BBC - 12 amazing shocks and revelations from a turbulent year

2016 - the year that proved shocks and surprises still await us at every turn, as proved by this brilliant selection of BBC Radio clips.

At the end of April, subscribers to Radiohead’s mailing list received a strange card through the post, embossed with a portentous message that turned out to be a lyric from new single, “Burn the Witch”. Within a week, the band had released their ninth album, the glistening and gorgeous A Moon Shaped Pool. To celebrate, Tom Robinson hosted a listening party, spinning the album in its entirety as listeners reacted in real time.

The Live Radiohead Listening Party

Radiohead's brand new album 'A Moon Shaped Pool' played live on 6 Music as it's released.

June’s EU Referendum produced a shock result as 52% of the country voted to leave the European Union. Pundits still had no idea which way the vote would swing as polls closed, but Radio 5 Live were offered a hefty clue by a voter who said she was undecided until she entered the booth; ultimately she voted 'leave' and so did the country.

The EU Referendum - as it happened

In the space of a few hours, the UK voted to leave the EU and David Cameron resigned.

The referendum campaign was full of grand claims and disputed figures. For instance, in May the Daily Express reported that 'a whopping 59 percent of laws in the UK come from the European Union'. But as Radio 4’s More Or Less programme pointed out, the newspaper chose not to report an important caveat…

Do the Treasury's Brexit numbers add up?

The real meaning of the numbers surrounding the Brexit campaign.

Another big election, another shock result that defied every poll and prediction. Here's the moment where the improbable became the inevitable.

‘Tonight, America decides’

5 live reports as Donald Trump is elected US president, and hears reaction to the result.

In April this year, 27 years after the Hillsborough tragedy, a lengthy inquest finally ruled that the 96 people who had lost their lives that day were unlawfully killed, and that Liverpool fans did not contribute to the disaster. In this emotional report by Kelly Cates (who, as the daughter of Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish was in the ground that day), some of the Hillsborough survivors reveal what they’ve been through on the long road to vindication.

Hillsborough - The Truth

The 27 year fight for justice by families and fans, presented by Kelly Cates.

The idea of young British Muslims signing up to fight for Islamic State in Syria remains deeply shocking. In this clip from award-winning documentary, Isis: Young British & Radicalised, Newsnight’s Secunder Kermani finds out why teenagers are leaving their homes in Britain to join a “holy war” thousands of miles away.

'You are leaving the land of sin and you are going to a land of jihad...'

The journey of a former supermarket security guard now fighting with ISIS in Syria.

In many places in the world, being HIV-positive is still a terrible stigma. On the other hand, advances in antiretroviral drugs mean that it’s possible to live close to a normal life. This episode of Focus on Africa hears the story of a South African woman who is keeping her condition a secret for fear that her husband will divorce her.

"I am HIV-positive but my husband doesn't know"

Thousands of women across South Africa are taking drugs to combat Aids in secret

This interview with Sara Mendes da Costa, the voice of the speaking clock, is revelatory for several reasons – but mainly just to hear the voice associated with solemnly intoning the time suddenly break out into sparkling conversation.

I’m the voice of the speaking clock

Mark talks to Sara Mendes Da Costa, the voice of the speaking clock.

Take this exclusive performance of “Cruel Mother” by Gillian Welch on Radio 3’s Folk Connections. The 400-year-old folk song is about a mother who gives birth to illegitimate twins before killing and burying them in the woods, yet it’s still hauntingly beautiful.

Gillian Welch: ‘I’ve never performed this before’

Gillian Welch plays an Appalachian folksong, never before performed on stage.

Actor and rapper Will Smith talks about the dilemmas of having precociously talented children in this revealing interview with 1Xtra’s A.Dot. “Jaden is one hundred percent fearless,” confirms Smith of his already-famous 18-year-old son, “so as a parent it’s really terrifying, but he is completely willing to live and die by his own artistic decisions.” The same goes for 16-year-old singer Willow – although being two years younger, she is still subject to a Friday night curfew.

'Will Smith - do you encourage your kids to have freedom of expression?'

Dotty quizzes Will Smith about his parenting techniques.

OK, so that’s not a revelation for most of us. But you can understand why a young American actor with no reason to keep tabs on the British tabloids at the turn of the millennium might not necessarily put the two of them together. Jonah Hill’s flabbergasted reaction when he discovers –live on Chris Evans’ Radio 2 show – that his interviewer and his fellow interviewee used to be husband and wife is priceless.