20 questions · Current events
On 9 January 2007, Steve Jobs held up a device in San Francisco that would change the world: the first iPhone: "an iPod, a phone and an internet communicator" in one. Hardly anyone guessed that the smartphone age had just begun. Things looked less shiny in finance: the subprime crisis broke out that summer over failed US mortgages, Germany's IKB bank needed rescuing, and outside Britain's Northern Rock branches formed the first bank queues in generations. Europe, meanwhile, grew to 27 members, storm Kyrill raged across the continent in January, and at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm tens of thousands demonstrated beyond the security fence. Germany celebrated its "winter fairy tale" in February (its handball team became world champions on home soil) France elected Sarkozy, Britain got a new PM in Gordon Brown, and the IPCC climate panel shook the world awake, sharing the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore. At year's end, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto convulsed Pakistan. And millions feverishly read how the Harry Potter saga ended after ten years. Twenty questions about the year the future slipped into our pockets.
Practise for freePurFact brings every card back right before you would forget it. That's how knowledge sticks.
Foto: ArnoldReinhold · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
iPhone
It launched in the US in June and in Germany in November.
💡 Did you know? The original iPhone had neither an App Store nor copy-and-paste.
subprime crisis
In Germany, the IKB bank was the first to wobble.
💡 Did you know? "Subprime" refers to loans to borrowers with weak credit.
Northern Rock
The bank was nationalised in 2008.
💡 Did you know? A bank run can bring down even healthy banks.
Romania and Bulgaria
The same day, Slovenia became the first 2004 newcomer to adopt the euro.
💡 Did you know? Croatia made it 28 in 2013, since Brexit it's back to 27.
Kyrill
47 people died across Europe; millions of trees fell.
💡 Did you know? In Germany's Sauerland, Kyrill flattened whole forests: traces remain today.
Heiligendamm
Tens of thousands demonstrated around the summit venue.
💡 Did you know? The photo of Merkel and Bush in a beach chair became famous.
LA Galaxy
The move made MLS globally visible almost overnight.
💡 Did you know? Years later, Beckham used a contract clause to found Inter Miami.
Nicolas Sarkozy
His hyperactive style earned him the nickname "Speedy".
💡 Did you know? In 2008 he married model Carla Bruni while in office.
Gordon Brown
Brown took over shortly before the financial crisis erupted.
💡 Did you know? Blair and Brown allegedly divided the top jobs over dinner in 1994.
Al Gore
His documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" had just won the Oscar.
💡 Did you know? The 2007 IPCC report called the warming "unequivocal" and its human cause "very likely".
Benazir Bhutto
She had returned from exile only months earlier.
💡 Did you know? In 1988 she became the first woman to lead a Muslim-majority country.
Deathly Hallows
It broke every sales record in publishing history.
💡 Did you know? The German edition followed in October 2007.
Estonia
Banks, media and government sites were temporarily crippled.
💡 Did you know? NATO opened its cyber defence centre in Tallinn in 2008.
Foto: Lewis Clarke · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Wembley
It holds 90,000: England's biggest stadium.
💡 Did you know? Old Wembley's famous twin towers were demolished.
Singapore Airlines
Tickets for the first flight were auctioned for charity.
💡 Did you know? The A380's maiden flight itself had been back in 2005.
Kimi Räikkönen
Rookie Lewis Hamilton lost the title only in the final race.
💡 Did you know? It remains Ferrari's last drivers' title to this day.
Netflix
Its own series only followed from 2012.
💡 Did you know? Netflix once offered to sell itself to Blockbuster and was turned down.
Boris Yeltsin
He had unexpectedly handed power to Putin in 1999.
💡 Did you know? His speech from atop a tank during the 1991 coup made him famous.
Luciano Pavarotti
With the "Three Tenors" he filled entire stadiums.
💡 Did you know? His "Nessun dorma" became a global hit through the 1990 World Cup.
England
Pubs, restaurants and offices went smoke-free overnight.
💡 Did you know? As late as the 1980s, smoking was still allowed on planes.
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