The 10 best ginger genius happenings of 2017

Ginger Parrot

Whether you view 2017 as a good or bad year on the whole, redheads have been keeping themselves super busy – all 138,000,000 (ish) of them. Here’s our round-up of ginger genius happenings of 2017…

1. Ginger dinosaur named after redhead researcher

This year, this nodosaur was found to have a reddish-brown pigment to its outer shell, making it certifiably ginger in our eyes.

But it gets better. The dinosaur was then named after one of its technicians, Mark Mitchell at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Alberta, Canada. And, what are the odds, that Mark is a fellow redhead, too! Meet the Borealopelta markmitchelli.

2. Redhead books. Everywhere.

From learning cool and quirky facts about redheads in The Big Redhead Book, to cataloguing your own gingerness in My Life as a Redhead, or perhaps just marvelling in wonder at Redhead Beauty photography, 2017 has certainly brought plenty of ginger literature to our lives.

3. The first redhead on the Victoria’s Secret fashion show catwalk

💕🦊💕 Backstage & ready for action with @victoriassecret #vsshanghai #vsfashionshow #redhead
A post shared by Alexina Graham (@alexinagraham) on Nov 19, 2017 at 10:05pm PST

It may have taken over two decades, but finally, a red-haired model has stepped onto the stage for this year’s Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

26-year-old British redhead, Alexina Graham, has been somewhat under the radar until recently. So far, she has modelled for the likes of Jean Paul Gaultier, Etam, and Balmain. But last year she became an ambassador for L’Oréal Paris, and her popularity has grown ever since.

Read more about Alexina Graham

4. Free zoo entry for redheads

Raising awareness of World Orangutan Day on 19th August, Twycross Zoo opened their doors for free to red-haired visitors, who came from near and far to celebrate orangutans.

5. Our obsession with Stranger Things intensified with Madmax

Stranger Things has filled our ginger quota once more! While the explosive season 1 gave us the conscientious Barb, we now have the adventurous Max, who joins the cast for its second season.

6. A ginger cruise was announced

A seven-night Western Caribbean cruise was announced this year for both redheads and their pals from all over the world. Setting sail from Miami and calling at Honduras, Belize, Mexico (both Costa Maya and Cozumel island), and then back to Miami, we excitedly stocked up our sunscreen supply ready to go.

Alas, the company has since not made any announcements about the cruise so we can only assume that it hasn’t been confirmed. We’ll keep our sunscreen stock ready for another time.

Read more about the Ginger Cruise

7. The Redhead Personality Project

Could redheads have more in common than just their ginger hair, freckles and chronic intolerance of the sun?

By collecting responses from as many gingers as possible, the Redhead Personality Project plans to determine whether there are similarities between the personalities of natural redheads.

Why do people think all redheads are Irish?

8. Ginger sperm donors became high demand

More and more people want a little ginger of their own, and quite rightly, too!

Earlier this year, Co-ParentMatch.com, a social network for sperm donors and co-parents, broadcast a global call for donations specifically from ginger men, which are now in high demand.

9. Anne Shirley came to the 21st century

Netflix brought our childhood memories to life this year, with an eight-part series based on Lucy Maud Montgomery’s famous Anne of Green Gables.

10. Our ginger emoji dreams are (finally) going to come true

Mock-ups of the soon-to-be inaugurated redhead emoji candidates (all being well) were drafted for recommendation this year by the Unicode Consortium gods.

In other news, the emoji world is devastated to find that the sad “pile of poo” emoji has been axed from Unicode’s latest curated list of emojis for release in 2018. Darn.

Are you clued up on your ginger knowledge from 2017? Take our Ginger Quiz of the Year 2017!