We tell our children unsettling fairy tales to teach them valuable lessons, but these Cautionary Tales are for the education of the... more
Take the Cautionary Tales listener survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HCHGGZ3 What really drove the 2008 financial crash? What’s a shadow bank? And... more
Take the Cautionary Tales listener survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HCHGGZ3 Charles Darwin was stumped by peacocks. According to his theory of evolution,... more
Take the Cautionary Tales listener survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HCHGGZ3 In 1827, Edinburgh, Scotland was a world centre for anatomical study, but there... more
Tim Harford joined Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova on their podcast Risky Business to discuss two of history’s most compelling... more
India, 1930. Sarojini Naidu is marching towards a British-controlled saltwork; behind her is a long column of protestors all dressed in... more
Early morning, April 1789. Captain Bligh is abruptly dragged from his cabin. Wrists bound, bayonet pressed to his chest, he... more
Paul Starrett has just won a major building contract. If everything goes according to plan, this will be the tallest... more
Leo Durocher would stop at nothing to win. The baseball player-turned-manager was a skilled tactician and famously tough. But he also cheated,... more
Tim Harford's life has been building up to this moment. In this Cautionary Conversation, he discusses the works of his... more
Young doctor Jesse Lazear has deadly Yellow Fever. He thrashes around and convulses in his sick bed, and his vomit... more
Cautionary Conversation: Steve Jobs hated his phone so much that he smashed it against a wall. He also referred to... more
The disappearance and death of Mitrice Richardson remains Malibu, CA’s most baffling unsolved case. It’s been nearly 14 years since... more
Panic has erupted in the cockpit of Air France Flight 447. The pilots are convinced they’ve lost control of the plane. It’s... more
Until the 1960s, it was deemed too "dangerous" for women athletes to run distances longer than 200m - and a... more
Adi and Rudi Dassler made sports shoes together - until a feud erupted between them. They set up competing companies,... more
In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, in 1819, Owen Chase is standing on a slowly sinking ship. It's just... more
Tim Harford is joined by Jacob Goldstein to answer your questions. Does winning the lottery make you unhappy? Is Bitcoin bad... more
Neatly dressed in his suit, Hans Ferdinand Mayer was every inch the unassuming corporate executive. So, when he asked to... more
Sam Israel had a problem. The investors in his hedge fund, Bayou Capital, were expecting spectacular returns. Sam himself had spent... more
Bonus: When Spanish conquistadors arrived in Peru in 1526, it was the beginning of the end for the Inca. Their... more
Nicolae Ceaușescu was not beloved. His regime was vicious and he treated Romania as his personal wallet: while Ceaușescu emptied the... more
Why are so many autocrats germaphobes? Why was the truth so dangerous for Soviet engineers? And what can salami reveal... more
The Happiness Lab’s Dr. Laurie Santos brings together other Pushkin hosts to mark the International Day of Happiness. Revisionist History’s... more
Chuck Yeager's plane pitched and rolled as it plummeted from the sky. He grappled with the controls inside the cockpit,... more
As US troops approached a Nazi prison camp, they could hear agonized wailing. The stench of rotting flesh filled their... more
In the 1920s, Germany’s Society for Spaceship Travel boasted some of the sharpest scientific minds – like the incandescently brilliant... more
At the height of World War Two, British intelligence began receiving reports that the enemy was developing a rocket weapon.... more
Teaser: In 1977, two planes collided on the runway at Tenerife Airport. Why did the crash happen? And, given that... more
One speechmaker inspired millions with his words, the other utterly destroyed his own multi-million-dollar business with just a few phrases.... more
Torrey Canyon was one of the biggest and best ships in the world - but its captain and crew still... more
What if you could never have the same day off as your family and friends? Would you quit your job?... more
Cautionary Book Club: Mollie Maggia's dentist planned to remove a painful abscess from her mouth. But to his horror, her jawbone disintegrated at his... more
In Goiânia, Brazil, a junk dealer acquires an old medical device from two scrap-metal scavengers. The device itself isn't useful, but it... more
Cautionary Conversation: Just before Christmas 1799, President George Washington was riding around his country estate, Mount Vernon, when it began to... more
William the Conqueror undertook a remarkably modern project. In 1086, he began compiling and storing a detailed record of his... more
On The Dream, host Jane Marie gets to know the life coaches and gurus who claim they know the secret... more
Henry Roan has been shot through the back of his head. The local authorities have found his body slumped over... more
Minnie Smith grew sick quite suddenly. She had been young, fit and healthy - and the doctors were baffled when... more
This week, we've twice the storytelling fun for you: two Cautionary Tales shorts, previously only available to Pushkin+ subscribers. A... more
Why are board games so popular in Germany? What’s Tim Harford’s top tip for productivity? And where do all those... more
The longest running television series of the 20th century was Gunsmoke, a western set in the notorious Dodge City, Kansas.... more
1957. Jørn Utzon receives a phone call: he's just won an international competition to design a brand new opera house... more
Cautionary Book Club: When Morgan Stanley offered to lease Chicago's parking meters for the princely sum of $1 billion, the City... more
1812. A band of "Luddites" is laying siege to a textile mill in the North of England, under cover of... more
Cautionary Conversation: Andy Warhol’s assistant, Gerard Malanga, is facing a long prison sentence in Italy. He’s forged several Che Guevara... more
Heroic explorer Frederick Cook has just returned from the very roof of the world, the first man to reach the... more
Cautionary Conversation: Did a Nazi put America on the moon? To celebrate the launch of his mini-series on the V-2... more
Henry Petroski is one of Tim Harford's favourite fellow nerds. His study of engineering failures has profoundly influenced Tim's own... more
Cautionary Conversation: An invasive parakeet species began spreading in New York City - and the government decided to kill every... more
“If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss..." Those words... more
Today, the idea of controlling the weather is controversial. Scientists who research geoengineering have even received death threats. But once... more
Today, we're sharing an episode of the gripping Pushkin series Lost Hills: The Dark Prince. The brand-new season takes a... more
CIA agents in Havana complaining of mental fog, dizziness and ear pain in 2016. Children in Miami in 1974, hyperventilating... more
Why does economics get a bad rap? How did a small Hungarian airline wreak havoc in the 2000s? What cautionary... more
You can gamble on horses or on the turn of a card - but Daniel Gould made a living betting... more
Anna Marie Jarvis wanted a national holiday to honor the dedication and sacrifice of America's mothers. She wasn't the first... more
It could cure any 'female ailment' - even cancer - said the adverts. But Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound was,... more
Cautionary Conversation: In 1990, a small extremist group launched a nerve gas attack on passengers riding the Tokyo subway. Thousands... more
Air traffic controllers are meant to stop aircrafts from flying into one another... and if they fail, computer systems are... more
Cautionary Conversation: When a small-town detective gets a tip about a missing woman, he believes he's uncovered a highly-trained chameleon:... more
In the early 90s, cutting-edge advertising agency Chiat/Day announced a radical plan, aimed at giving the company a jolt of... more
With the 95th Academy Awards just around the corner, Tim Harford looks back at a basic lesson. Galileo tried to... more
Cautionary Conversation: Celebrated physicist Professor Paul Frampton was on his way to Brussels to meet the love of his life,... more
Steve Jobs called It “the most amazing piece of technology since the PC.” According to Jeff Bezos It was not... more
A hundred years ago, the Tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun was officially opened - despite the widely held belief that... more
Golden sparks are raining down on the Great Lafayette’s famous vaudeville show, “The Lion’s Bride”. They look like they’re part... more
Recorded before an audience at the Bristol Festival of Economics (11/17/2022) The Dutch went so potty over tulip bulbs in... more
As a special New Year treat we're presenting two Cautionary Tales Shorts - which have previously only been available to... more
This week, we’re sharing an episode of Imaginary Worlds. For the last 30 years, the real world has been catching... more
More than 100,000 families - many of them amongst the poorest in Britain - put money aside for Christmas gifts... more
In the early 90s, cutting-edge advertising agency Chiat/Day announced a radical plan, aimed at giving the company a jolt of creative renewal.... more