Ypres (/ˈiːprə/; French pronunciation: [ipʁ]; Dutch: Ieper, pronounced [ˈipər]) is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres and the villages of Boezinge, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge, Voormezele, Zillebeke, and Zuidschote. Together, they count some 34,900 inhabitants.

During World War I, Ypres was the centre of intense and sustained battles between the German and the Allied forces. During the war, due to it being hard to pronounce in English, British troops nicknamed the city "Wipers".

Ypres is an ancient town, known to have been raided by the Romans in the first century BC.

During the Middle Ages, Ypres was a prosperous Flemish city with a population of 40,000, renowned for its linen trade with England, which was mentioned in the Canterbury Tales.

As the third largest city in the County of Flanders (after Ghent and Bruges) Ypres played an important role in the history of the textile industry. Textiles from Ypres could be found on the markets of Novgorod in Russia in the early 12th century. In 1241 a major fire ruined much of the old city. The powerful city was involved in important treaties and battles, including the Battle of the Golden Spurs, the Battle at Pevelenberg, The Peace of Melun and the Battle of Cassel.

Monty Python (sometimes known as The Pythons) was a British surreal comedy group who created Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series. The Python phenomenon developed from the television series into something larger in scope and impact, spawning touring stage shows, films, numerous albums, several books and a stage musical as well as launching the members to individual stardom. The group's influence on comedy has been compared to The Beatles' influence on music.

The television series, broadcast by the BBC from 1969 to 1974, was conceived, written and performed by members Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Loosely structured as a sketch show, but with an innovative stream-of-consciousness approach (aided by Gilliam's animation), it pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in style and content. A self-contained comedy team responsible for both writing and performing their work, the Pythons' creative control allowed them to experiment with form and content, discarding rules of television comedy. Their influence on British comedy has been apparent for years, while in North America it has coloured the work of cult performers from the early editions of Saturday Night Live through to more recent absurdist trends in television comedy. "Pythonesque" has entered the English lexicon as a result.

Woods of Ypres were a blackened doom metal band from Ontario, Canada.

Woods of Ypres was formed in Windsor, Ontario in 2002 by David Gold, Aaron Palmer, and Brian McManus. The trio released the first Woods Of Ypres demo, Against the Seasons: Cold Winter Songs from the Dead Summer Heat, the same year. In 2003, David Gold moved to Toronto to begin working on a full-length album. In 2004, the band's first full-length album, Pursuit of the Sun & Allure of the Earth, was released on David Gold's record label, Krankenhaus Records. The third Woods of Ypres album, Woods III: Deepest Roots & Darkest Blues, was released at the end of 2007. Contrasting the two albums, critic Laura Taylor wrote, "While Pursuit of the Sun verged on metalized Pink Floyd, Woods’ latest unearths more of the band’s black and dark metal inspirations". In 2008, the band was featured on the cover of Unrestrained! Magazine.

After a work stint in South Korea, David Gold moved the band to his hometown of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario in 2008, where they recorded their fourth album Woods IV: The Green Album the following year. Released in November 2009, Exclaim! called it "the band's most amorphous and powerful creature so far." Earlier in 2009, Woods of Ypres also put out a compilation of 12 of the songs from their three main Krankenhaus-released albums entitled Independent Nature 2002-2007 and a vinyl-only single release of their 2004 song "Allure of the Earth", which also featured a cover of that song by Australian cellists Sebastian Simpson and Chris Doig.