The world in 2007 – when darts prodigy Luke Littler was born

Luke Littler at the quarter-final match against Brendan Dolan of Northern Ireland at the World Darts Championship in London on Monday. Photograph: Kin Cheung/AP

The 16-year-old darts prodigy Luke Littler is just two wins away from becoming world champion after storming through to the PDC World Darts Championship semi-finals with a 5-1 victory over Northern Ireland’s Brendan Dolan.

Here we take a look at how the world has changed since Littler was born on 21 January 2007.

Politics

George W Bush (left) and Tony Blair after their final news conference together in the Rose Garden of the White House in May 2007. Photograph: Jason Reed/Reuters

Tony Blair was prime minister of a Labour government and was sparring in the House of Commons with the then leader of the opposition, David Cameron.

On the other side of the Atlantic, George W Bush was starting what would be his final year in office as the president of the US. Barack Obama was three weeks away from declaring his presidential candidacy.

The late Jacques Chirac was president of France, while Angela Merkel was just over a year into her 16-year tenure as German chancellor.

Pop culture

Amy Winehouse performing at Glastonbury festival in June 2007. Photograph: Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images

In the official UK singles chart, Grace Kelly by Mika was No 1, his first and last single to reach that position, having just knocked Leona Lewis off top spot.

Back to Black by Amy Winehouse topped the country’s album chart, about four and a half years before the singer’s death at the age of 27.

Rocky Balboa was number one in the UK movie box office, with Sylvester Stallone returning to one of his most famous roles. A couple of days after Littler was born, Martin Scorsese’s crime and corruption tale The Departed took the best picture and best director Oscars at the 79th Academy Awards, where Helen Mirren won best actress for The Queen, and Forest Whitaker took the best actor gong for The Last King of Scotland.

Sport

Arsenal’s Thierry Henry (right) and Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand during the Premier League match on 21 January 2007. Photograph: Kieran Doherty/Reuters

On 1 January 2007 the Dutch darts player Raymond van Barneveld – another recent scalp of Littler’s – beat England’s Phil Taylor in the PDC World Darts Championship. Van Barneveld became the first player in the history of the sport to play in the BDO World Championship final and the PDC World Championship final in consecutive years, having decided to switch organisations on 15 February 2006.

In football, on the day of Littler’s birth, Arsenal beat Manchester United 2-1 with Thierry Henry and Robin van Persie scoring for Arsenal and Wayne Rooney scoring for Man Utd, who were top of the league and went on to win the title that season.

Tech

The Apple chief executive, Steve Jobs, showing the new iPhone in San Francisco on 9 January 2007. Photograph: Kimberly White/Reuters

On 9 January 2007, Apple unveiled its first smartphone – the iPhone, which would not be released in the US until June. The iPhone quickly became Apple’s most successful product, with later generations propelling it to become the world’s most profitable company. The Nintendo Wii had been released the month before Littler’s birth.

Facebook had about 20 million active users – which has risen to an estimated 3 billion today.