BBC - 17 things we learned in 2017

It’s not just new artists and exciting tunes that we’ve been discovering on 6 Music this year – although there's been plenty of that and Thursday's (14 December) Best of 2017 Day will showcase a treasure trove of the year's best music – but thanks to the spectrum of guests who have popped into our studios, we've learned a whole host of new facts too.

Including scientific discoveries, Time Lord revelations, secret musical histories, design tips and more, here are just 17 of the many things we’ve discovered on air throughout 2017.

Fainting? No. Crying? Maybe. Keeping it a secret from everyone else? Definitely. In Jodie Whittaker's first interview after it was announced she was getting the keys to the TARDIS, the new Doctor told Shaun Keavney all about how she discovered she was going to work with the Daleks.

In her first broadcast interview Jodie Whittaker tells 6 Music's Shaun Keaveny about her new role as Doctor Who

Trust her, she's a Doctor! What advice did Jodie receive from former Doctor Whos...

Craig Charles put his stint covering the 6 Music Breakfast Show to good use by conducting a series of music based-experiments on behalf of egg eaters everywhere. Seems an epic from the Madchester era could be all the timer you need…

The best song to boil and egg to?

Craig discovers if The Stone Roses have the perfect song to boil an egg to.

The Icelandic singer popped in to discuss her own music, but she was more than happy to share an eclectic range of recommendations with Lauren Laverne too.

Five music recommendations from Björk

From Anohni to Rihanna, here's who the legendary musician has been listening to recently.

Access to alternative dimensions? The chance to become the Star Child? It turns out existence within a black hole has more in common with pasta than Radcliffe and Maconie first thought.

"If you get sucked in you get spaghettified" - Rick Edwards and Dr Michael Brooks on black holes

Rick Edwards and Dr Michael Brooks tell Mark and Stuart about black holes and time travel

Ever wondered where they get the people to record the train announcements from? Well, for BBC Music Day Shaun Ryder gave Chris Hawkins a taste of his specially recorded announcements for the Manchester tram network, suggesting the net should be cast wider next time there's a vacancy at Kings Cross.

It’s Coming Up! It’s Coming Up! It’s… Anchorage?!

Black Grape's Shaun Ryder has revoiced the Manchester tram announcements. Want to hear?

As rap battles go, Mike D, MCA and Yauch versus Bob, Pete and Sarah might seem like an odd showdown, but as we discovered on this year’s 1994 Day, there was bad blood between the trios… all over Katie Puckrik.

"I think we pushed in front of the Beastie Boys and they weren't very happy..." - When Saint Etienne first met Katie

Sarah Cracknell explains how the band's first meeting with Katie upset the New York trio.

To mark ten years of 6 Music’s T-Shirt Day, Lammo dived into the science behind the best ones by heading to London's Design Museum. Hint: get the band’s name on there…

Plus read Steve Lamacq's guide to band T-Shirt etiquette.

How do you design a great band t-shirt?

We headed off to the Design Museum to get a bit of advice from some experts.

Every noticed the “demented screaming” on the album’s final track ‘Come On’? Richard Ashcroft reveals how the ultimate secret Britpop guest appearence came about.

Learn more about Liam Gallagher in The First Time With…, Christmas Eve, 1pm on 6 Music and for the following 30 days on iPlayer Radio.

"You can hear some demented guy screaming..." - Richard Ashcroft on Liam Gallagher's hidden Urban Hymns appearance

Richard Ashcroft reveals some of the hidden jokes in The Verve's Urban Hymns.

Entire musical careers might never have happened if a certain Essex venue hadn’t put The Lurkers on in 1978...

Watch Steve Lamacq re-visit the venue where he saw his first ever gig

As part of Independent Venues Week, Steve catches up with the music scene in Chelmsford.

The journey from The Shadow’s ‘Apache’ to 'Are “Friends” ‘Electric?' might not seem obvious, but without that twanging guitar Gary Webb may never have become Gary Numan, as Marc Riley discovered.

"Ultravox did it first and better": Gary Numan answers the Manic Q & A

Electronic music legend Gary Numan answers Marc Riley's Manic Q & A.

Liz Kerhsaw asked Midge Ure if he was bothered by supermarkets inappropriately playing the charity single at Christmas. Seems there’s a silver (tinsel) lining.

Does Band Aid still make money?

Midge Ure reveals how supermarkets and Christmas compilations raise money for Band Aid.

The reunion of the year for once wasn’t musical, but that of David Lynch and Twin Peaks co-creator Mark Frost ‘getting the band back together’. Ever the weird, unexpected and unexplained, the new series certainly complemented the cult show’s legacy, but is that it? Mary Anne Hobbs asked Mark Frost.

17 things we learned in 2017

1. How Jodie Whittaker reacted when she found out she was going to be Doctor Who

2. The best song to boil an egg to

3. What Björk is listening to right now

4. What happens to you inside a black hole

5. How the world would sound if Shaun Ryder did our public service announcements

6. That The Beastie Boys and Saint Etienne had a beef

7. How to design a really, really great band t-shirt

8. Liam Gallagher is secretly on The Verve’s ‘Urban Hymns’

9. Where Steve Lamacq's first ever gig was

10. There would be no Numanoids without Hank Marvin

11. If Band Aid is still making money

12. Whether or not there will be any more episodes of Twin Peaks

13. What hip hop truly is

14. How we remember music

15. How The Strokes were discovered

16. David Bowie’s role in reuniting LCD Soundsystem

17. Thom Yorke almost abandoned Radiohead mid set during the 1997 Glastonbury Festival

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