Three Little Noughties Trivia Quiz

Answer: 2000

Vladimir Putin was officially elected President of Russia in March 2000, although he had been Acting President since the resignation of Boris Yeltsin on New Year's Eve 1999.

Concorde, the Anglo-French supersonic airliner had its first and only fatal accident on 25th July 2000. An Air France Concorde suffered a burst tyre on take-off, which punctured a fuel tank and caused a fire that resulted in the crash. Everyone on board and four people on the ground were killed.

The USS Cole, a US Navy destroyer was attacked by Al-Qaeda suicide bombers in Aden on 12th October 2000 and 17 members of the crew were killed. Although badly damaged, the ship was eventually repaired and returned to active service.

Answer: 2002

The year 2002 said goodbye to the French Franc and the Deutschmark and said hello to the Euro. Other countries which changed their currency included Spain, Austria and Ireland.

"A Beautiful Mind" was based on the life of John Nash who won a Nobel Laureate in Economics. The film was directed by Ron Howard and starred Russell Crowe in the lead role.

Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother died on 30 March 2002 at the age of 101. She was the widow of George VI and had two children, Princess Margaret and the future Queen Elizabeth II.

Answer: 2003

The Columbia disaster took place on 1 February 2003. Damage from a piece of insulation foam caused the spacecraft to fall apart and kill all seven astronauts on board.

The President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, was discovered in hiding on 13 December 2003 and was executed, by hanging, in December 2006.

Maurice Gibb, one of three brothers in the band The Bee Gees, died on 12 January 2003 with a twisted intestine causing his demise. He was only fifty-three while, in contrast, Bob Hope had reached the grand age of one hundred when he passed away in July 2003. His cause of death was reported as pneumonia.

Answer: 2004

Facebook is a social networking service that was launched in February 2004. It was founded by 23 year-old student Mark Zuckerberg while he was studying psychology at Harvard University.

The Summer Olympics held in Athens attracted over 10,500 athletes from all over the world, with 201 nations participating. It was a record breaking games for American swimmer Michael Phelps who walked (not swam) home with six gold medals.

The 60th anniversary of D-Day in 2004 marked the horrific events which happened in France on 6th June 1944. Over four thousand men died on the Normandy beaches known as Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.

Answer: 2005

On 2nd April 2005, Pope John Paul II died having served for over 26 years as the head of the Roman Catholic Church. The first Pole to be elected to the position, he was also the first non-Italian pope since 1523.

While the 6th July 2005 was a day of great celebration in London following the announcement of London's successful bid for the 2012 Olympics, the next day, which became known as "7/7" was hugely traumatic. A group of Islamic extremist suicide bombers blew up three tube trains and a bus, taking the lives of 52 people and injuring nearly 800 others.

Hurricane Katrina raged across the southern United States at the end of August 2005 causing mass devastation and loss of life, particularly in New Orleans and the surrounding areas. Many of the city's levees failed and by the 31st August, approximately 80% of the city was underwater.

Answer: 2006

Thaksin Shinawatra was the Prime Minister of Thailand from February 2001 until the military coup that ousted him from power in September 2006. He then fled the country and was found guilty of abuse of power in his absence.

Pluto was first discovered in 1930 and classified as a ninth planet orbiting the Sun. However, the International Astronomical Union came up with a more rigorous definition for planets in 2006, which Pluto failed.

The 20th edition of the Winter Olympic Games were held in Turin, Italy in February 2006. It was the second time Italy had hosted the event.

Answer: 2007

1st January 2007 saw a further enlargement of the European Union, when the neighbouring countries of Romania and Bulgaria joined.

Scotland was the first country of the United Kingdom to ban smoking, in March 2006, with Wales and Northern Ireland imposing bans in April 2007 followed by England in July.

Operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti died on 6 September 2007 from pancreatic cancer while Boris Yeltsin, first president of the Russian Federation, died on 23 April 2007 from heart failure.

Answer: 2001

The initial concept for Wikipedia was to allow only "experts" to update pages, but was later opened to all with review processes. In less than a month there were over a thousand articles, and over 20,000 were created in the first year.

Russia's Mir space station was launched in 1986 and remained operational until 1996. The space station provided a temporary home to over 100 astronauts. In 2001 a controlled re-entry was completed with a splashdown in the South Pacific.

Michel Brunet had been involved in several paleontology funded searches for hominids and their ancestors. Given permission by Chad to search in the Djurab Desert several finds were recorded. On July 19, 2001 a complete cranium was found. The 6-7 million year old skull was nicknamed Toumai.

Answer: 2008

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) took ten years to build and was completed and inaugurated in 2008. It is a massive structure located in both France and Switzerland.

Bhutan (a "favourite" destination for FunTrivia's quiz-related 'Amazing Race') held its first democratic general election for its National Assembly on 24th March 2008. The Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party won 67% of the vote and 45 of the 47 seats.

Heath Ledger died at the age of just 28 on 22nd January 2008 and went on to win a posthumous Best Supporting Actor Oscar at the following year's Academy Awards. Charlton Heston was 84 when he died on 5th April of the same year.

Answer: 2009

Michael Jackson (1958-2009) began singing with his brothers as the Jackson 5 in 1964. His first solo album, "Got to Be There" was released in 1972. Michael, the "King of Pop", influenced many singers, dancers, fashion and many other areas. "Thriller", an album released in 1982, would win eight Grammy Awards (a new record). It was included in the "Guinness Book of World Records" as the world's best selling album in 1984.

U.S. Airways Flight 1549 got into trouble just after takeoff when it struck a flock of Canadian geese. Pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger couldn't restart the engines and requested clearance to land. He then realized that he wouldn't make it that far and ditched the plane in the Hudson five minutes after the initial takeoff.

Formed on August 2, 2009, Typhoon Morakot would not dissipate until August 13. The storm would affect much of Asia, but the Xiaolin Village in Taiwan was buried in a landslide cause over 400 deaths.