Big Bird was there, and Fozzie Bear, and Oscar the Grouch, as more than 1,400 colleagues, family and fans paid tribute to Muppet creator Jim Henson in a verdant St. Paul's Cathedral. England was a second home to Henson, who died in May at the age of 53. ``He loved England and the English; we claim him as ours,'' said Duncan Kenworthy, chief of Henson Productions in Britain. For the tribute, the cathedral was transformed to resemble a north London parkland Henson loved. The 17th-century building was festooned with greenery, its aisles full of Henson's creatures and portraits of their creator. Friends and colleagues of Henson had worked into the night adorning the cathedral with garlands, plants and birches. A May 21 memorial for Henson at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York included a Dixieland band and Muppets singing their way through the crowd. Henson died May 16 in New York of pneumonia. Henson's family asked well-wishers not to wear black, saying the event would be as much a celebration and thanksgiving for Henson's life as a traditional memorial service. ``He has left a heritage that will never be forgotten. Jim Henson will always be with us,'' said Lord Lew Grade. It was Grade who contracted Henson in 1976 to make 24 half-hour episodes of ``The Muppet Show'' after the Muppeteer failed to find American backing for the variety show. The show became one of the most widely seen television programs in the world, with an estimated 235 million viewers in 100 countries. Most of Henson's films were made in Britain as well. Henson owned a home in north London's leafy Hampstead district, across the street from the onetime Victorian post office housing the Creature Shop where his puppets are made. Muppet performer Richard Hunt led a quartet in a medley of Henson's favorite songs. Henson's wife Jane and four of his five children attended. ```When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who makes a difference in this world,''' daughter Cheryl, 29, recited from an essay written by her father. ```My hope still is to leave this world a little bit better than it was when I got here.''' ``We really feel he did leave the world a bit better,'' she told the congregation. ``So, thanks.''
