Top five trending topics of 2015 according to Google

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So as we wrap up another year, 2015 has been an eventful and hectic year that has seen a lot of changes happen in the world which has witnessed exciting, happy, sad and sometimes scary moments that have affected our lives. Either way, it was a year to remember and something we could use to build upon for the next year. Google has recently released their annual review of just what exactly had us Brits searching for on the Google search engine, translation = Britain’s top five trending topics of 2015.

 

1 – Cilla Black

The number one most searched topic of 2015 in Britain was the sad news of the passing of the widely adored TV and showbiz legend Cilla Black. The much loved Liverpudlian singer, real name Priscilla Maria Veronica White whose singing career spanned several generations passed away at her Spanish home earlier this year on 1st August 2015 much to the nations shock, her untimely death was met with tributes from all walks of life, she was 72.

Credit: Andy Butterton/PA Archive/Press Association Images

Credit: Andy Butterton/PA Archive/Press Association Images

2 – Lady Colin Campbell

She is one of the stars from the 2015 edition of the hit ITV show ‘I’m a Celebrity, Get Me out Of Here!’ But the Jamaican born socialite and royal family biographer was not popular amongst her campmates, but that did not stop our fascination of 66 year old as she was one of the most searched people by Britons in 2015. She exited the programme due to medical reasons.

3 – Rugby World Cup

There were many sporting highlights for us to salivate over this year, the premier league which saw this seasons relegation candidates Chelsea crowned as champions the season before, high profile boxing fights such as the long awaited Mayweather vs Pacquiao and a somewhat renaissance in British Boxing with the likes of Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Kell Brook all finding success. But even in a year where the England cricket team retained the Ashes, there was one sporting event that had Britain searching for that was The 2015 Rugby World Cup. Hosted in England for the first time since 1991, Stuart Lancaster’s men were humbled as they were knocked out in the group stages. Stuart Lancaster as well as some of his underperforming stars were axed from the squad thereafter.

4 – Jeremy Clarkson

The enigma that is Jeremy Clarkson, you either love him or you hate him but you can’t doubt his charisma. One of the most highly paid people of the BBC and the face of popular motor vehicle/entertainment program Top Gear, the often controversial Clarkson found himself briefly out of work for a period; why? The BBC decided against renewing his contract as he was embroiled in an incident in which a ‘punch’ was thrown by Clarkson which led to him being suspended, dropped then axed completely. This event subsequently led to co presenters Richard Hammond and James May also leaving the program before all three were signed by Amazon for a rival program. Chris Evans will present Top Gear next year.

5 – Paris

The final most trending topic was that of the Paris attacks in which 130 people lost their lives. The devastating attack on the French capital was the worst attack made on the European continent for 10 years. The news spread around the world so fast translations of the story were reported in a matter of minutes.

So there you have it these are the top five stories that spiked our interests in 2015 according to Google. What has 2016 got in store for us? Hopefully more positives, one thing left is to wish everyone a happy new year!

Let us know your thoughts

You can read more trending topics of 2015 Telegraph.

10 things you might not know about Star Wars

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The Star Wars franchise, one of the most successful and most recognisable movie franchises of all time, a franchise with combined box office revenue of over $4 billion dollars worldwide has released a new movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens and it has just hit cinemas in London at midnight 17/12/15. The epic space saga, now owned by Disney has introduced the world to a variety of characters from the heroic to weird and wonderful, from Luke Skywalker to Jar Jar Binks while the series has been mostly centred on the life of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. The previous Star Wars movies have had astronomical success globally which has created a legion of dedicated followers from all over the world, the movies have had translations into numerous languages, which include a mandarin translation, no surprise as it is the most spoken language in the world. 

So to celebrate the launch of the release of Disney’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, here are 10 things about Star Wars you might not know; well those who are not die hard fans.

1. Created by George Lucas in the early 70’s, Star Wars (Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope) was released in 1977 after many changes due to originally being rejected.

2. Many if the buildings that were built in Tunisia to depict the desert planet of Tatooine are in fact still standing and are in use by the locals. Coincidently the planet Tatooine was named after the city it was built in Tataouine, Tunisia.

3. The name Luke Skywalker which is synonymous with the Star Wars series might not have been. The name Luke Starkiller was originally intended right up until filming began.

4. Greedo’s language is actually a South American language called Quechua, not the only real language used in Star Wars as the language of the Jawas is actually based on a sped up version of Zulu, and the Ewoks speak a hybrid of Nepalese and Tibetan.

5. We all know what the wise Grand Master of the Jedi Order, trainer of Luke Skywalker Yoda looks like. Now imagine him as a cane carrying monkey with a mask because that was the original intended appearance of the wise one.

6. There is somewhat of a running gag in that the lines “I have a very bad feeling about this” or “I have a bad feeling about this” are uttered in every movie in the series.

7. The clone trooper attires you see in the movies are completely created with the use of CGI as there were no physical costumes produced.

8. The late 90’s/early 00’s pop group NSYNC actually made a cameo appearance before being cut from the final edit of Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones. Why? George Lucas had to keep his daughters happy.

9. Darth Vader aka Anakin Skywalker has been portrayed by a total of 6 different actors: Hayden Christensen, Jake Lloyd, Sebastian Shaw, Bob Anderson, James Earl Jones, and David Prowse whilst Harrison Ford might never have played Hans Solo as Burt Reynolds was considered first for the role.

10. Steven Spielberg’s E.T.’s race of aliens makes a cameo appearance in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

What are the best languages to learn and why?

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With globalisation at an ever increasing rate people don’t stay in the same city/country/place they were born and brought up in anymore. Nowadays people tend to travel for all sorts of reasons whether it is backpack traveling for leisure, for business or work purposes you will not be surprised to see communities fused with different cultures at any given time. With this has come a very common glitch that is language barriers. Have you ever been on holiday in a foreign country and tried to ask where the toilet was and the only way was pointing towards your private regions to get your message across? Well depending on who you were speaking to, their interpretation of your query may have differed to your intent. There is however a solution to that, one is you can use translation services to get your message across in a different language or you can learn the language yourself.
With that being said let’s take a look at six languages worth learning today based on performing economies and/or job/business prospects in no particular order.

1. Mandarin
Well this is an obvious one, the language spoken in China and also being one of the official languages of Singapore both booming economies, it is no surprise that the Mandarin language is at the top of the list. Over the years China become a global force to be reckoned with and is rapidly becoming one of the biggest economies in the world. With that being said it is important to note that learning mandarin is not an easy task for English speakers. The language itself has been classed as one of the hardest to learn with some schools in the UK making studying Mandarin compulsory for 13 year olds as reported by The Telegraph.

2. Portuguese
Portuguese is the official language of Portugal as well as Brazil. The language is not only spoken by over 200 million people in Brazil alone but it is also the first language for its inhabitants and official business language in the region. Alongside Portuguese, having a good grasp of the English language as well as Spanish (which is predominantly spoken by surrounding Latin nations) is sought after by Brazilian employers and is also likely to broaden your business prospects.

3. Japanese
Placed 3rd in the list of top 10 biggest economies in the world Japan is a global force to be reckoned with. Its profound influence in sectors such as automobile manufacturing and electronics has made Japan an attractive place for business and work. Its rich culture is also an attractive place for tourists with the reporting that an estimated 14 million people visited Japan between January and September 2015. A huge opportunity for English speakers to teach in japan has been around for years and has been a popular option for English degree holders. Average monthly salaries for teaching English in Japan are around 250,000 Japanese yen roughly 1,357 British pounds. This is a good way to earn money whilst you learn Japanese which can increase your work prospects once you get a good understanding of the language.

4. Russian
Russia has had somewhat of a rocky relationship with the UK with one contributing factor being the Russian-Ukraine conflict. Despite Russia’s ‘rocky’ relationship with the West, the country is among the top 10 biggest economies of the world. Not only that, Russia is listed amongst the biggest markets for exports of UK goods with around 600 U companies having a Physical presence in Russia according to UK Trade and Investment (UKTI).

5. Arabic
Arabic is predominantly spoken by countries of the Middle East and North Africa. The Middle East in particular possess huge opportunities for businesses to trade within this oil rich region of the world. Countries such as Qatar and Kuwait have attracted expats from all over the world to work within the oil industry which boats huge rewards. Learning Arabic will surely teach you valuable language skills which can be used to your advantage in over 20 countries. For students this could also help your scholarship horizons.

6. German
Germany has had a big influence on the UK economy in a sense that it is the biggest trade import partner by value according to UKTI. Germanys economy is a very attractive one for both job and business prospects. With the population of Germany estimated to be over 80 million of which for the majority of people living there German is their first language. Germany is one of the major languages sought after by graduate recruiters with speakers of both English and German having an advantage in the recruitment process. This applies heavily for multi-national corporations and is desirable for hiring investment banks as highlighted by Target Jobs.

What languages do you think are the most worth learning? Leave us a comment below.

Why musician Prince is hitting the headlines

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The artist formally known as Prince, who a year later in 1994 changed his name back to Prince; famous for being eccentric, controversial, pioneering and often just damn right bizarre. Whatever your opinions of him, he is a musical legend having sold over 100 million records worldwide and at the same time picking up an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and 7 Grammys, there’s no doubting his credibility.

In a career that spans nearly 40 years Prince has made countless headlines, but why is he hitting the headlines now? Well not so much Prince himself but rather his work, more specifically the album and movie of the same name which was loosely based on Prince’s rise to the top had between them sold over 13 million copies in the US alone and spent 24 straights weeks at number 1 as well as winning an Academy Award and grossing over $80 million (£53m), the legendary ‘Purple Rain’. The reason being is that Purple Rain the movie is set to be remade. You would be forgiven to think the movie would have received a French, Spanish, German or even Hebrew translation! Not even close.

The movie has been remade in none other than the Western African Saharan Republic of Niger. Yes that’s right, The Republic of Niger. Now you might consider that to be a bit odd or the fact that the remake is aimed at the Tuareg people of Niger who probably have no idea who Prince is, but what’s worse and even stranger is there is no direct translation for the word ‘purple’, instead of ‘Purple Rain’ the Tuareg version is ‘Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai’ which translates into a rather long-winded awkward title of ‘Rain the Colour of Blue with a Little Red in It’.

For those of you thinking this must be some sort of a joke, the low budget Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai or Rain the Colour of Blue with a Little Red in It has actually become quite popular in Niger as it follows real life musician Mdou Moctar’s rise to the top as he rides his purple or blue with a little bit of red bike around the city of Agadez.

But there is some truth in the idea that this remake is some sort of joke as Christopher Kirkley, the co-writer and director of the remake confirmed when speaking to The Guardian “It started out as a joke, the idea to take this cult film from the west and remake it in the Sahara. But we realised if we took the original story and modified it, the remake would reflect the lives of every guitarist in the Tuareg community.”

What are your thoughts?

A story originally reported on The Guardian.