birendra (ruled 1972–2001) to accept constitutional reforms and to establish a multiparty democracy.


title: Nepal

text: In 1996, the Maoist Party started a violent bid to replace the royal parliamentary system with a people's republic. This led to the long Nepali Civil War and more than 16,000 deaths. With the death of both the King and the Crown Prince in a massacre in the royal palace, King Birendra's brother Gyanendra inherited the throne in 2001 and subsequently assumed full executive powers aiming to quash the Maoist insurgency himself.


title: Nepal

text: The Maoist Party joined mainstream politics following the success of the peaceful democratic revolution of 2006; Nepal became a secular state, and on 28 May 2008, it was declared a federal republic, ending its time-honoured status as the world's only Hindu kingdom. After a decade of instability and internal strife which saw two constituent assembly elections, the new constitution was promulgated on 20 September 2015, making Nepal a federal democratic republic divided into seven provinces.


title: Nepal

text: Nepal is of roughly trapezoidal shape, about long and wide, with an area of . It lies between latitudes 26° and 31°N, and longitudes 80° and 89°E. Nepal's defining geological processes began 75 million years ago when the Indian plate, then part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana, began a north-eastward drift caused by seafloor spreading to its south-west, and later, south and south-east. Simultaneously, the vast Tethyn oceanic crust, to its northeast, began to subduct under the Eurasian plate. These dual processes, driven by convection in the Earth's mantle, both created the Indian Ocean and caused the Indian continental crust eventually to under-thrust Eurasia and to uplift the Himalayas. The rising barriers blocked the paths of rivers creating large lakes, which only broke through as late as 100,000 years ago, creating fertile valleys in the middle hills like the Kathmandu Valley. In the western region, rivers which were too strong to be hampered, cut some of the world's deepest gorges. Immediately south of the emerging Himalayas, plate movement created a vast trough that rapidly filled with river-borne sediment and now constitutes the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Nepal lies almost completely within this collision zone, occupying the central sector of the Himalayan arc, nearly one-third of the -long Himalayas, with a small strip of southernmost Nepal stretching into the Indo-Gangetic plain and two districts in the northwest stretching up to the Tibetan plateau.


title: Nepal

text: Nepal is divided into three principal physiographic belts known as "Himal"–"Pahad"–"Terai". Himal is the mountain region containing snow and situated in the Great Himalayan Range; it makes up the northern part of Nepal. It contains the highest elevations in the world including height Mount Everest ("Sagarmāthā" in Nepali) on the border with China. Seven other of the world's "eight-thousanders" are in Nepal or on its border with Tibet: Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Kangchenjunga, Dhaulagiri, Annapurna and Manaslu. Pahad is the mountain region that does not generally contain snow. The mountains vary from in altitude, with progression from subtropical climates below to alpine climates above . The Lower Himalayan Range, reaching , is the southern limit of this region, with subtropical river valleys and "hills" alternating to the north of this range. Population density is high in valleys but notably less above and very low above , where snow occasionally falls in winter. The southern lowland plains or "Terai" bordering India are part of the northern rim of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Terai is the lowland region containing some hill ranges. The plains were formed and are fed by three major Himalayan rivers: the Koshi, the Narayani, and the Karnali as well as smaller rivers rising below the permanent snowline. This region has a subtropical to tropical climate. The outermost range of the foothills called Sivalik Hills or Churia Range, cresting at , marks the limits of the Gangetic Plain. Broad, low valleys called Inner Terai Valleys () lie north of these foothills in several places.


title: Nepal

text: The Indian plate continues to move north relative to Asia at about per year. This makes Nepal an earthquake-prone zone, and periodic earthquakes that have devastating consequences present a significant hurdle to development. Erosion of the Himalayas is a very important source of sediment, which flows to the Indian Ocean. Saptakoshi, in particular, carries a huge amount of silt out of Nepal but sees extreme drop in Gradient in Bihar, causing severe floods and course changes, and is, therefore, known as the sorrow of Bihar. Severe flooding and landslides cause deaths and disease, destroy farmlands and cripple the transport infrastructure of the country, during the monsoon season each year.


title: Nepal

text: Nepal has five climatic zones, broadly corresponding to the altitudes. The tropical and subtropical zones lie below , the temperate zone , the cold zone , the subarctic zone , and the Arctic zone above . Nepal experiences five seasons: summer, monsoon, autumn, winter and spring. The Himalayas block cold winds from Central Asia in the winter and form the northern limits of the monsoon wind patterns.


title: Nepal

text: Nepal contains a disproportionately large diversity of plants and animals, relative to its size. Nepal, in its entirety, forms the western portion of the eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot, with notable biocultural diversity. The dramatic differences in elevation found in Nepal (60 m from sea level in the Terai plains, to 8,848 m Mount Everest) result in a variety of biomes. The Eastern half of Nepal is richer in biodiversity as it receives more rain, compared to western parts, where arctic desert-type conditions are more common at higher elevations. Nepal is a habitat for 4.0% of all mammal species, 8.9% of bird species, 1.0% of reptile species, 2.5% of amphibian species, 1.9% of fish species, 3.7% of butterfly species, 0.5% of moth species and 0.4% of spider species. In its 35 forest-types and 118 ecosystems, Nepal harbours 2% of the flowering plant species, 3% of pteridophytes and 6% of bryophytes.


title: Nepal

text: Nepal's forest cover is , 40.36% of the country's total land area, with an additional 4.38% of scrubland, for a total forested area of 44.74%, an increase of 5% since the turn of the millennium. The country had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.23/10, ranking it 45th globally out of 172 countries. In the southern plains, Terai–Duar savanna and grasslands ecoregion contains some of the world's tallest grasses as well as "Sal" forests, tropical evergreen forests and tropical riverine deciduous forests. In the lower hills (700 m – 2,000 m), subtropical and temperate deciduous mixed forests containing mostly S"al" (in the lower altitudes), "Chilaune" and "Katus", as well as subtropical pine forest dominated by chir pine are common. The middle hills (2,000 m – 3,000 m) are dominated by oak and rhododendron. Subalpine coniferous forests cover the 3,000 m to 3,500 m range, dominated by oak (particularly in the west), Eastern Himalayan fir, Himalayan pine and Himalayan hemlock; rhododendron is common as well. Above 3,500 m in the west and 4,000 m in the east, coniferous trees give way to rhododendron-dominated alpine shrubs and meadows.


title: Nepal

text: Among the notable trees, are the astringent "Azadirachta indica", or "neem", which is widely used in traditional herbal medicine, and the luxuriant "Ficus religiosa", or "peepal", which is displayed on the ancient seals of Mohenjo-daro, and under which Gautam Buddha is recorded in the Pali canon to have sought enlightenment.