2006
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8correct to beat the crowd
50 free 2006 trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
2006 was the year a distant world lost its place among the planets, a headbutt overshadowed a World Cup final and a news magazine made one of its strangest ever choices for Person of the Year. New websites were turning ordinary people into broadcasters, a motion-controlled games console was flying off the shelves, and a teenage pop star with a secret identity arrived on children's television. This quiz covers the whole year: the films, TV premieres and chart hits, the finals and record-breakers in sport, the headlines from Washington to Baghdad, and the science, gadgets and business deals that made the news. Most questions are pitched for anyone who lived through it, with a few tougher ones for news and sports buffs. It is written for class reunions, 2000s nights, birthday parties for anyone born that year, and pub quiz rounds on the year in review. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so the set works played straight through or printed for a group.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which world, named by an 11-year-old English schoolgirl in 1930, was stripped of full planet status in 2006?
Pluto
Pluto failed the astronomers' new test because it has not cleared other objects from the neighbourhood of its orbit. The vote left the solar system with eight planets.
Q 02Which social network launched in 2006 with every post capped at 140 characters, a limit doubled in 2017?
Twitter was first called twttr, a vowel-free name inspired by the photo site Flickr and five-character text short codes. It was rebranded as X in 2023.
Q 03Which video-sharing site did Google agree to buy in October 2006 for $1.65 billion in stock?
YouTube
YouTube had been founded only in February 2005, by three former PayPal employees. They had already grown wealthy once, when eBay bought that company.
Q 04Which Nintendo console, codenamed Revolution during development, went on sale in North America in November 2006?
Wii
Wii owners got Wii Sports in the box, with a bowling game played by swinging the remote like a real ball. The console launched in the United States at $249.99.
Q 05Which French captain was sent off in the 2006 World Cup final for headbutting Marco Materazzi in the chest?
Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Zidane was still awarded the Golden Ball as player of the tournament the day after the final. He had announced beforehand that he would retire once the World Cup was over.
Q 06Which TV wildlife presenter died in September 2006 after a stingray barb pierced his chest on the Great Barrier Reef?
Steve Irwin
Steve Irwin was filming a documentary called Ocean's Deadliest when he was struck. His death is believed to be the only fatal stingray attack ever caught on video.
Q 07Which Disney Channel sitcom, about a schoolgirl secretly living as a pop star, premiered in March 2006?
Hannah Montana
Hannah Montana cast Miley Cyrus first, and her father Billy Ray was only asked to audition afterwards. He ended up playing her on-screen dad.
Q 08Which one-word choice was Time magazine's Person of the Year for 2006, announced on a cover with a reflective panel?
You
You won for the millions of people who anonymously fill websites with their own content. The shiny panel on the cover was meant to show each reader's own face.
Q 09Which actor made his James Bond debut in 2006's Casino Royale after succeeding Pierce Brosnan in the role?
Daniel Craig
Daniel Craig's casting, announced in October 2005, proved controversial at first. Judi Dench, who played M, was the only cast member kept on from the Brosnan films.
Q 10Which nation won the 2006 football World Cup by beating France 5–3 on penalties in the Berlin final?
Italy
Italy claimed its fourth world title and its first in 24 years. Its semi-final win over the hosts came from two goals in the dying minutes of extra time.
Q 11Which Los Angeles ensemble drama upset Brokeback Mountain to win Best Picture at the Oscars held in March 2006?
Crash
Crash took only three Oscars in all, the smallest haul for a Best Picture winner since Rocky. Brokeback Mountain had led the field with eight nominations.
Q 12Which Johnny Depp character returned in the highest-grossing film of 2006, a sequel that passed $1 billion worldwide?
Jack Sparrow
Jack Sparrow owes his swagger to Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, on whom Depp modelled the performance. Dead Man's Chest reached $1 billion in a then-record 63 days.
Q 13Which Hollywood star and keen racing driver voiced retired champion Doc Hudson in the 2006 animated film Cars?
Paul Newman
Q 21Which team won Super Bowl XL in February 2006 in Detroit, the hometown of its veteran running back Jerome Bettis?
Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks 21–10 for the franchise's first title in over two decades. Bettis had urged his teammates simply to get him to Detroit.
Q 22Which NBA team won its first championship in June 2006, with Dwyane Wade named Most Valuable Player of the Finals?
Miami Heat
Miami Heat lost the first two games to the Dallas Mavericks, then won four in a row. Wade scored 36 points in the deciding game.
Q 23Which NBA star scored 81 points against Toronto in January 2006, at the time second only to Wilt Chamberlain's 100?
Kobe Bryant
Paul Newman shared the character's passion for the track, having long raced and run teams himself. Archive recordings let him be billed in Cars 3, almost nine years after his death.
Q 14Which actress earned an Oscar nomination as fashion editor Miranda Priestly in the 2006 comedy The Devil Wears Prada?
Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep's icy editor is widely believed to be modelled on Vogue's Anna Wintour. Many designers avoided cameos in the film, reportedly for fear of displeasing her.
Q 15Which singer topped the US Hot 100 for the first time in 2006 with Hips Don't Lie, featuring Wyclef Jean?
Shakira
Shakira took the song to number one in 18 countries, including Britain, France and Germany.
Q 16Which singer's 2006 album FutureSex/LoveSounds, made largely with Timbaland, yielded three US number-one singles?
Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake had taken a three-year break from writing before making it. The chart-toppers were SexyBack, My Love and What Goes Around... Comes Around.
Q 17Which country singer released her self-titled debut album in October 2006, led by a single named after Tim McGraw?
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift's debut had logged 157 weeks on the Billboard 200 by October 2009, making it the longest-charting album of the 2000s. She was 16 when it came out.
Q 18Which country does Sacha Baron Cohen's fictional journalist Borat call home in the hit 2006 mockumentary film?
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan's government denounced the film at first but later embraced it in tourism campaigns. The scenes in Borat's home village were actually shot in Romania.
Q 19Which ousted leader was hanged on 30 December 2006 after a tribunal convicted him over the killing of 148 villagers?
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein was sentenced for the 1982 Dujail massacre, carried out in retaliation for an attempt on his life. The hanging took place on the first day of Eid al-Adha.
Q 20Which city, home of the carmaker Fiat, hosted the Winter Olympics in February 2006?
Turin
Turin's win in the 1999 vote came as a surprise. It was the first host picked under rules that barred Olympic committee members from visiting the candidate cities.
Kobe Bryant smashed the Lakers' franchise record of 71, set by Elgin Baylor, in a 122–104 win. It remained the highest score of his career.
Q 24Which 2006 Kentucky Derby winner shattered a hind leg two weeks later in the Preakness Stakes?
Barbaro
Barbaro burst through the starting gate in a false start moments before the injury. After eight months of treatment he was euthanised in January 2007.
Q 25Which American cyclist lost his 2006 Tour de France title after failing a drug test following stage 17?
Floyd Landis
Floyd Landis's sample showed an unusually high testosterone ratio, a result he contested for years. The title passed to the runner-up, Spain's Óscar Pereiro.
Q 26Which baseball legend's career total of 714 home runs did Barry Bonds pass in May 2006?
Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth's mark fell when Bonds hit number 715 off Colorado pitcher Byung-hyun Kim. That left only Hank Aaron ahead of him on the all-time list.
Q 27Which eight-time major champion retired from tennis at the 2006 US Open after a four-minute standing ovation?
Andre Agassi
Andre Agassi bowed out with a four-set loss to Benjamin Becker, a German ranked 112th in the world. He had announced the plan at Wimbledon that summer.
Q 28Which country carried out its first nuclear test in October 2006, detonating a plutonium device underground?
North Korea
North Korea was hit with UN Security Council sanctions, approved unanimously, five days later. It denounced them as a declaration of war.
Q 29Which US politician accidentally shot lawyer Harry Whittington during a Texas quail hunt in February 2006?
Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney's 78-year-old companion had a minor heart attack from a pellet near his heart. He then told reporters he was sorry for all the vice president had been put through.
Q 30Which country did Montenegro vote narrowly to split from in May 2006, clearing a 55% threshold by half a point?
Serbia
Serbia responded by declaring itself the legal successor of the joint state the two had shared. Montenegro's parliament formally declared independence on 3 June.