The Hustle Bustle of 2016 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Flint, Michigan

Sixty-five miles north-west Detroit, Flint, has experienced unemployment and poverty, and the city itself has gone into receivership. A 2014 revision of water sources back to the contaminated Flint River, done in order to reduce expenditures, was not treated with anti-corrosive agents, a direct violation of federal law.

The Flint River is historically a polluted river, and state projects to clean it up have had varying success. Deteriorating pipes in poorer neighbourhood allowed lead to enter the water supply while en route to homes. Michigan governor Rick Snyder declared the situation a state of emergency on January 6, 2016, the Michigan National Guard was deployed to provide water, and the federal government pledged $5 million to the city.

Answer: Panama

This release consisted of over 11.5 million documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, displaying the ways in which the rich distribute their wealth in offshore accounts, a legal venture that could be exploited to avoid national tax regulations. Politicians named in the leaks include Russia's Vladimir Putin, Pakistan's Nawaz Sharif, Ukraine's Petro Poroshenko, and Iceland's Sigmundur Davíđ Gunnlaugsson, all of which presidents or prime ministers of their nations at the time of the leaks. Simon Cowell, Tiger Woods, Lionel Messi, and Bobby Fischer were also mentioned in the leaks, though none of them were involved in any illegal activity.

Answer: Fort McMurray, Alberta

The entire city of Fort McMurray was evacuated, the largest evacuation in Canadian history as the fire ripped through the city of over 60,000 residents. Over 2400 buildings were destroyed and nearly 1.5 million acres were burned. Firefighters from South Africa were deployed to join the Canadian contingent. Residents were removed from their homes for three to six weeks, and the insured damages were estimated at over $3.5 billion. Amazingly, nobody was directly killed by the fire, nor were there any injuries.

Answer: It completed an around-the-world flight completely via solar power

Solar Impulse 2, a Swiss based project, took off from Abu Dhabi in March, 2015 on a eastward trip around the world. While crossing Asia and the Pacific Ocean, the solar panel batteries were damaged putting a stop on the trip until they could be repaired.

After a 10 month delay, the trip restarted in Hawaii in April, 2016 and landed back in Abu Dhabi on July 23. The plane's wingspan is almost as wide as an Airbus A380, but weighs only roughly 2.3 tonnes (a 380 weighs 500 tonnes). Swiss pilots Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg took turns guiding the plane that travelled between 50-100 km (30-60 miles) per hour.

Answer: United Kingdom

51.9% of voters were in favour of exiting the EU, in a referendum that quickly acquired the name of "Brexit". British Prime Minister David Cameron campaigned for the UK to remain within the EU, while former Mayor of London Boris Johnson was a notable on the leave side. Following the results, Cameron resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, replaced by Teresa May. 72% of eligible voters turned out to vote in the one-day referendum.

Answer: Fiji

Rugby sevens made its debut at the Rio Olympics, the first form of rugby played at the Games since rugby union was discontinued in the 1940s. On the men's side Fiji went 6-0, and beat down the British side 43-7 in the gold medal game. Rio de Janeiro was the 17th Olympics that Fiji had sent athletes too but the first medal they had won. Fiji's women's team were not as successful in competition, falling to the same Great Britain in the quarterfinals.

Answer: Chicago Cubs

The Cubs' drought appeared to be continuing after they went down 3 games to 1 in the best-of-7 series to the Cleveland Indians, the team with the second longest drought in baseball having not won since 1948. However the Cubs roared back to win the World Series after the deciding Game 7 went to extra innings.

The win also ended the Curse of the Billy Goat, an alleged curse placed on the team in 1945 by upset tavern owner William Sianis, who declared that the Cubs "ain't gonna win no more" after he was asked to leave Game 4 of the 1945 World Series because the billygoat he had brought to the game was causing a disturbance. Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant took home National League MVP honours, and second baseman Ben Zobrist won World Series MVP.

Answer: Clowns

These sightings tended to be in the evenings and near public areas such as parks and schools. While not a new phenomenon, the reports of seeing clowns rose over time and were mostly harmless and legally behaving, even if they were more scary than funny.

The rise of clown sightings led to a decision by McDonalds to limit the exposure and marketing of Ronald McDonald, and the "creepy clown emoji" was added by Apple to iOS in November.

Answer: Fidel Castro

Nine days of mourning commenced after Fidel's brother Raul Castro took to Cuban state television to announce Fidel's passing. Castro was the longest serving non-royal state leader from when he took over the country in 1959 until 2006, when Castro stepped down due to health issues. Castro was a national headache to the American government, causing the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 after defending against the Bay of Pigs the year before. Castro's death was greeted with mixed emotions by world leaders and by Cuban citizens.

Despite national mourning where music was silenced and alcohol sales banned, protests erupted in the streets of Havana in celebration of his death at the age of 90.

Answer: The actor best known for playing "Columbo"

Peter Falk, who was best known for playing Columbo, passed on June 23, 2011.

2016 was definitely noteworthy for the celebrities that did pass on, including Harper Lee, John Glenn and David Bowie. Others include George Michael, Gordie Howe, Muhammad Ali, Nancy Reagan, Glenn Frey, Alan Thicke, Prince, Arnold Palmer, Alan Rickman, Leonard Cohen, Merle Haggard, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Carrie Fisher, and Fisher's mother Debbie Reynolds.