2016: The Year of Post-Truth Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1) USA, 2) Great Britain, 3) China.

The USA came top of the table with a whopping 121 medals, 46 of which were gold. After adding another five gold medals to his collection, American swimmer Michael Phelps retired from the sport as the most decorated Olympian of all time.

Two weeks later, the fifteenth Paralympics was held in Rio. The top of the medal table looked pretty similar to the Olympic one: China were first with an astounding 239 medals, well ahead of Great Britain, who came second with 147 medals! Third and fourth place were very close - just two medals between third place Ukraine and fourth place USA.

Answer: Russia

Many Russian athletes were banned from competing in the Rio Olympics. In order to compete, Russian athletes had to meet strict requirements regarding previous anti-doping tests. The Paralympic team, however, faced a complete ban in all sports and events.

Answer: Hillary Clinton

The American presidential election was held in November 2016. Jeb Bush was a Republican candidate like Donald Trump, but dropped out of the presidential race in February 2016. Ted Cruz was also a Republican candidate who withdrew from the campaign in May 2016. George W. Bush, Jeb Bush's brother, is a former president of America. Hillary Clinton ran against Trump for the presidency but lost due to an insufficient number of electoral college votes.

Answer: Syria

Ukraine and Rwanda are in Europe and Africa, respectively. Between 2014 and 2016 there was conflict between Ukraine and Russia after Crimea was annexed by Russia. And although Qatar has intervened in conflicts in other countries, such as Yemen and Libya, there wasn't a civil war within Qatar in 2016.

The United Nations Security Council supported the ceasefire in Syria in December 2016, despite different member states being on opposing sides. Russia supported the Syrian president while Turkey supported the rebellion against him. France, the USA, and the UK argued that the president should have resigned in order to end the war.

Answer: David Bowie

David Bowie died on 10th January 2016 from liver cancer. His final album, 'Blackstar', was released on 8th January, and was a 'parting gift' to his fans. The other three options all passed away in 2016, too. George Michael, another British musician, died on Christmas Day. Terry Wogan was an Irish radio and TV presenter who passed on 31st January. Carrie Fisher was a American actor of 'Star Wars' fame who died on 27th December.

Some other famous people who died in 2016 were Alan Rickman, Gene Wilder, Leonard Cohen, George Martin, Debbie Reynolds, and Muhammad Ali.

Answer: Leaving the European Union

The referendum allowed voters to decide whether they wanted the UK to leave the European Union. On Thursday 23rd June, 30 million people turned up to vote, and the Leave campaign won by 51.9% to 48.1%.

At the time of the referendum, David Cameron was Prime Minister, but he resigned from the position on 11th July. He was succeeded by Theresa May, who was voted in by the Conservative Party. David Cameron then resigned his position as an MP on 12th September, claiming that he didn't want his disagreements with the new Prime Minister to be a distraction.

Answer: Disney

In order, the top five highest grossing films of 2016 were 'Captain America: Civil War', 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story', 'Finding Dory', 'Zootopia', and 'The Jungle Book'. 'Captain America: Civil War' alone made $1,153,304,495 at the box office.

Answer: NHS (National Health Service)

The National Health Service was founded after the Second World War. It provides a range of services, many of which were free for residents of the UK. As a result, it was mostly funded by taxation. An ageing population and a nationwide obesity crisis led to concerns over spending on the NHS.

The Health Secretary argued for improvements to NHS healthcare on weekends, as research showed that patients were more likely to die if they had been admitted on a Saturday or Sunday. This led to planned junior doctor strikes in England, after proposed alterations to their contracts meant changes to the definition of 'unsociable hours' and reductions in pay.

Answer: Theresa May - Germany

In 2016, the Chancellor of Germany was Angela Merkel, who had been in office since 2005 and remained there through to 2017. Theresa May became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in July 2016. Donald Trump succeeded Barack Obama as President of the United States in January 2017 (elected November 2016). Bill English became Prime Minister of New Zealand in December 2016 after the resignation of John Key.

Also in December, Adama Barrow was voted President of the Gambia. He defeated long-standing President of 22 years, Yahya Jammeh. Jammeh originally accepted defeat, but then declared a 90-day state of emergency and called for another election. Barrow was sworn in at the Gambian Embassy in Senegal while Jammeh remained in the country. He eventually went into political exile in January 2017, and Barrow returned to the Gambia.

Answer: 'Top Gear'

'Top Gear' was a popular TV programme in the UK, with versions of the show being broadcast around the world. Since 2007, the British version received a succession of complaints, including complaints about racism and homophobia. In 2015, Jeremy Clarkson was suspended from the BBC after physically assaulting a 'Top Gear' producer.

When his contract was not renewed. Richard Hammond and James May left the show, and all three moved to Amazon Video. 'The Grand Tour' was first made available on Amazon Prime in November 2016.