134 Fun Facts About 2000s

What portable music player, introduced in 2001, changed how people listened to digital music?

The first-generation iPod was introduced by Apple in October 2001, offering '1,000 songs in your pocket' and revolutionizing portable digital music with its intuitive design and integration with iTunes.

Which fantasy film trilogy concluded its initial cinematic run in 2003?

The Return of the King won all 11 Oscars it was nominated for. Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings ran The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002) and that finale in December 2003.

Which artist released the album 'The Marshall Mathers LP' in the year 2000?

Eminem released his third studio album, 'The Marshall Mathers LP,' on May 23, 2000. It became one of the fastest-selling albums in history and included hit singles like 'The Real Slim Shady' and 'Stan.'

Which organization carried out the coordinated attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001?

Nineteen al-Qaeda hijackers seized four airliners; two struck the World Trade Center, one hit the Pentagon, and the fourth crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought back.

Which reality competition, with contestants isolated on an island, premiered in the US in 2000?

The American version of 'Survivor' premiered on May 31, 2000, quickly becoming a cultural phenomenon and a leading example of the reality competition genre.

In what year was the social networking service Facebook originally launched?

Facebook, initially known as 'TheFacebook,' was launched by Mark Zuckerberg from Harvard University on February 4, 2004, and quickly expanded beyond its college origins.

What Nintendo home video game console, known for its motion-sensing controllers, was released in 2006?

The Nintendo Wii, originally codenamed 'Revolution,' was released in November 2006 and gained immense popularity for its innovative motion-controlled gameplay.

Which film released in 2009 became the highest-grossing film of that year worldwide?

James Cameron's 'Avatar' was released in late 2009 and quickly became the highest-grossing film worldwide of that year, eventually becoming the highest-grossing film of all time.

Which 2003 Dan Brown thriller features symbologist Robert Langdon?

Robert Langdon debuted in Angels & Demons, not here. The Da Vinci Code, published in March 2003, was Dan Brown's second Langdon novel and became one of the best-selling American novels of all time.

Which of these was the first full-length Pixar animated film released in the 2000s?

Pixar's 'Monsters, Inc.' premiered on October 28, 2001, making it the first full-length feature film from the studio released in the 2000s.

In what year did euro banknotes and coins first enter everyday circulation?

The euro had existed as an accounting currency since 1999, but the notes and coins only arrived on 1 January 2002, and by March that year they had fully replaced the old national currencies.

Which 2000 Linkin Park debut album became one of the 21st century's best sellers?

Hybrid Theory, released on October 24, 2000, was Linkin Park's debut album; it was later certified Diamond by the RIAA and carried the band to international fame.

Which 2005 hurricane was then the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history?

Katrina struck in August 2005 and caused an estimated $125 billion in damage, much of it from the failure of the levees protecting New Orleans.

What was the 2001 opener of Peter Jackson's Middle-earth trilogy called?

"The Fellowship of the Ring" premiered in December 2001; all three films had already been shot back to back in New Zealand between 1999 and 2000.

Which social network, launched in 2003, dominated the mid-2000s before Facebook's rise?

MySpace eventually bowed to its rival by integrating Facebook Connect, branded 'Mash Up with Facebook'. Launched in August 2003, it was the home of bands and teenagers before Facebook swept past it in the late 2000s.

Which HBO crime drama, premiering in 1999, is widely considered one of the greatest TV series ever?

The Sopranos, which premiered on HBO in January 1999, followed the life of New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano and is frequently cited by critics as one of the most influential and greatest TV series.

Whose second album, "Oops!... I Did It Again", arrived in May 2000?

Out on May 3, 2000 via Jive Records, it shifted over 1.3 million US copies in its first week alone.

Which video-sharing site was founded in February 2005 by three former PayPal employees?

YouTube was founded in February 2005 by ex-PayPal employees Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim; Vimeo had launched in late 2004 but stayed a side project of its CollegeHumor developers.

Which company's December 2001 bankruptcy was the largest in U.S. history at the time?

Enron filed for bankruptcy on December 2, 2001, then the largest in U.S. history; the collapse also destroyed its auditor, one of the Big Five accounting firms, and WorldCom broke the record in July 2002.

Which film won Best Picture at the 73rd Academy Awards, held in March 2001?

The film "Gladiator," starring Russell Crowe, took home the top prize at the 73rd Academy Awards in 2001, alongside four other Oscars.

Which Nickelodeon cartoon set in Bikini Bottom became a 2000s cultural phenomenon?

Though it premiered in 1999, "SpongeBob SquarePants" exploded in popularity throughout the 2000s, becoming one of Nickelodeon's most iconic and successful cartoons.

Roughly how many people were killed by the tsunami from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake?

The magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra on 26 December 2004 sent tsunamis across the Indian Ocean that killed roughly 230,000 people in 14 countries, with Indonesia's Aceh province hardest hit.

Saddam Hussein was executed on 30 December of which year?

Saddam Hussein was hanged on 30 December 2006, after an Iraqi court sentenced him to death in November 2006 for the 1982 Dujail killings; he had been captured in December 2003.

Which country became the first in the world to fully legalise same-sex marriage, on 1 April 2001?

The Netherlands' same-sex marriage law took effect on 1 April 2001, the first in the world; Belgium followed in 2003, Canada nationwide in 2005 and the United States in 2015.

Which country's 2006 independence from Serbia dissolved the last remnant of Yugoslavia?

Montenegro voted for independence in a May 2006 referendum and declared it on 3 June 2006, dissolving the union of Serbia and Montenegro, the last remnant of Yugoslavia; Kosovo declared independence in 2008.

Which former Portuguese colony regained its independence from Indonesia in 2002?

East Timor declared independence from Portugal in November 1975, was invaded by Indonesia days later, and finally became fully independent on 20 May 2002 after a 1999 UN-backed referendum.

Mass protests led by the Otpor! movement forced which leader to resign after a disputed election in 2000?

He was arrested in 2001 and sent to The Hague, where he died in his cell in 2006 before the trial ended.

The 2004 Orange Revolution followed a disputed presidential election in which country?

Ukraine's Orange Revolution erupted in November 2004 after a rigged runoff; a court-ordered revote gave Viktor Yushchenko the presidency over Viktor Yanukovych. Georgia had its Rose Revolution the year before.

Which pope was elected on 19 April 2005, seventeen days after the death of John Paul II?

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected as Benedict XVI on 19 April 2005, succeeding John Paul II, who had died on 2 April after a papacy begun in 1978.

Who succeeded Vladimir Putin as president of Russia in 2008?

Dmitry Medvedev was inaugurated as president on 7 May 2008, with Putin becoming his prime minister; that August Russia fought a short war with Georgia and recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

In 2006, who became the first female president of Chile?

Michelle Bachelet took office on 11 March 2006 as Chile's first female president; later that year the country's former dictator Augusto Pinochet died, on 10 December 2006.

How many people died in the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis in Russia?

The Beslan siege of 1–3 September 2004 ended with 334 people dead, 186 of them children, after Russian forces stormed the school on the third day.

The 2004 Madrid train bombings killed how many people?

The 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings killed 192 people and injured about 2,000; they came three days before Spain's general election, which the governing People's Party then lost.

Which anti-war event of 15 February 2003 did Guinness World Records call the largest in human history?

A New York Times writer concluded there might be two superpowers left: the United States and world public opinion.

Who succeeded Kofi Annan as UN Secretary-General on 1 January 2007?

Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, became the eighth UN Secretary-General on 1 January 2007 after Kofi Annan's two terms; António Guterres followed Ban in 2017.

Roughly how many people were killed by the Kashmir earthquake of 8 October 2005?

The magnitude 7.6 Kashmir earthquake of 8 October 2005 killed roughly 80,000 people, most in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and left millions homeless before winter.

The 2009 swine flu pandemic was caused by a new strain of which virus, first detected in Mexico?

The 2009 pandemic was caused by a novel influenza A H1N1 strain first identified in Mexico and California in April 2009; by August 2010 the WHO had confirmed over 18,000 deaths in more than 214 countries and territories.

Which supersonic airliner had its only fatal crash at Gonesse near Paris in July 2000 and retired three years later?

Concorde's only fatal crash was Air France Flight 4590 on 25 July 2000, killing all 109 aboard and four on the ground; the type was retired in 2003 after the post-9/11 downturn.

Which Space Shuttle disintegrated on re-entry over Texas on 1 February 2003?

Columbia broke apart over Texas on 1 February 2003 while returning from mission STS-107, killing all seven crew; the shuttle fleet was grounded until Discovery flew again in July 2005.

Pluto's 2006 demotion to dwarf planet followed the 2005 discovery of which more massive body?

The 2005 discovery of Eris, then thought larger than Pluto, forced the IAU to define 'planet' in August 2006; Pluto, counted as a planet for 76 years, became a dwarf planet alongside Ceres and Eris.

What did Dennis Tito pay Russia in 2001 to become the first space tourist?

Dennis Tito reportedly paid about $20 million for his April 2001 Soyuz flight to the International Space Station; three years later SpaceShipOne became the first privately built crewed craft to reach space.

The Cassini-Huygens mission's Huygens probe landed on which moon of Saturn in 2005?

The Huygens probe parachuted onto Titan on 14 January 2005, the first landing in the outer Solar System, after a seven-year journey attached to the Cassini orbiter.

The Kyoto Protocol on climate change finally entered into force on 16 February of which year?

The Kyoto Protocol, adopted in December 1997, only entered into force on 16 February 2005, 90 days after Russia's ratification pushed it past the required share of global emissions.

The Dow Jones closed at a record of roughly what level on 9 October 2007, shortly before the crisis?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record 14,164.53 on 9 October 2007; by March 2009 it had lost more than half its value as the credit crisis became the Great Recession.

Which photo-sharing site, launched in 2004, was bought by Yahoo the following year?

Flickr launched in February 2004 from Vancouver start-up Ludicorp and was acquired by Yahoo in March 2005, becoming the decade's dominant home for tagged, shareable photos.

Which 2001 animated film sends an ogre to reclaim his swamp from Lord Farquaad?

Shrek only goes questing because Lord Farquaad banished every fairy-tale creature to his swamp. DreamWorks released the ogre's story in May 2001.

Who had a hit song in 2002 with 'Complicated'?

'Complicated' was Avril Lavigne's very first single, released in March 2002 from her debut album Let Go. The Canadian singer-songwriter turned it into a global pop-rock hit.

What major global sporting event did Sydney, Australia, host in the year 2000?

Sydney, Australia, proudly hosted the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, also known as the 2000 Summer Olympics, from September 15 to October 1.

Which company dominated the pre-smartphone mobile market with durable devices like the 3310?

Nokia, the world's largest handset maker throughout the 2000s, announced the 3310 on 1 September 2000 as the successor to the 3210; the phone became a byword for indestructibility.

Which e-reader did Amazon launch in November 2007, selling out within hours?

The first Kindle went on sale on 19 November 2007 at $399 and sold out in about five and a half hours; Barnes & Noble's Nook did not follow until 2009.

Which web browser did Mozilla release as version 1.0 in November 2004?

Mozilla released Firefox 1.0 on 9 November 2004; it quickly won users from Internet Explorer with tabbed browsing and pop-up blocking, while Google's Chrome did not appear until 2008.

Which driver won five consecutive Formula One world titles with Ferrari from 2000 to 2004?

Michael Schumacher took five straight championships with Ferrari from 2000 to 2004, lifting his career total to a then-record seven; Fernando Alonso ended the streak in 2005.

Which company entered the console market in November 2001 with the original Xbox, the first major American-made console since 1993?

The Xbox was the first major American-made console since the Atari Jaguar in 1993. Microsoft launched it on 15 November 2001 to take on the PlayStation 2 and the GameCube.

Which DVD-by-mail company launched its online streaming service in January 2007?

Netflix introduced its 'Watch Now' streaming service in January 2007, nine years after starting DVD rentals by post; Hulu launched later that year and Blockbuster never recovered.

Which singing competition ran on Fox for fifteen seasons from 11 June 2002?

American Idol premiered on Fox on 11 June 2002 and ran 15 seasons there before moving to ABC in 2018; it was adapted from the British format Pop Idol, which its creators had struggled to sell to US networks.

From what to what did the world population grow during the 2000s?

The world population rose from about 6.1 billion in 2000 to about 6.9 billion in 2010; roughly 1.35 billion people were born during the decade.

Internet coverage of the world's population grew during the 2000s from 7% to what?

Google, YouTube, Ask.com and Wikipedia joined the top 10 sites.

Which search engine did Microsoft launch in June 2009 to replace Live Search?

Microsoft launched Bing on 3 June 2009 as the successor to Live Search; within weeks it had passed Yahoo in US search share in some measures, and Yahoo agreed to use Bing's engine that July.

Which permanent tribunal for war crimes and genocide was formed in 2002?

The International Criminal Court came into being on 1 July 2002 when the Rome Statute entered into force; based in The Hague, it prosecutes individuals for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

What was the core flaw behind the Y2K problem?

Programs stored years as two digits to save memory, so '00' could be read as 1900 rather than 2000; early core memory had cost about a dollar per bit, making every digit precious.

On what date was the Human Genome Project declared complete?

The Human Genome Project was declared complete on 14 April 2003, two years ahead of schedule and 50 years after Watson and Crick's DNA paper; the June 2000 announcement had been only a working draft.

Where did Steve Jobs unveil the original iPhone on January 9, 2007?

Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone in his keynote at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco's Moscone Center on 9 January 2007; it went on sale on 29 June 2007 at $499 for the 4 GB model.

What was Twitter's original name when created in 2006?

Twitter was first called 'twttr', a vowel-less working name used before the twitter.com domain was acquired in 2006; posts were limited to 140 characters until November 2017.

How much storage did Gmail offer when it launched on April 1, 2004?

Gmail launched on 1 April 2004 with one gigabyte of free storage, hundreds of times what Hotmail or Yahoo then offered; the April Fools' Day date made many think the announcement was a hoax.

What does the DS in Nintendo DS stand for?

DS stands for Dual Screen: the clamshell handheld launched in November 2004 with two screens, the lower one a touchscreen, and went on to sell over 150 million units.

Which studio developed Halo: Combat Evolved, released for Xbox in November 2001?

Bungie developed Halo: Combat Evolved, the Xbox launch title of 15 November 2001; Microsoft had bought the studio in 2000, and 343 Industries took over the series only after Bungie left in 2007.

Grand Theft Auto III's Liberty City is loosely based on which real place?

Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto III (2001) is a parody of New York City, with boroughs modelled on Manhattan and Brooklyn; Rockstar's 2008 GTA IV rebuilt it even more explicitly on New York.

World of Warcraft launched in 2004 to mark which Warcraft franchise anniversary?

World of Warcraft launched on 23 November 2004, ten years after Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (1994), so Blizzard tied it to the franchise's 10th anniversary; subscriptions peaked at 12 million in 2010.

Who directed Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl in 2003?

Gore Verbinski directed The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) and its two sequels for producer Jerry Bruckheimer; the series was based on the Disneyland ride that opened in 1967.

Which 2002 blockbuster became the first film to gross $100 million in a single weekend?

No film had ever taken $100 million in a single weekend until Spider-Man did it in May 2002. Sam Raimi directed it from a David Koepp screenplay, and it became the most successful comic-book film to date.

Which actor won a posthumous Oscar for playing the Joker in The Dark Knight?

Heath Ledger, who died in January 2008, won Best Supporting Actor for playing the Joker at the February 2009 Oscars, the second posthumous acting win after Peter Finch for Network.

How many Oscars did Slumdog Millionaire win in 2009?

Slumdog Millionaire won eight Oscars at the February 2009 ceremony, including Best Picture and Best Director for Danny Boyle, from ten nominations; Dev Patel made his film debut as Jamal.

Beyoncé's 2003 hit Crazy in Love samples which 1970 song by the Chi-Lites?

Crazy in Love's horn riff is sampled from the Chi-Lites' 1970 single 'Are You My Woman (Tell Me So)', written by Eugene Record, who received a writing credit as a result.

Which OutKast member wrote, produced and performed Hey Ya!?

André 3000 wrote, produced and performed 'Hey Ya!' on OutKast's 2003 double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below; it spent nine weeks at number one and coined 'shake it like a Polaroid picture'.

Which producer worked with Amy Winehouse and the Dap-Kings on Back to Black?

Mark Ronson produced most of Back to Black (2006) in New York with the Dap-Kings as backing band, while Salaam Remi handled the Miami sessions; Ronson won Producer of the Year at the 2008 Grammys.

Rihanna's Umbrella was the lead single from which 2007 album?

Umbrella, featuring Jay-Z, was the lead single from Good Girl Gone Bad, released in May 2007; it topped the UK chart for ten weeks and won the Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.

How many copies did Usher's Confessions sell in its first US week in 2004?

Confessions sold about 1.1 million copies in its first US week in March 2004, the year's biggest debut; Jermaine Dupri, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and Lil Jon were among its producers.

Michael Jackson died in 2009 of acute intoxication from which drug?

The coroner ruled that Michael Jackson died on 25 June 2009 of acute propofol intoxication; his physician Conrad Murray, who had also given him lorazepam and midazolam, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011.

Which team did the Red Sox sweep in the 2004 World Series, ending an 86-year drought?

Boston swept the St. Louis Cardinals in four games for its first title since 1918, days after becoming the first team to win a series from 3–0 down, against the Yankees in the ALCS.

Which architects designed Beijing's Bird's Nest stadium for the 2008 Olympics?

Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron designed the Beijing National Stadium with China Architecture Design & Research Group's Li Xinggang and artist Ai Weiwei as consultant; it hosted the 2008 opening ceremony.

Whose 1972 record of seven golds at one Games did Michael Phelps break in 2008?

Mark Spitz won seven golds at Munich 1972, a single-Games record until Michael Phelps took eight in Beijing in 2008.

Usain Bolt improved his 9.69-second 100 m record to what time in 2009?

Usain Bolt ran 9.58 seconds at the 2009 Berlin World Championships, cutting 0.11 from his Beijing 2008 mark of 9.69, the largest improvement since fully automatic timing began.

Lance Armstrong's seven consecutive Tour wins, later stripped, spanned which years?

Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France every year from 1999 to 2005; the UCI stripped all seven titles in October 2012 after the USADA doping report, leaving those years with no official winner.

What was the fifth-set score when Nadal beat Federer in the 2008 Wimbledon final?

Nadal won the 2008 Wimbledon final 6–4, 6–4, 6–7, 6–7, 9–7 in near darkness after 4 hours 48 minutes, then the longest final in the tournament's history.

Which defending champions did Greece knock out in the Euro 2004 quarter-finals?

Greece beat holders France 1–0 in the Euro 2004 quarter-finals with an Angelos Charisteas header, then beat hosts Portugal in the final; Germany, Spain and Italy had all gone out in the group stage.

Which two nations reached their first World Cup semi-finals in 2002?

South Korea and Turkey both reached the semi-finals for the first time; Germany beat the co-hosts 1–0 and Brazil beat Turkey 1–0, before Brazil won the Yokohama final 2–0 for a fifth title.

Which Italian player did Zidane headbutt in the 2006 World Cup final?

Zidane headbutted Marco Materazzi in the chest in extra time and was sent off; Italy then won 5–3 on penalties after a 1–1 draw in Berlin.

Before the 2007 Patriots, which team last finished an NFL regular season undefeated?

The 1972 Miami Dolphins went 14–0 in the regular season and completed a 17–0 perfect season by winning the Super Bowl; the 2007 Patriots went 16–0 but lost Super Bowl XLII to the Giants.

Which four countries launched the 'shock and awe' campaign that began the Iraq War?

The invasion that began on 20 March 2003 was carried out by forces from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Poland; Poland's contribution was a small special-forces contingent.

Who was Barack Obama's running mate in the 2008 US presidential election?

Obama chose Senator Joe Biden of Delaware as his running mate in August 2008; they defeated John McCain and Sarah Palin that November.

Where in London did the fourth 7 July 2005 bomb explode, aboard a bus?

The fourth 7/7 bomb exploded on a number 30 bus in Tavistock Square at 9:47am, nearly an hour after three bombs on Underground trains; the four attacks killed 52 people.

How many people were killed in the 12 October 2002 Bali bombings?

The 12 October 2002 Bali bombings killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, when a car bomb and a suicide bomber hit two Kuta nightclubs; Jemaah Islamiyah was blamed.

How long were Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity designed to last after 2004 landings?

Opportunity kept going until June 2018.

Between which years was the Large Hadron Collider built by CERN?

CERN built the Large Hadron Collider between 1998 and 2008 in the 27-km tunnel of the former LEP collider; it circulated its first beam on 10 September 2008.

Dolly the cloned sheep died on 14 February of which year?

Dolly, a Finn-Dorset ewe cloned at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh, was put down on 14 February 2003, aged six, after developing lung disease; she had been born in July 1996.

Who invented the Segway, brought to market in 2001?

Dean Kamen, also inventor of the iBOT wheelchair, unveiled the Segway HT in December 2001 after months of hype under the codename 'Ginger'.

Which company bought Skype for $2.6bn in September 2005?

eBay bought Skype for about $2.6 billion in September 2005, hoping to link buyers and sellers by voice; it sold a majority stake in 2009, and Microsoft paid $8.5 billion for Skype in 2011.

The first-generation Tesla Roadster of 2008 was based on which car's chassis?

The Roadster used a chassis derived from the Lotus Elise and was partly assembled at Lotus's Hethel plant; it was the first production electric car to exceed 200 miles of range, with an EPA rating of 244 miles.

Which airline first took delivery of the Airbus A380 in October 2007?

Singapore Airlines took delivery of the first A380 on 15 October 2007 and flew it Singapore–Sydney ten days later; the double-decker had first flown on 27 April 2005.

Which skyscraper, completed 31 December 2004, was the world's tallest until the Burj Khalifa?

Taipei 101, 508 m tall and opened on 31 December 2004, was the world's tallest completed building until the 828 m Burj Khalifa opened in January 2010.

Which company principally backed HD DVD in its format war with Blu-ray?

Toshiba led the HD DVD camp with NEC and Microsoft's support, while Sony, Panasonic and Philips backed Blu-ray; Toshiba conceded the format war in February 2008 after Warner Bros. went Blu-ray-only.

Which single was Kelly Clarkson's 2002 debut and the year's best-seller in the US?

A Moment Like This, released in September 2002 days after Kelly Clarkson won the first American Idol, jumped from 52 to number one and was the best-selling US single of 2002.

Which plane crashes on the island in Lost, which premiered on ABC in 2004?

Oceanic Flight 815 from Sydney to Los Angeles breaks apart over the island in the September 2004 pilot; character names such as Locke, Hume and Rousseau nod to philosophers.

Who adapted the BBC's The Office for NBC in 2005?

Greg Daniels, a Simpsons and King of the Hill veteran, developed the American Office for NBC in March 2005; it ran nine seasons and 201 episodes, far beyond the British original's 14.

Which network aired Breaking Bad and Mad Men, both launched in the late 2000s?

AMC premiered Mad Men in July 2007 and Breaking Bad in January 2008, transforming the former movie channel into a home for prestige drama.

Which storytelling device defined the series 24, which premiered in November 2001?

Kiefer Sutherland starred as Jack Bauer for 204 episodes.

Who created Desperate Housewives, which debuted on ABC in October 2004?

Marc Cherry, previously a writer on The Golden Girls, created Desperate Housewives, which debuted on ABC on 3 October 2004 and ran eight seasons and 180 episodes.

How old is the vampire Edward Cullen in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight novels?

Edward Cullen has been 17 for roughly a century: he is 104 years old in the novels. Released annually from 2005 to 2008, the four books follow Bella Swan after she moves to Forks, Washington.

Whose missing-child poster did Rowling ask shops to display at the Deathly Hallows launch?

J.K. Rowling asked booksellers to display posters of Madeleine McCann, who had vanished in Portugal in May 2007, at the Deathly Hallows launch on 21 July 2007.

Which economist co-wrote the 2005 bestseller Freakonomics with journalist Stephen Dubner?

Economist Steven Levitt of the University of Chicago co-wrote Freakonomics (2005) with Stephen Dubner; its chapters cover cheating sumo wrestlers and the economics of drug dealing.

The Kite Runner, published in 2003, tells the story of a boy from which Kabul district?

Amir, the narrator of Khaled Hosseini's debut The Kite Runner, grows up in Kabul's affluent Wazir Akbar Khan district before fleeing to America after the Soviet invasion.

Where did Crocs unveil their first model, the Beach, in 2002?

Crocs debuted the Beach at the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show in November 2002 as a boating shoe; all 200 pairs on hand sold out, and the Boulder-based company went public in 2006.

Which five sports feature in Wii Sports?

Wii Sports bundled tennis, baseball, bowling, golf and boxing as a showcase for the Wii Remote; packed in with the console outside Japan, it sold about 83 million copies.

Which single was Coldplay's breakthrough from their 2000 debut Parachutes?

Yellow, released in June 2000, reached number four in the UK and broke Coldplay worldwide; Parachutes went on to win the Brit for British Album and the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album.

Seven Nation Army came from which 2003 White Stripes album?

Elephant gave Jack and Meg White their first Grammy Awards. The duo's fourth album, released in 2003, opens with the stadium chant that is 'Seven Nation Army'.

Green Day's American Idiot, a 2004 rock opera, sold how many US copies?

American Idiot sold about six million copies in the US, earning a 6× Platinum certification, and won the 2005 Grammy for Best Rock Album before a Broadway adaptation opened in 2010.

Which 2001 album was Shakira's first English-language release?

Laundry Service, released in November 2001 with the hits Whenever, Wherever and Underneath Your Clothes, was Shakira's first mostly English-language album and sold over 13 million copies worldwide.

Which 2006 song was the first UK number one on download sales alone?

Crazy by Gnarls Barkley topped the UK chart in April 2006 on download sales alone, a week before its physical release, and stayed at number one for nine weeks.

Madoff's Ponzi scheme, exposed in December 2008, showed roughly what total on clients' statements?

Clients' statements showed about $65 billion when Bernie Madoff was arrested on 11 December 2008, though actual cash losses were nearer $17 billion; his sons reported that he had called the business 'one big lie'.

Which state did Sarah Palin govern when she became the 2008 Republican VP nominee?

Sarah Palin was the governor of Alaska, elected in 2006, when John McCain picked her in August 2008; she resigned the governorship in July 2009.

Which accounting firm was dissolved after the Enron scandal broke in October 2001?

Arthur Andersen, Enron's auditor, was convicted in 2002 of obstructing justice for shredding Enron documents and surrendered its licences, collapsing from 85,000 employees; the conviction was overturned in 2005 but the firm never returned.

Roughly how many people lost power in the Northeast blackout of August 14, 2003?

About 55 million people lost power, 45 million in eight US states and 10 million in Ontario, after a software bug in an Ohio utility's alarm system left operators blind to overloaded lines.

Which utility's control-room software bug was blamed for triggering the 2003 Northeast blackout?

FirstEnergy's control room in Akron, Ohio, lost its alarm system to a software race condition, so operators missed overloaded lines sagging into trees; the cascade cut power to about 55 million people on 14 August 2003.

Which 2003 Pixar film became the best-selling DVD title of all time?

Finding Nemo sold more than 40 million DVDs, making it the best-selling DVD of all time; it was also the highest-grossing animated film on release and 2003's second-biggest film after The Return of the King.

About how many US viewers watched the Friends series finale on May 6, 2004?

The Friends finale drew 52.5 million US viewers on 6 May 2004, the most for any entertainment telecast since Seinfeld's 1998 finale and the fourth-largest series-finale audience in American TV history at the time.

Which 2004 Motorola phone became the best-selling clamshell 'flip' phone of all time?

The Razr V3 sold about 130 million units after its 2004 launch, the most of any clamshell; it was the best-selling US handset until the iPhone 3G overtook it in late 2008.

Which studio developed the original Guitar Hero for PlayStation 2 in 2005, then left to create the rival Rock Band?

The studio that built Guitar Hero went on to build its biggest rival. Harmonix developed the 2005 original, RedOctane published it, and Neversoft took over from Guitar Hero III.

Which codename was given to the December 2003 raid that captured Saddam Hussein?

Operation Red Dawn took its name from the 1984 film; searchers found Saddam in a 'spider hole' near Tikrit on 13 December 2003 after two sites dubbed Wolverine 1 and 2 came up empty.

In which small Iraqi town was Saddam Hussein found hiding on 13 December 2003?

Saddam was pulled from a spider hole on a farm in Ad-Dawr, about 15 km south of his birthplace Tikrit, by Task Force 121 and the 4th Infantry Division on 13 December 2003.

Which company produced the yellow Livestrong wristbands launched in 2004?

Nike and its agency Wieden+Kennedy created the yellow Livestrong wristband in May 2004 for the Lance Armstrong Foundation; some 80 million were sold, and Nike ended the partnership in 2013.

In which year did Napster's original file-sharing service go offline after court injunctions?

Napster's original service went offline in July 2001 after an injunction in the record labels' lawsuit; founded by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker in 1999, the company filed for bankruptcy in June 2002.

Which YouTube co-founder appears in 'Me at the zoo', the site's first upload, filmed at San Diego Zoo in April 2005?

YouTube's entire history starts with 19 seconds of elephants. Jawed Karim, one of the three co-founders, was filmed at San Diego Zoo by his high-school friend Yakov Lapitsky.

Winning which tournament in 2001 completed Tiger Woods's 'Tiger Slam' of four straight majors?

Tiger Woods won the 2001 Masters to hold all four major titles at once, after taking the 2000 U.S. Open (by a record 15 strokes), Open Championship and PGA Championship.

Who directed the first Harry Potter film, released in 2001?

Chris Columbus directed Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) from Steve Kloves's script; it was 2001's highest-grossing film on a $125 million budget and passed $1 billion worldwide after re-releases.