EVENTS OF 2012 (INTERMEDIATE)

The most important political event of 2012 was probably the United States presidential election in November – although only 58% of people who were able to vote did so. Barack Obama of the Democratic Party was re-elected as president, but it was close: he received 51% of the votes while Mitt Romney of the Republican Party got 48%.

The two biggest events in Britain were the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, to mark the fact that Queen Elizabeth II has been on the throne for 60 years, and the Olympic Games^® in London. 

The Great Britain team did very well in the Olympics, winning the third highest number of medals behind the United States and China. Women’s boxing was included in the Games for the first time. 

One of the most popular films in cinemas around the world was the latest James Bond adventure, Skyfall, with British actor Daniel Craig in the main role. It was the twenty-third Bond film; the first was Dr. No in 1962.

  Apple^® brought out the iPhone 5, and of course many people bought it as quickly as they could. It is estimated that about 250 million people – 3.5% of the world’s population – now own an iPhone^®.

A South Korean rapper called Psy became famous worldwide thanks to the video for his song ‘Gangnam Style’. By the end of the year it was the most watched clip ever on YouTube.

 An Austrian man named Felix Baumgartner skydived from a balloon 39 kilometres above the Earth. He fell for more than four minutes, reaching a speed of more than 1,000 kilometres per hour, before opening his parachute and landing safely in New Mexico in the south-west of the United States.