100 Fun Facts About 2017

Which film was wrongly announced as Best Picture at the February 2017 Oscars?

Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway had been handed the Best Actress envelope; Moonlight was declared the real winner minutes later.

How many Oscar nominations did La La Land receive, tying the all-time record?

It matched All About Eve and Titanic, then set a record for most nominations without winning Best Picture.

Who won Best Actor at the 2017 Oscars for Manchester by the Sea?

He and brother Ben became the 16th pair of siblings to win Academy Awards.

Who hosted the Oscars for the first time in 2017?

He returned the following year for the 90th ceremony.

Who won Best Actress at the 2017 Oscars?

Damien Chazelle took Best Director the same night, one of La La Land's six wins.

What deficit did the Patriots overcome to win Super Bowl LI in February 2017?

It was the largest comeback in Super Bowl history and the first Super Bowl decided in overtime.

Which team lost Super Bowl LI to the Patriots?

Matt Ryan, the league MVP, led the Falcons to an 11-5 season and a 28-3 lead before the collapse.

Which team won its first World Series in franchise history in 2017?

They beat the Dodgers in seven games; a sign-stealing scandal later tainted the title.

Who was named 2017 World Series MVP after hitting five home runs?

The two teams combined for a record 25 homers in the series.

Who was unanimous MVP of the 2017 NBA Finals?

The Warriors beat Cleveland 4-1 and finished the playoffs 16-1, the best postseason record ever.

Which team did the Pittsburgh Penguins beat to repeat as Stanley Cup champions in 2017?

They were the first back-to-back winners since the salary cap was introduced.

Who won the Conn Smythe Trophy for a second straight year in 2017?

The Penguins captain was playoff MVP in both 2016 and 2017.

Who did Roger Federer beat in five sets to win the 2017 Australian Open?

It was his first major since Wimbledon 2012 and, at 35, made him the oldest men's major champion since 1972.

Who won the 2017 Masters in a playoff for his first major, at the 74th attempt?

He beat Justin Rose in sudden death after both finished nine under.

Who won his fourth Tour de France in 2017?

The Team Sky rider's third straight win came on a route that started in Dusseldorf.

Whose remix helped "Despacito" become the first Spanish-language US number one in 21 years?

Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's hit tied the record 16 weeks at number one.

How many weeks did "Despacito" spend at number one on the Hot 100?

Its video was the most-viewed on YouTube from August 2017 until Baby Shark overtook it in 2020.

Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" came from which 2017 album?

The album was the world's best-selling of 2017 and Sheeran its best-selling artist.

"Bodak Yellow" made Cardi B the first female rapper to top the Hot 100 solo since whom?

Hill's "Doo Wop (That Thing)" had done it in 1998.

Which Taylor Swift album, released November 2017, was led by "Look What You Made Me Do"?

It followed a year of online feuds in which detractors branded her a snake.

Which Kendrick Lamar album from April 2017 later won the Pulitzer Prize for Music?

It was the first Pulitzer for music outside classical and jazz; "Humble" became his first solo number one.

In Get Out, what does Missy call the void Chris falls into when hypnotised?

Daniel Kaluuya's paralysed stare from it became one of the year's defining images.

Who directed 2017's Wonder Woman?

The film had been in development since 1996 before she was hired in 2015.

What was the highest-grossing film of 2017 worldwide?

Rian Johnson's film took $1.334 billion; Beauty and the Beast was second with $1.27 billion.

Who played Belle in Disney's 2017 live-action Beauty and the Beast?

Bill Condon's remake grossed $1.27 billion, second only to The Last Jedi that year.

Which 2017 release became the highest-grossing horror film of all time?

Bill Skarsgard's Pennywise helped it past The Exorcist's domestic record.

Who directed Thor: Ragnarok?

Cate Blanchett played Hela, Odin's firstborn, freed by his death.

Which 2017 film won the Golden Lion at Venice before taking Best Picture?

Guillermo del Toro's tale of a mute cleaner and an amphibian creature is set in 1962 Baltimore.

How many episodes did Game of Thrones' seventh season, aired in summer 2017, have?

Every earlier season had ten; the Night King killed and raised the dragon Viserion in the penultimate episode.

What are the adolescent Demogorgons in Stranger Things' 2017 second season nicknamed?

The season, set in autumn 1984, also introduced Max Mayfield and the Mind Flayer.

The Handmaid's Tale, which premiered in April 2017, made history as the first what?

Its first season won eight Emmys from 13 nominations.

Big Little Lies, HBO's 2017 hit, is set in which California town?

Based on Liane Moriarty's novel, it won eight Emmys including acting awards for Kidman, Skarsgard and Dern.

Which console launched on March 3, 2017 alongside The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild?

Breath of the Wild was also the last Nintendo-published Wii U game and won Game of the Year.

Which Epic Games title launched its free battle royale mode on September 26, 2017?

Epic's mode arrived as an early-access title and became a global phenomenon within months.

What was the name of the failed luxury music event on Great Exuma in April 2017?

Organiser Billy McFarland was later sentenced to six years for fraud; Ja Rule was his partner.

What toy became a worldwide craze in 2017, marketed as a stress reliever?

It works on a ball bearing and weighted lobes; schools started banning it within months.

The August 2017 total eclipse was the first visible across the whole US since which year?

Its 70-mile-wide path of totality ran from Oregon to South Carolina across 14 states.

Which hurricane dropped a US-record 60 inches of rain on Texas in August 2017?

Its $125 billion in damage tied Katrina as the costliest US tropical cyclone on record.

Which hurricane devastated Puerto Rico in September 2017, two weeks after Irma?

It made landfall on Dominica as a Category 5 and caused more than 3,000 deaths.

Which actress's October 15, 2017 tweet turned #MeToo into a global movement?

Activist Tarana Burke had first used the phrase on Myspace around 2006.

Which two publications broke the Weinstein story in October 2017?

They shared the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for the coverage.

Emmanuel Macron became France's youngest president in May 2017 at what age?

He won 66 percent of the second-round vote against Marine Le Pen.

Which spacecraft ended 13 years at Saturn by plunging into the planet in September 2017?

It had launched in 1997 and was the first probe ever to orbit Saturn.

Which Leonardo da Vinci painting sold for a record $450 million in November 2017?

Prince Badr bin Abdullah was the buyer at Christie's, reportedly on behalf of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Who won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature?

The Remains of the Day author was the 12th British laureate in literature.

Which global cyberattack hit computers in at least 150 countries in May 2017?

The ransomware crippled parts of Britain's National Health Service among many others.

Who became New Zealand's prime minister in October 2017 at 37?

New Zealand First chose to form a coalition with her Labour Party, supported by the Greens.

Which Spanish region declared independence on October 27, 2017, recognised by no one?

Madrid responded by imposing direct rule.

The 2017 Women's March on January 21 was, at the time, the largest what?

It was held the day after Donald Trump's inauguration, with 420 marches in the US and 168 abroad.

Which singer's Manchester concert was bombed on May 22, 2017?

She returned two weeks later to host the One Love Manchester benefit, raising 17 million pounds.

Which mystery word ended Donald Trump's May 2017 tweet 'Despite the constant negative press'?

Covfefe stayed online for six hours before the tweet was deleted. Press secretary Sean Spicer insisted the president and 'a small group of people' knew exactly what it meant.

Which American actress from the legal drama Suits got engaged to Prince Harry in November 2017?

Meghan Markle played Rachel Zane, who rises from paralegal to attorney on the show. She and Harry said a mutual friend had set them up on a blind date in July 2016.

Which cryptocurrency rose more than 1,800 percent in 2017, peaking just under $20,000 in December?

Bitcoin set its record of $19,783.06 in the same month that Chicago exchanges began offering futures contracts on it.

Which country decreed in September 2017 that women could drive, lifting the world's only such ban?

Saudi Arabia's King Salman issued the order on September 26, 2017, but women had to wait until June 2018 to get behind the wheel legally.

Which UFC champion crossed over to boxing to fight Floyd Mayweather in Nevada in August 2017?

Conor McGregor lasted until the tenth round before the referee stopped the fight. The win took Mayweather to 50–0, one better than Rocky Marciano's famous record.

What kind of animal was April, whose pregnancy at a New York park became a 2017 YouTube sensation?

A giraffe named April finally delivered a male calf, Tajiri, on April 15, 2017, with nearly 1.2 million people watching the birth live.

Which nickname did Turkish butcher Nusret Gökçe earn in January 2017 from a viral steak video?

Salt Bae got the name for the way he let the seasoning tumble from his fingertips down his forearm onto the dish. His 'Ottoman Steak' clip drew more than 16 million Instagram views.

Which Stephen King villain did Bill Skarsgård play in a 2017 film about outcast children in Maine?

Pennywise almost went to Will Poulter, who was cast first but dropped out over a scheduling conflict. Skarsgård later returned to the role for a prequel television series.

Which airline faced outrage in April 2017 when officers dragged David Dao off a full Chicago flight?

United had picked four paying passengers to make way for its own crew members. Dao, a 69-year-old doctor, was injured, and the airline settled with him within weeks for an undisclosed sum.

Which tennis star won the 2017 Australian Open while pregnant, as she revealed that April?

Serena Williams took her 23rd major singles title there, passing Steffi Graf's Open Era record. She announced on April 19 that she was 20 weeks pregnant.

Which African leader resigned in November 2017, days after his army placed him under house arrest?

Robert Mugabe had led Zimbabwe since 1980, first as prime minister and then as president. His resignation letter was read out as parliament began debating his impeachment.

Which London high-rise was destroyed by a June 2017 fire that killed 72 people?

Grenfell Tower's fire began in a faulty fridge-freezer on the fourth floor and raced up the building's flammable exterior cladding. It was the worst UK residential fire since the Blitz.

At which Asian city's airport was Kim Jong-un's half-brother killed with VX nerve agent in 2017?

Kuala Lumpur airport was where two women smeared the banned chemical on Kim Jong-nam's face. One told police she had been recruited for what she thought was a prank.

Which country legalised same-sex marriage in December 2017 after a national postal survey backed it?

Australia's survey was voluntary, unlike its compulsory elections, and 61.6 percent of those who replied said Yes. Parliament passed the law within weeks.

Which country did over 700,000 Rohingya flee for Bangladesh after an August 2017 army crackdown?

The flight from Myanmar was Asia's largest human exodus since the Indochina refugee crisis that followed the Vietnam War. It created the world's largest refugee camp.

Which climate deal did Donald Trump say the US would quit in a June 2017 Rose Garden speech?

The Paris Agreement had only two other holdouts when Trump spoke, Syria and Nicaragua, and both of them later signed up.

Which prime minister triggered Article 50 in March 2017, then lost a majority in a snap election?

Theresa May called the vote to strengthen her hand in Brexit talks. The hung parliament that followed forced her into a deal with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party.

Which FBI director did Donald Trump fire in May 2017 during the bureau's Russia investigation?

James Comey was only four years into a ten-year term. His firing led to the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Russian election meddling.

Which capital was hit by a deadly September 2017 earthquake on the anniversary of its 1985 disaster?

Mexico City had held its annual earthquake drill, in memory of the 1985 dead, just two hours before the ground shook. The 2017 quake killed 370 people.

Whose statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, did the 2017 Unite the Right rally gather to defend?

Robert E. Lee's statue, showing the general on his horse Traveller, outlasted the rally by four years. The city removed it in July 2021 and it was melted down in 2023.

Which British royal retired from public duties in August 2017 after 22,219 solo engagements?

Prince Philip was 96 when he met a parade of Royal Marines for his final solo engagement on August 2, 2017. He had also delivered 5,493 speeches since 1952.

Which novelist replaced Charles Darwin on the Bank of England's £10 note, issued in September 2017?

Jane Austen was chosen after a campaign to keep a woman on the back of a banknote, launched when Elizabeth Fry was dropped from the £5 note in favour of Winston Churchill.

Which Nobel Peace laureate was accepted by Oxford in August 2017 to study PPE at Lady Margaret Hall?

Malala Yousafzai needed three A grades at A-level to turn her conditional offer into a place. She graduated with honours in philosophy, politics and economics in 2020.

Which city won the 2028 Summer Olympics in September 2017 after first bidding for the 2024 Games?

Los Angeles agreed to wait four extra years when the IOC decided to hand out two Games at a single session in Lima, Peru.

Which credit bureau admitted in September 2017 that hackers had stolen data on over 140 million Americans?

Equifax had left its dispute website unpatched for two months after a fix for its Apache Struts software came out. The US later charged four Chinese military officers with the hack.

Which grocery chain did Amazon buy for $13.7 billion in 2017, gaining more than 400 physical stores?

Whole Foods was sold by John Mackey, the last of its co-founders still at the company, in a deal that closed on August 28, 2017.

Which Apple handset, released in November 2017, dropped the home button and unlocked with Face ID?

iPhone X was named for the line's tenth anniversary, skipping the number nine entirely. At $999 it was the most expensive iPhone yet at its launch.

Which toy chain filed for bankruptcy in September 2017 under $5 billion of long-term debt?

Toys R Us was spending $400 million a year just to service its debt, leaving little to improve its shops. Its remaining 200 US stores closed in June 2018.

Which coffee chain sold a colour-changing 'unicorn' drink for just five days in April 2017?

Starbucks made the drink with mango syrup and pink and blue sour powders. Baristas went online to complain about how fiddly it was to prepare under such heavy demand.

Which broadcaster's live 2017 interview with a Korea expert was gatecrashed by his two children?

BBC viewers watched Professor Kelly's four-year-old daughter march in, followed by his baby son, before his wife slid in to drag them out. Many people wrongly assumed she was the nanny.

Which bronze statue was set facing New York's Charging Bull for International Women's Day in 2017?

Fearless Girl arrived on a one-week permit that kept being extended. After the bull's sculptor complained, she was moved in 2018 to stand opposite the New York Stock Exchange.

Which Trump catchphrase did Collins Dictionary name its Word of the Year for 2017?

Fake news won after Trump was credited with popularising the term by applying it to any negative coverage of himself. Collins does not limit its pick to British usage.

Which Shanghai-based lip-sync app did ByteDance buy in November 2017 and later merge into TikTok?

Musical.ly reportedly sold for as much as $1 billion. Its accounts were folded into TikTok on August 2, 2018, and its chief executive became TikTok's head of product.

Which humanoid robot became the first machine granted a country's citizenship, in October 2017?

Sophia has a face modelled on Queen Nefertiti, Audrey Hepburn and her inventor's wife. Two weeks before the honour she had been introduced to delegates at the UN.

Which DeepMind program swept Ke Jie, top-ranked player of an ancient board game, in May 2017?

AlphaGo won all three games in Wuzhen, and its makers then retired it from competition. Ke Jie said computers had shown that humans were 'completely wrong' about tactics.

Which red dwarf star 40 light-years away gained five more rocky planets in a 2017 announcement?

TRAPPIST-1 takes its name from the Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope, the project that found the first two of its worlds.

What Hawaiian name was given to the first known interstellar object, discovered in October 2017?

ʻOumuamua comes from the Hawaiian for 'scout', chosen to suggest a messenger sent from the distant past. It was spotted about 40 days after its closest pass of the Sun.

Which discovery by the LIGO detector earned its pioneers the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics?

Gravitational waves took half a century to catch: Rainer Weiss first devised the detection idea as a thought experiment in 1967. He shared the prize with Kip Thorne and Barry Barish.

Which company became the first to relaunch a used orbital rocket booster, in March 2017?

SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster had flown once before, and after lifting the SES-10 satellite it landed on a drone ship for a second time.

Which mostly submerged Pacific landmass did a team of geologists argue in 2017 is a true continent?

Zealandia is 94 percent underwater, with New Caledonia among the few parts above the surface. One geologist said it would have been recognised long ago if not for the ocean level.

Which American won the 2017 world 100 metres title as Usain Bolt took bronze in his last solo race?

Justin Gatlin was 35 and won 12 years after his first world title in the event. His young teammate Christian Coleman also finished ahead of Bolt.

Which Maine town do the Losers' Club defend in Andy Muschietti's 2017 Stephen King adaptation?

Derry is Stephen King's own portrait of Bangor, the real Maine city, as he told his biographer. The 2017 film moved the children's story from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Which Kenyan runner clocked 2:00:25 in Nike's Breaking2 attempt on a two-hour marathon in May 2017?

Eliud Kipchoge's run on the Monza motor racing circuit did not count as a record because he followed rotating teams of pacemakers. The official best then stood at 2:02:57.

Which Iraqi city was declared won back from Islamic State in July 2017 after a nine-month battle?

Mosul was the largest conventional land battle anywhere since the capture of Baghdad in 2003, and has been called the toughest urban fight since World War II.

In which Gulf city did a Jean Nouvel-designed outpost of the Louvre open in November 2017?

Abu Dhabi's museum uses the Louvre's name under a 2007 deal between the UAE and France, since extended to run until 2047.

Which actor was cut from the finished 2017 film All the Money in the World and hastily replaced?

Kevin Spacey's 22 scenes as oil tycoon J. Paul Getty were reshot in eight days with Christopher Plummer, a month before the film reached cinemas.

Which live quiz app, launched in 2017 by the creators of Vine, let winners split real prize money?

HQ Trivia was broadcast live from New York City, with Scott Rogowsky as its first main host. Anyone who survived every question shared the day's pot.

Which Angie Thomas debut novel of 2017 takes its title from a Tupac Shakur concept?

The Hate U Give grew from a short story Thomas wrote in college after the police shooting of Oscar Grant. It went straight to the top of the young adult best-seller list.

Which 2017 Christopher Nolan war film tells its story from land, sea and air with little dialogue?

Dunkirk used historic boats from the real 1940 evacuation, along with thousands of extras. It was the highest-grossing World War II film until Nolan's own Oppenheimer overtook it.

Which March 2017 early-access shooter was credited with popularising battle royale games?

PUBG grew out of mods made by Brendan Greene, whose online handle was PlayerUnknown. He took his inspiration from the 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale.