THE World Cup, Michael Schumacher and the iPhone 6 grabbed the public's attention more than any other subject this year, according to search engine Yahoo.

The internet company's annual Year in Review, which is put together by analysing billions of searches made using Yahoo Search, found the British public were also keen to get more information on flight MH370, which went missing in March, as well as Oscar Pistorius and Disney's Frozen.

In Yahoo's "top 10 of everything", the World Cup in Brazil came first, followed by Michael Schumacher and the iPhone 6.

Manchester United, Arsenal FC, Celebrity Big Brother/Big Brother, Liverpool FC, and the Duchess of Cambridge joined Pistorius and Frozen on the list.

In terms of news stories, UK users were most interested in Schumacher following his skiing accident, followed by the mystery surrounding flight MH370 and Pistorius's murder trial.

The political agenda was dominated by the Scottish independence referendum and the rise of Ukip, which occupy first and second respectively on the politics search list. Ukip leader Nigel Farage was the fourth most searched-for political figure, with former First Minister Alex Salmond third.

Mr Salmond's successor Nicola Sturgeon and Russian president Vladimir Putin were also among the top 10.

Search engines are often used to ask questions, and Yahoo's results reveal that the most asked question of 2014 was "how to make loom bands?", the elastic loops that are linked together to create bracelets.

The second most common question was "when is Easter?", with "who killed Lucy Beale?" also on the list.