146 Fun Facts About Pop Culture

In January 2010, which movie surpassed Titanic to become the highest-grossing film of all time worldwide?

Avatar passed Titanic's worldwide gross on January 25, 2010; since 2019 it has traded the record back and forth with Avengers: Endgame, each film reclaiming the top spot through re-releases.

Stranger Things is set in which fictional Indiana town?

Hawkins replaced the Duffer Brothers' first choice, the real Montauk, New York; an invented town let them do things, such as putting it under quarantine, that felt wrong for a real place.

Taylor Swift's album '1989' is named after what?

The year she was born: Swift chose 1989 as the title to mark a rebirth as she left country for pop, on an album that borrows its sound from the synth-pop of that decade.

Which social media platform introduced the 'Stories' feature first?

Snapchat's 'My Story' arrived in October 2013, stitching snaps into a 24-hour reel; Instagram cloned the format in 2016.

In the MCU, what is the name of Thor's hammer?

Mjolnir is Thor's hammer in both Norse mythology and the Marvel Cinematic Universe; Hela shatters it in Thor: Ragnarok, forcing him to take up Stormbreaker.

Which playground game, overseen by a giant doll, is the first deadly contest in Squid Game?

Red Light, Green Light kills more than half the players; creator Hwang Dong-hyuk said he picked it because it could produce a lot of losers in one go.

What was the name of Beyoncé's visual album released in 2016?

Lemonade echoes a speech by Jay-Z's grandmother Hattie White at her 90th birthday, heard on the album itself: 'I was served lemons, but I made lemonade.'

Which character does Steve Carell play in 'The Office' (US)?

Michael Scott was nearly Bob Odenkirk's role: Steve Carell was tied to another NBC sitcom, Come to Papa, until its quick cancellation freed him to take the part.

Which video app closed in August 2018, moving its users to TikTok?

Musical.ly was bought by TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance in 2017 for a reported sum of up to $1 billion; nine months later the app was closed and its users were migrated to TikTok.

In 'Harry Potter,' what position does Harry play on the Quidditch team?

Seeker is the job Harry lands at his very first flying lesson, when Professor McGonagall sees how he flies and puts him straight onto the Gryffindor team.

Which film was the highest-grossing release of 2023 worldwide?

Barbie took about $1.45 billion, ahead of The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Oppenheimer; its sets used up paint maker Rosco's entire remaining stock of fluorescent pink.

Which K-pop group released the hit single 'Dynamite' in 2020?

BTS made 'Dynamite', their first song entirely in English, to lift listeners' spirits during the pandemic; it made them the first all-South Korean act to top the Billboard Hot 100.

What is Walter White's alias in 'Breaking Bad'?

Heisenberg, borrowed from physicist Werner Heisenberg, is the name Walt first gives drug boss Tuco, moments before blowing out his office windows with a lump of fulminated mercury.

Which Pixar movie features the emotion characters Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust?

Inside Out began when director Pete Docter watched his daughter turn quiet and serious at 11 and wondered what was going on inside her head.

Whose wife founded a company named Greatest of All Time in 1992, long before 'GOAT' became everyday sports slang?

Muhammad Ali had long called himself the greatest; Lonnie Ali's Greatest of All Time, Inc. managed his name and image, and LL Cool J, an Ali admirer, titled a 2000 album G.O.A.T.

Which actor played the lead role in Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer' (2023)?

Cillian Murphy had taken supporting parts in five earlier Christopher Nolan films, starting as Scarecrow in Batman Begins, before Nolan phoned to offer him this first lead.

What football team does Ted Lasso coach in the Apple TV+ series?

AFC Richmond's coach began as a joke: Jason Sudeikis first played Ted Lasso in 2013 in comic NBC Sports promos for its Premier League coverage, years before the series.

Which rapper's 'God's Plan' spent 11 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in 2018?

Drake's 'God's Plan' led the Hot 100 for 11 weeks; its video opens by announcing that the whole budget, nearly $1 million, was given away to people around Miami.

What is the name of the fictional land in 'The Lord of the Rings'?

Middle-earth is not another planet: Tolkien imagined it as our own Earth in a distant, invented past, with the hobbits' north-west standing in for Europe.

What was the viral 2018 dance craze set to the song 'In My Feelings' called?

The Kiki Challenge grew from a dance clip by comedian Shiggy; once people began hopping out of moving cars to copy it, US transport safety officials warned it was foolish and dangerous.

Which celebrity couple is commonly referred to as 'Bennifer'?

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez postponed their 2003 wedding with four days to go and split in 2004, then reunited in 2021 and married in 2022; Lopez filed for divorce two years later.

In 'Game of Thrones', legend says the Iron Throne was made from what?

A thousand swords, taken from Aegon the Conqueror's beaten enemies and fused by dragonfire; legend adds that he kept the blades sharp so that no ruler could ever sit comfortably.

Where did Billie Eilish and her producer record most of her 2019 debut album?

Her brother's bedroom at the family home in Highland Park, Los Angeles: Finneas preferred its intimate sound to a professional studio, which he found costly and short of daylight.

Which duo from a 1998 Nintendo 64 platformer joined the Super Smash Bros. roster as downloadable fighters in 2019?

Banjo & Kazooie had seemed out of Nintendo's reach since 2002, when their maker, Rare, was sold to the company behind the rival Xbox; Xbox chief Phil Spencer later called lending them out an easy deal.

Who became the first person to reach 600 million followers on Instagram, in 2023?

Cristiano Ronaldo passed 600 million in August 2023, days before he scored both goals in the final that won Al-Nassr its first Arab Club Champions Cup.

Which film became the first not in the English language to win Best Picture, at the Oscars in February 2020?

Parasite's director Bong Joon-ho had urged audiences to get over what he called the 'one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles' that kept them from films like his.

What is the name of the fictional paper company in 'The Office' (US)?

Dunder Mifflin began as pure fiction, but from 2011 the name appeared on real copy paper sold by Staples; its counterpart in the British original is Wernham Hogg.

Which Disney+ show was the first live-action Star Wars series?

The Mandalorian succeeded where George Lucas's own live-action series, Underworld, had stalled: its 50 or so scripts were judged too expensive to film.

Which podcast became a Spotify exclusive in 2020 under a licensing deal later reported to be worth about $200 million?

The Joe Rogan Experience went Spotify-only by December 2020; a new contract in 2024, reported at $250 million, ended the exclusivity and put the show back on other platforms.

Which 2019 single set the record of 19 consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100?

'Old Town Road' by Lil Nas X, boosted by a Billy Ray Cyrus remix, logged 19 weeks at number one before Billie Eilish's 'Bad Guy' unseated it in August 2019.

Which MCU film features the 'Snap' that eliminates half of all life in the universe?

In Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Thanos completes the Infinity Gauntlet and snaps his fingers, wiping out half of all life in the universe; Endgame undoes it five years later.

What is the real name of the Star Wars character nicknamed 'Baby Yoda'?

Grogu's name came out in 'Chapter 13: The Jedi', where Ahsoka Tano reads his mind and reveals he was raised at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.

Which Taylor Swift album includes the songs 'Anti-Hero' and 'Lavender Haze'?

Midnights, which Swift framed as an album about her sleepless nights, made her the first artist to occupy the whole top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 at once.

What was YouTube's most-viewed video of all time as of 2023?

Baby Shark Dance is Pinkfong's recording of an old camp sing-along; it overtook 'Despacito' in November 2020 and later became the first video to pass 10 billion views.

Which actress played Katniss Everdeen in 'The Hunger Games' film series?

Jennifer Lawrence, a fan of the books, took three days to say yes to Katniss because the sheer size of the production intimidated her; she went on to lead all four films.

Which competition show is hosted by the performer behind 1992's 'Supermodel (You Better Work)'?

RuPaul's Drag Race began on the niche Logo channel in 2009, moved to VH1 in 2017 and then to MTV in 2023, with RuPaul as host, mentor and head judge throughout.

Which 2020 true-crime documentary series focused on the world of exotic big cat breeding?

Tiger King drew 34 million viewers in ten days as lockdowns began; by then its star, zookeeper Joe Exotic, was already in prison for plotting to have rival Carole Baskin killed.

In 'Game of Thrones,' what family's motto is 'Winter Is Coming'?

Stark is the house whose words also title the show's very first episode; the family ruled the North as kings for millennia until the Targaryens conquered Westeros.

Which drama did Netflix release as a full 13-episode season on a single day in February 2013?

House of Cards went to Netflix after it outbid HBO, Showtime and AMC and ordered two seasons up front; its all-at-once release was an early invitation to binge a brand-new series.

Which rapper's 'Astronomical' concert inside Fortnite drew more than 27 million players in April 2020?

Travis Scott appeared as a giant stomping across the game's island in five short shows styled on his Astroworld tour, far outdrawing the 10 million at Marshmello's Fortnite set a year earlier.

Which Billie Eilish album, released in July 2021, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200?

Happier Than Ever grew, Eilish said, out of the self-reflection that the pandemic forced on her; it earned seven Grammy nominations but lost Album of the Year to Jon Batiste's We Are.

Which ship got stuck in the Suez Canal in March 2021, becoming a global meme?

The Ever Given, 400 metres long, wedged itself across the canal for six days from March 23, 2021, holding up well over a hundred ships while excavators dug at its bow and the internet made memes.

Who received her fourth Oscar nomination at age 25 for playing Jo March in 'Little Women' (2019)?

Saoirse Ronan was cast by Greta Gerwig, who had already directed her to a nomination for Lady Bird; the fourth nod made her the second-youngest person ever to reach that total.

In 'Squid Game', 456 players risk their lives for how many Korean won?

45.6 billion won, about $38 million when the show aired: each of the 456 players adds 100 million won to the pot on being eliminated, so it grows with every death.

Which Harry Potter book was split into two films, released in 2010 and 2011?

Deathly Hallows, the final book, was first planned as a single film; producer David Heyman resisted executive producer Lionel Wigram's idea of splitting it, then reread the novel and agreed.

What did Lady Gaga wear to accept Video of the Year at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards?

A dress made of raw meat, flank steak from the designer's family butcher, was later preserved by taxidermists as a kind of jerky and put on show at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Which singer became the first person to reach 100 million followers on Instagram, in 2016?

Selena Gomez crossed 100 million in September 2016 without having posted anything for six weeks; she was already the most-followed person on the platform.

Who bought Wordle from its creator in January 2022?

The New York Times paid a 'low seven-figure sum' for Wordle; it stayed free, though some offensive words were quietly removed.

In Succession, what is the name of the Roy family's media conglomerate?

Waystar RoyCo grew out of an unmade Jesse Armstrong script about Rupert Murdoch; for the series he blended Murdoch with fellow moguls Sumner Redstone and Robert Maxwell.

Which real fungus is the source of the outbreak in HBO's The Last of Us?

Cordyceps-type fungi really do take over insects' bodies; a BBC Planet Earth sequence showing it happen inspired the video game that the series adapts.

Which 1985 Kate Bush song topped the UK chart in 2022 after featuring in Stranger Things?

'Running Up That Hill' had stalled at number three in 1985; reaching the top 37 years later made Bush, at 63, the oldest woman to have a UK number one, a mark Cher had held.

In The Bear, Carmy returns to which city to run his late brother's sandwich shop?

Chicago's real Mr. Beef on Orleans Street is the model: creator Christopher Storer is a friend of the family that owns it, and the shop's interior was copied for the set.

Jenna Ortega's viral dance in Wednesday spread on TikTok set to which Lady Gaga song?

Bloody Mary was an 11-year-old album track until fans sped it up for their versions of the dance, and its label then released it as a single; on screen Ortega dances to The Cramps' 'Goo Goo Muck'.

What was Olivia Rodrigo's debut single, released in January 2021?

'Drivers License' debuted at number one and stayed eight weeks; during that run Saturday Night Live aired a sketch in which Regé-Jean Page and six cast members earnestly recite its lyrics.

Which album won Album of the Year at the 65th Grammy Awards in 2023?

Harry's House, named in tribute to Haruomi Hosono's 1970s album Hosono House, took the prize on the very night Beyoncé became the most-awarded artist in Grammy history.

Which 2021 film brought back Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as web-slingers?

Spider-Man: No Way Home kept the reunion so secret that Andrew Garfield flatly denied being in it months before its December 2021 release, telling fans to 'chill'.

In Top Gun: Maverick, what is the call sign of Goose's son, Bradley Bradshaw?

Maverick had blocked his Naval Academy application to honor a promise to Rooster's dying mother. Miles Teller played the role.

Michelle Yeoh won the Best Actress Oscar in 2023 for which film?

Everything Everywhere All at Once was first written for Jackie Chan; the directors then reimagined the lead as a woman and rebuilt the script around Michelle Yeoh.

Who voiced Mario in the 2023 animated Super Mario Bros. film?

Chris Pratt got the part over Charles Martinet, Mario's voice in the games since the 1990s, who instead has cameos as the brothers' father and a Brooklyn local named Giuseppe.

Which 2018 game became a surprise lockdown hit in 2020?

Among Us drew little notice for two years; when it suddenly took off in 2020, its studio Innersloth announced a sequel, then scrapped Among Us 2 a month later to rebuild the original instead.

Which company originally developed and published Pokémon Go in 2016?

Niantic built on a 2014 Google Maps April Fools' prank that scattered Pokémon across the real world; in 2025 it sold the game to Scopely as part of a $3.5 billion deal.

Which company bought Minecraft developer Mojang for $2.5 billion in 2014?

Microsoft announced the $2.5 billion Mojang purchase in September 2014, months after creator Markus 'Notch' Persson tweeted asking whether anyone wanted to buy his share of the company.

What is the title of Adele's 2021 album, the one inspired by her divorce?

30, released in November 2021, grew out of Adele's divorce from Simon Konecki; on her therapist's advice she recorded conversations with her son Angelo, which surface in 'My Little Love'.

The Weeknd's 'Blinding Lights' comes from which album?

After Hours and 'Blinding Lights' were shut out of the 2021 Grammy nominations entirely, and The Weeknd answered by announcing he would boycott the awards from then on.

Who headlined the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show while pregnant?

Rihanna, pregnant with her second child, played Super Bowl LVII in February 2023, her first live show in about five years; she had declined the 2019 show in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick.

Which Taylor Swift tour, running through 2023 and 2024, was the first ever to gross over $1 billion?

The Eras Tour literally shook the ground: fans dancing at its Seattle shows in July 2023 set off seismic activity equal to a magnitude 2.3 earthquake, soon nicknamed the 'Swift Quake'.

Which Kendrick Lamar diss track swept all five of its Grammy nominations in 2025?

Not Like Us won Record of the Year and Song of the Year among its five Grammys in February 2025; the same month Lamar performed it while headlining the Super Bowl halftime show.

Who directed the 2021 adaptation of Dune starring Timothée Chalamet?

Denis Villeneuve insisted on splitting Frank Herbert's novel across two films, yet the studio approved Part Two only in October 2021, once the first had opened and succeeded.

Who played Queen Elizabeth II in seasons three and four of The Crown?

Olivia Colman played the Queen in seasons three and four, between Claire Foy and Imelda Staunton, as the principal cast was replaced every two seasons to age the characters.

Which producer's company made Bridgerton, its first scripted series under a major Netflix deal?

Shonda Rhimes left ABC, home of her hits Grey's Anatomy and Scandal, for Netflix in 2017; her company Shondaland's first scripted show there adapted Julia Quinn's Regency romances.

What is the name of the chess prodigy played by Anya Taylor-Joy in The Queen's Gambit?

Beth Harmon set off a real chess boom: after the series aired, one games company reported chess-set sales up more than 1,000 percent, and eBay saw sales of boards more than triple.

Which actor played ranch patriarch John Dutton in Yellowstone?

Kevin Costner left before the final episodes amid disputes that included a schedule clash with Horizon, the Western he was making himself; prequels 1883 and 1923 tell the Dutton family's earlier story.

Luis Fonsi's 2017 smash 'Despacito' features which rapper?

Daddy Yankee, like Fonsi a Puerto Rican, features on 'Despacito', whose title means 'slowly'; a later remix with Justin Bieber helped it conquer English-language charts.

Which music video was the first on YouTube to reach one billion views?

Psy's 'Gangnam Style' crossed one billion views on December 21, 2012, and YouTube marked it with a dancing cartoon Psy beside the counter; it stayed the most-viewed video until 2017.

In Frozen, Elsa and Anna are royalty of which fictional kingdom?

Arendelle grew out of a research trip to Norway, whose fjords and medieval stave churches shaped the kingdom's look; visits to Norway by American tourists jumped after the film came out.

Which Encanto song spent five weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2022?

'We Don't Talk About Bruno' caught Disney off guard: the studio had not even submitted it for the Best Original Song Oscar, putting forward the ballad 'Dos Oruguitas' instead.

Who voiced the shape-shifting demigod Maui in Disney's Moana?

Dwayne Johnson, whose mother is Samoan, voices a Maui who was first drawn bald; the film's Pacific cultural advisers objected, so the animators gave him long, flowing hair.

T'Challa is crowned king of which fictional African nation in Black Panther?

Wakanda's people speak isiXhosa on screen, a real South African language, while the actors playing the mountain Jabari tribe use a version of Nigerian Igbo to set them apart.

Which actor won the Best Actor Oscar for the 2019 film Joker?

Joaquin Phoenix lost 52 pounds to play the Joker, a character that had already brought Heath Ledger a posthumous Oscar for The Dark Knight.

In his Disney+ series, Loki is arrested by what bureaucratic organization?

The Time Variance Authority puts Loki on trial for crimes against the 'Sacred Timeline', then presses him into helping it hunt a dangerous variant of himself, who goes by Sylvie.

Which Marvel series for Disney+ traps the town of Westview inside a world of classic sitcoms?

WandaVision restyles itself after a different sitcom decade as it goes, and shot its black-and-white opener over two days before a live studio audience, as 1950s sitcoms were.

Who played Bruce Wayne in Matt Reeves's 2022 film The Batman?

Robert Pattinson's reclusive Bruce Wayne was modelled on Kurt Cobain: director Matt Reeves tied the character to Nirvana's 'Something in the Way', the song used in the film's first trailer.

Which sitcom swept all seven major comedy awards at the 2020 Emmys?

Schitt's Creek took all seven comedy awards for its final season, a first for any comedy or drama; back home in Canada, Toronto lit the CN Tower gold to celebrate.

Who created, wrote and starred in the BBC comedy-drama Fleabag?

Phoebe Waller-Bridge grew Fleabag out of her one-woman show at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe; most main characters, including hers and Andrew Scott's 'Hot Priest', are never named.

Which 2024 miniseries was adapted from Richard Gadd's autobiographical one-man show?

Baby Reindeer, released on Netflix in April 2024, has Gadd playing a version of himself stalked by Jessica Gunning's Martha; the title is the nickname she gives him.

Which company bought the streaming platform Twitch for about $970 million in 2014?

Amazon announced the $970 million Twitch deal in August 2014 after Google, the widely reported frontrunner, fell away; Twitch had begun as a spin-off of Justin.tv, which shut down weeks earlier.

Which Twitter/X rival signed up 100 million users within five days of its 2023 launch?

Threads signs people up through their existing Instagram accounts, which helped it beat ChatGPT's growth record; even so, Meta kept it out of the European Union until that December.

Which app prompts its users at a random moment each day to post a photo within two minutes?

BeReal was Apple's iPhone App of the Year in 2022; in 2024, with its buzz fading, the French games company Voodoo bought it for a reported €500 million.

In the Australian cartoon Bluey, what is the name of Bluey's younger sister?

Bingo and the other pups are voiced by children of the show's own crew, who go uncredited on screen; creator Joe Brumm, who had animated on Peppa Pig, wanted an Australian answer to it.

The 2014 Ice Bucket Challenge raised money to fight which disease?

The ALS Association took in $115 million from the 2014 challenge, and $1 million of it went to Project MinE, the study that in 2016 identified NEK1 as a gene linked to ALS.

The viral 2015 photo known as 'The Dress' showed a garment that was really which colours?

The Roman Originals dress was really blue and black; more than ten million tweets mentioned it within a week, and the retailer made a one-off white-and-gold version for charity.

What was the real name of the internet-famous feline known as Grumpy Cat?

Tardar Sauce, born in Arizona in 2012, owed her permanent scowl to an underbite and feline dwarfism; she became famous after her owner's brother posted a photo to Reddit in September 2012.

The 2013 'Harlem Shake' video craze was set to a track by which producer?

Baauer's 'Harlem Shake' debuted at number one on the Hot 100 in February 2013, the very week Billboard began counting YouTube views; the meme itself began with a Filthy Frank clip.

The robbers in Money Heist wear masks depicting which artist?

Salvador Dalí was chosen because his face is instantly recognisable and unmistakably Spanish; the creators also designed a Don Quixote mask and dropped it.

Which musical won 11 Tony Awards in 2016?

Hamilton began as a single rap that Lin-Manuel Miranda performed at a White House poetry evening in 2009, years before it became a show and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Zendaya became the youngest Lead Actress in a Drama Emmy winner for which HBO series?

Euphoria's Rue grew out of creator Sam Levinson's own teenage struggles with drug addiction; the role won Zendaya the Emmy at 24 in 2020 and again two years later.

Which sword-wielding Nintendo hero keeps rescuing a princess from the villain Ganon in Hyrule?

Link is the hero; Zelda is the princess the series is named after. Creator Shigeru Miyamoto has said he is called Link because he 'connects people together'.

Which animated film beat Monsters, Inc. to win the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature?

Shrek won the inaugural award at the 2002 ceremony. It was also the first animated film the American Film Institute listed among its ten best films of the year.

Which candy does Elliott scatter in a trail to lure the alien home in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial?

Reese's Pieces got the part only after Mars turned down an offer to feature M&M's. Hershey said yes, and sales of the candy jumped once the film became a blockbuster.

In Minecraft, which green hostile mob sneaks up silently on players, then hisses and explodes?

The Creeper began as a mistake: its body came from a coding error made while creator Notch was trying to build the game's pig.

Hakuna matata, the 'no worries' motto in The Lion King, comes from which African language?

Swahili is one of six African languages sung or spoken in the Lion King stage musical, alongside Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Tswana and Congolese.

Which dog breed is Scooby-Doo, the cowardly star of Hanna-Barbera's long-running mystery cartoons?

A Great Dane breeder told designer Iwao Takamoto what a prize-winning dog looks like, and he drew the opposite: a sloping chin, bow legs and a sloped back.

Which Rick Astley hit do internet pranksters trick people into playing when they 'rickroll' someone?

Never Gonna Give You Up became a prank in 2007, when a 4chan user posted its video in place of a promised trailer for the game Grand Theft Auto IV.

In which fictional town do Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie live in The Simpsons?

Springfield got its name because creator Matt Groening knew it was among the most common town names in America and hoped 'everyone will think it's their Springfield'.

Which dance move did Michael Jackson make famous singing 'Billie Jean' on the TV special Motown 25?

The moonwalk was not Jackson's own invention: dancer Jeffrey Daniel had moonwalked on the British chart show Top of the Pops the year before.

At which hangout do Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Joey and Phoebe meet for coffee in Friends?

Central Perk nearly never opened: NBC executives worried a coffee house was too hip and asked for the series to be set in a diner instead.

At which restaurant does SpongeBob SquarePants work as a fry cook beside cashier Squidward?

The Krusty Krab sits across the street from its unsuccessful rival, the Chum Bucket, which is owned and run by Plankton and Karen.

Which stainless-steel sports car did Doc Brown turn into a time machine in Back to the Future?

The DeLorean kept the role even after Ford offered $75,000 to swap in a Mustang, an offer co-writer Bob Gale turned down flat.

Which wizard, played by Ian McKellen, falls fighting a Balrog in The Lord of the Rings?

Gandalf on screen is a portrait of his creator: Ian McKellen based the performance on author J. R. R. Tolkien himself.

Which Pokémon did Professor Oak give Ash Ketchum after Ash overslept on his tenth birthday?

Pikachu began as a reluctant partner: he distrusted Ash and refused to get into his Poké Ball, preferring his independence.

In Disney's Phineas and Ferb, the family pet Perry, who doubles as secret Agent P, is which animal?

A platypus was picked for its obscure, striking look, and Perry was coloured teal because it 'looked cool'. In 2020 real platypuses were found to glow a similar colour under ultraviolet light.

Which game platform, built by David Baszucki and Erik Cassel, lets users make games for each other?

Roblox was known as DynaBlocks early in its development. Its two founders worked alone at first, making their own games before the creation tools were finished.

Hello Kitty is a Japanese icon, but her backstory puts her family home in a suburb of which city?

London is home to Kitty White, her real name: Sanrio depicts her as a British cat who lives there with her family and her twin sister Mimmy.

The Hollywood Sign went up in 1923 as a temporary real estate advertisement that first read what?

Hollywoodland was the name of a new housing development in the hills above Los Angeles, spelled out in white letters 50 feet tall.

Which toy, first sold as plastic parts to push into real food, was the first advertised on TV?

Mr. Potato Head's commercials were also the first aimed directly at children; before then, television advertising was mostly targeted at adults.

Which composer wrote the themes for Jaws, Star Wars, Jurassic Park and the first Harry Potter film?

John Williams built the Jaws theme from just two alternating notes, and when he first played it for Steven Spielberg the director thought it was a joke.

In Rick Riordan's novels, Percy Jackson is the son of mortal Sally Jackson and which Greek god?

Poseidon also arms his son: Percy's sword Riptide, made of celestial bronze, was given to him by Chiron on the god's instructions.

Which future daytime talk-show host rose to fame by winning the first season of American Idol?

Kelly Clarkson was signed to RCA Records immediately after her win, in a deal arranged by the show's creator Simon Fuller and music mogul Clive Davis.

Which falling-block puzzle game did Alexey Pajitnov program on a Soviet Elektronika 60 computer?

Tetris takes its name from 'tetra', meaning four, and tennis, its creator's favourite sport. The first version drew its blocks with spaces and brackets because the machine had no graphics.

Which dance did 'Backpack Kid' Russell Horning perform on Saturday Night Live with Katy Perry?

The floss swept through schools after Fortnite added it as an emote, and Horning's mother later sued the game's maker over the dance.

Which word was Oxford Dictionaries' Word of the Year for 2013, traced to an Australian web forum?

Selfie first appeared in 2002 in a post on an Australian science forum, more than a decade before Oxford gave it the title.

LEGO began in the workshop of carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen in Billund, a town in which country?

Denmark gave the toy its name as well: LEGO comes from the Danish phrase 'leg godt', which means 'play well'.

Which egg-shaped Bandai toy, launched in Japan in 1996, asks owners to care for a digital pet?

Tamagotchi is a blend of the Japanese words tamago, 'egg', and uotchi, 'watch'. In early versions a neglected pet could die in less than half a day, so children took them to school.

Which Marvel Comics writer made frequent cameo appearances in films about characters he co-created?

Stan Lee co-created the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk and the Fantastic Four with artists such as Jack Kirby, then turned up in crowds and at parties in the films they inspired.

Which Star Wars ship did Han Solo win from Lando Calrissian in a card game called sabacc?

The Millennium Falcon's shape is said to have been roughly based on a hamburger, with the cockpit as an olive on the side.

Which singer rolled across the stage in a wedding dress at the first MTV Video Music Awards?

Madonna later said the floor routine was improvised after one of her shoes slipped off as she stepped down from a giant wedding cake.

Which Japanese animation company, whose mascot is the giant spirit Totoro, made Spirited Away?

Studio Ghibli was founded in 1985 by directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata with producer Toshio Suzuki. Totoro himself was inspired by raccoon dogs and cats.

Which app, shut down by Twitter, was built around looping videos just six seconds long?

Vine's co-founder Dom Hofmann later launched a successor called Byte, which was renamed twice before it too was discontinued.

The 'Doge' meme, pairing a dog's photo with Comic Sans captions, made which breed internet-famous?

A Shiba Inu named Kabosu, photographed in 2010, was the meme's original face. Its fame went on to inspire a cryptocurrency, Dogecoin.

Which coffee chain from Seattle says the figure on its logo is a twin-tailed siren from Greek myth?

Starbucks takes its name from Starbuck, the chief mate in Moby-Dick, though a co-founder said the novel otherwise had nothing to do with the company.

Which pop artist hand-painted 32 canvases, each showing a different variety of Campbell's soup?

Andy Warhol's original set was kept together by art dealer Irving Blum and later acquired by the Museum of Modern Art.

Rich Uncle Pennybags, often wrongly remembered with a monocle, is the mascot of which board game?

Monopoly's monocle myth runs so deep that in 2017 an activist dressed as the mascot, eyepiece added, photobombed Equifax's former CEO at a US Senate hearing.

Which Saturday Night Live head writer wrote Mean Girls, drawing on her own high school years?

Tina Fey based the characters on her days at Upper Darby High School and on the non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes. She later adapted the film into a Broadway musical.

What is the title of the first video ever uploaded to YouTube, posted by co-founder Jawed Karim?

Me at the zoo was filmed at the San Diego Zoo, where Karim stands in front of two elephants and remarks on the length of their trunks.

Which 1928 cartoon, among the first with synchronized sound, was Mickey Mouse's official debut?

Steamboat Willie was actually the third Mickey cartoon made but the first released, because Walt Disney had seen The Jazz Singer and was determined to use sound.

Dorothy's ruby slippers in The Wizard of Oz film were shoes of what colour in L. Frank Baum's novel?

Silver Shoes take Dorothy home in the 1900 book; the film turned them red to take advantage of its Technicolor process.

Which stock sound effect, first recorded for the 1951 film Distant Drums, was reused in Star Wars?

The Wilhelm scream was named by sound designer Ben Burtt after Private Wilhelm, a character shot with an arrow in a 1953 Western that reused the recording.

Which game company's famous cheat code was created to make the NES port of Gradius easier to test?

Konami programmer Kazuhisa Hashimoto found Gradius too difficult to play through during testing, so he added a code that handed him a full set of power-ups.

'Jumping the shark' comes from a 1977 episode of which sitcom, in which Fonzie water-skis over one?

Happy Days sent Fonzie over the shark in swim trunks and his trademark leather jacket. Jon Hein and his college roommate coined the phrase in 1985.

Which landmark, based on Bavaria's Neuschwanstein, stands at the centre of the original Disneyland?

Sleeping Beauty Castle belongs to California's Disneyland; Cinderella Castle is the one at Florida's Magic Kingdom and at Tokyo Disneyland.

In the anime and manga Naruto, the title ninja dreams of becoming which leader of his village?

Hokage is the title Naruto chases to win his village's approval, and by the sequel series Boruto he holds it as the Seventh.

Which actor began filming Back to the Future as Marty McFly before Michael J. Fox replaced him?

Eric Stoltz was dropped shortly after filming began because the director felt he was not right for the part. Re-filming his scenes with Fox added $4 million to the budget.

Which prime-time soap opera's 1980 cliffhanger left viewers around the world asking who shot J.R.?

Dallas kept the secret for eight months, and about 83 million Americans tuned in to learn the shooter was J.R.'s sister-in-law and mistress, Kristin Shepard.

Which 1975 fad, sold in a box with air holes and straw bedding, made Gary Dahl a millionaire?

The Pet Rock came to advertising executive Gary Dahl in a bar while friends complained about their pets. He sold nearly 1.5 million of them at just under $4 each.

Which talking toy did the National Security Agency ban in 1999, fearing it could repeat secrets?

Furby only spoke pre-programmed words, but a mistaken belief that it could learn and repeat what it heard got it banned by several intelligence agencies.

Which actor has voiced Woody, the pull-string cowboy sheriff, in Pixar's Toy Story films?

Tom Hanks was always director John Lasseter's pick, although Paul Newman and Clint Eastwood were both considered for the part.