While I spent the year Googling myself and various lovers, it seems the rest of Britain were busy Googling celebrity deaths, scandals and record-breaking album releases. Google's most searched-for people of the year gives us a unique insight into our fascination with celebrities in 2015. Comprised of UK searches, it's a somewhat surprising list (there's no Zayn Malik, for starters) but it certainly serves as a reminder of some of the biggest entertainment stories of the the year.
10. Charlie Sheen
Sure enough, most of Sheen’s searches took place in November when the former star of Two And A Half Men revealed he had been diagnosed as HIV positive back in 2011. In an interview, he referred to HIV as "three hard letters to absorb."
9. Ruby Rose
It’s hard to imagine that most people hadn’t heard of the Australian actress at the beginning of the year. But with her casting in Orange Is The New Black in June, her Google searches shot up. In October, the gender fluid 29-year-old hosted the MTV EMAs.
8. Caitlyn Jenner
In April, the former Olympic champion and star of Keeping Up With The Kardashians revealed she identified as a woman and would transition from male to female. A high profile cover story with Vanity Fair and her own reality TV show, I Am Cait, ensured she remained one of the most Googled celebrities of the year.
7. Adele
Hello. The most downloaded, the most watched, it’s no surprise that Adele was one of the most Googled celebrities of 2015.
6. Perez Hilton
Many people were Googling the gossip blogger at the beginning of the year due to his appearance in Celebrity Big Brother, during which he was branded "odious" and "attention seeking." He then pissed off everyone else by comparing his experience on the show to "being diagnosed with AIDS".
5. Anne Kirkbride
After the Oldham-born actress, who portrayed Deirdre Barlow in Coronation Street from 1972 to 2014, died of breast cancer at the age of 60 in January, she posthumously received the Outstanding Achievement Award at this year’s British Soap Awards.
4. Lamar Odom
Interest in the 36-year-old NBA star peaked in October after a reported alcohol and drug binge in a brothel left him unconscious. The estranged husband of Khloe Kardashian is still recovering in hospital today.
3. Jeremy Clarkson
Although there was – and continues to be – a steady stream of interest in the presenter, search results peaked in March when the Top Gear host was accused of verbally and physically attacking a producer on the show. The BBC announced they would not renew his contract and a nation wondered exactly just what a “fracas” was.
2. Lady Colin Campbell
Until entering the jungle in November, not many people would have known who Lady Colin Campbell was, yet she finishes the year as the second most Googled person in the country. The Royal Family biographer, who was born intersex until she had surgery at 21, left I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here on medical grounds.
1. Cilla Black
After the much-loved presenter and singer died suddenly in her villa in Spain in August at the age of 72, figures including Sir Paul McCartney, David Cameron, and Cliff Richards all publicly expressed their sorrow. Cilla, who had stated in a recent interview that she hoped to pass away when she was 75, earned her first number one the day after her funeral with her album The Very Best Of Cilla Black.
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