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As 2016 draws to a close, Roy Jenkins looks back at some of the significant events of the year as we鈥檝e reflected them week by week in All Things Considered.

With Wales at the Euro finals and a record medals haul from the Rio Olympics, celebration has had its moments, and we shared some of the jubilation - for the Queen鈥檚 90th birthday, the Pope鈥檚 Year of Mercy, the literary extravaganzas marking the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare.

But there has seemed much more to mourn - continuing slaughter in the Middle East; an apparently unending refugee crisis; the memories of Aberfan.

And divisions have rarely appeared sharper - in America, with the astonishing triumph of Donald Trump; in this country over the vote to leave the European Union.

Immediately after that historic vote, we explored whether the decision might have been influenced in any way by religious faith. Our guests included Canon Dr Sarah Rowland-Jones, who was a British diplomat when the Maastricht Treaty was being negotiated; Rev Dr Richard Frazer of the Church of Scotland; and The Rev Geoff Waggett, a parish priest in Ebbw Vale where people voted heavily in favour of leaving. 聽He had little doubt that religious considerations had affected the result.

In America, it was clear that faith communities were powerful shapers of attitudes towards the presidential candidates. 聽 A few days before the vote, Roy talked with a panel of four Americans, among them Dr. Richard Land, a member of Donald Trump鈥檚 evangelical moral advisory board and the historian Professor Dr. Joseph Loconte.聽

Both the American Presidential election and the Brexit vote brought into sharp focus the pressures associated with leadership. Times of such volatility led many to give thanks for the stable leadership of the longest serving monarch in British history. 聽As the Queen celebrated her 90th birthday, we discussed what鈥檚 known of her religious faith. 聽