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Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
Pushkin Industries

We tell our children unsettling fairy tales to teach them valuable lessons, but these Cautionary Tales are for the education of the... more

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Episodes

Darwin's Grandpa and the Art of Sex Appeal

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

08 Nov 2024 · 40 minutes
The Edinburgh Body Snatchers: Murder at Halloween

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

25 Oct 2024 · 41 minutes
Cautionary Tales Presents: Death Fraud and Other Risky Business

Tim Harford joined Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova on their podcast Risky Business to discuss two of history’s most compelling... more

14 Oct 2024 · 48 minutes
The Poet Who Toppled The British Empire

India, 1930. Sarojini Naidu is marching towards a British-controlled saltwork; behind her is a long column of protestors all dressed in... more

11 Oct 2024 · 43 minutes
Reason, Wrath and Rebellion on the High Seas

Early morning, April 1789. Captain Bligh is abruptly dragged from his cabin. Wrists bound, bayonet pressed to his chest, he... more

27 Sep 2024 · 41 minutes
Steel and Kindness: Clash of the Skyscrapers

Paul Starrett has just won a major building contract. If everything goes according to plan, this will be the tallest... more

13 Sep 2024 · 39 minutes
The Nice Guy, the Bully and the Kiss

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

13 Sep 2024 · 39 minutes
Tim's Tolkien Obsession & Amazon Prime's The Rings of Power

Tim Harford's life has been building up to this moment. In this Cautionary Conversation, he discusses the works of his... more

30 Aug 2024 · 45 minutes
The Human Guinea Pigs of Camp Lazear

Young doctor Jesse Lazear has deadly Yellow Fever. He thrashes around and convulses in his sick bed, and his vomit... more

16 Aug 2024 · 40 minutes
Embracing the Escape Fire (with Adam Grant)

Cautionary Conversation: Steve Jobs hated his phone so much that he smashed it against a wall. He also referred to... more

02 Aug 2024 · 36 minutes
Cautionary Tales Presents Vultures from Lost Hills: Dark Canyon

The disappearance and death of Mitrice Richardson remains Malibu, CA’s most baffling unsolved case. It’s been nearly 14 years since... more

25 Jul 2024 · 37 minutes
Flying Too High: AI and Air France Flight 447

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

19 Jul 2024 · 40 minutes
Run, Switzer, Run: The Women Who Broke the Marathon Taboo

Until the 1960s, it was deemed too "dangerous" for women athletes to run distances longer than 200m - and a... more

05 Jul 2024 · 36 minutes
Adidas v Puma: A Battle of Boots and Brothers

Adi and Rudi Dassler made sports shoes together - until a feud erupted between them. They set up competing companies,... more

21 Jun 2024 · 39 minutes
The Revenge of the Whales

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, in 1819, Owen Chase is standing on a slowly sinking ship. It's just... more

07 Jun 2024 · 38 minutes
When the Robots Take Over... - Cautionary Questions

Tim Harford is joined by Jacob Goldstein to answer your questions. Does winning the lottery make you unhappy? Is Bitcoin bad... more

24 May 2024 · 39 minutes
WW2: How Britain Ignored the Mother of All Secrets

Neatly dressed in his suit, Hans Ferdinand Mayer was every inch the unassuming corporate executive. So, when he asked to... more

10 May 2024 · 42 minutes
The Fraudster's Guide to Magic Money

Sam Israel had a problem. The investors in his hedge fund, Bayou Capital, were expecting spectacular returns. Sam himself had spent... more

26 Apr 2024 · 1 hour,
Blood and Gold (with Dan Snow)

Bonus: When Spanish conquistadors arrived in Peru in 1526, it was the beginning of the end for the Inca. Their... more

23 Apr 2024 · 40 minutes
The Rise and Fall of a Megalomaniac

Nicolae Ceaușescu was not beloved. His regime was vicious and he treated Romania as his personal wallet: while Ceaușescu emptied the... more

12 Apr 2024 · 58 minutes
Inside the Bizarre World of Dictators

Why are so many autocrats germaphobes? Why was the truth so dangerous for Soviet engineers? And what can salami reveal... more

29 Mar 2024 · 42 minutes
Pushkin Hosts Celebrate World Happiness Day

The Happiness Lab’s Dr. Laurie Santos brings together other Pushkin hosts to mark the International Day of Happiness. Revisionist History’s... more

20 Mar 2024 · 48 minutes
Do Nothing, Then Do Less

Chuck Yeager's plane pitched and rolled as it plummeted from the sky. He grappled with the controls inside the cockpit,... more

15 Mar 2024 · 35 minutes
Buried Evil: V2 Rocket (Part 3)

As US troops approached a Nazi prison camp, they could hear agonized wailing. The stench of rotting flesh filled their... more

01 Mar 2024 · 39 minutes
Into the Black Lair: V2 Rocket (Part 2)

In the 1920s, Germany’s Society for Spaceship Travel boasted some of the sharpest scientific minds – like the incandescently brilliant... more

16 Feb 2024 · 38 minutes
Supersonic Nazi Vengeance: V2 Rocket (Part 1)

At the height of World War Two, British intelligence began receiving reports that the enemy was developing a rocket weapon.... more

02 Feb 2024 · 36 minutes
Tenerife: The Most Deadly Air Disaster

Teaser: In 1977, two planes collided on the runway at Tenerife Airport. Why did the crash happen? And, given that... more

30 Jan 2024 · 4 minutes
Martin Luther King, the Jewelry Genius, and the Art of Public Speaking (Classic)

One speechmaker inspired millions with his words, the other utterly destroyed his own multi-million-dollar business with just a few phrases.... more

19 Jan 2024 · 36 minutes
DANGER: Rocks Ahead! (Classic)

Torrey Canyon was one of the biggest and best ships in the world - but its captain and crew still... more

05 Jan 2024 · 34 minutes
When Stalin Killed the Weekend (with The Happiness Lab)

What if you could never have the same day off as your family and friends? Would you quit your job?... more

22 Dec 2023 · 36 minutes
How the Radium Girls Fought Back

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

08 Dec 2023 · 40 minutes
Glowing Peril: The Magical Glitter That Poisoned a City

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

24 Nov 2023 · 35 minutes
George Washington's Beard of Beetles (with The Dollop)

Cautionary Conversation: Just before Christmas 1799, President George Washington was riding around his country estate, Mount Vernon, when it began to... more

17 Nov 2023 · 28 minutes
Laser Versus Parchment: Doomsday for the Disc

William the Conqueror undertook a remarkably modern project. In 1086, he began compiling and storing a detailed record of his... more

10 Nov 2023 · 39 minutes
Cautionary Tales Presents The Dream

On The Dream, host Jane Marie gets to know the life coaches and gurus who claim they know the secret... more

06 Nov 2023 · 45 minutes
Killers of the Flower Moon: Osage Chief Jim Gray In Conversation

Henry Roan has been shot through the back of his head. The local authorities have found his body slumped over... more

27 Oct 2023 · 39 minutes
Oil and Blood: The Osage Murders

Minnie Smith grew sick quite suddenly. She had been young, fit and healthy - and the doctors were baffled when... more

20 Oct 2023 · 41 minutes
DOUBLE BILL: A Monkey For Mayor / A Screw Loose At 17,000 Feet

This week, we've twice the storytelling fun for you: two Cautionary Tales shorts, previously only available to Pushkin+ subscribers. A... more

13 Oct 2023 · 34 minutes
"7000 horses are being flown across space..." - Cautionary Questions #2

Why are board games so popular in Germany? What’s Tim Harford’s top tip for productivity? And where do all those... more

29 Sep 2023 · 35 minutes
Cautionary Tales Presents: Getting out of Dodge from Revisionist History

The longest running television series of the 20th century was Gunsmoke, a western set in the notorious Dodge City, Kansas.... more

19 Sep 2023 · 44 minutes
A Chorus of Contempt at The Sydney Opera House

1957. Jørn Utzon receives a phone call: he's just won an international competition to design a brand new opera house... more

15 Sep 2023 · 40 minutes
The City That Sold Itself To Wall Street

Cautionary Book Club: When Morgan Stanley offered to lease Chicago's parking meters for the princely sum of $1 billion, the City... more

01 Sep 2023 · 38 minutes
General Ludd's Rage Against the Machines

1812. A band of "Luddites" is laying siege to a textile mill in the North of England, under cover of... more

18 Aug 2023 · 36 minutes
Andy Warhol's Factory of Truth

Cautionary Conversation: Andy Warhol’s assistant, Gerard Malanga, is facing a long prison sentence in Italy. He’s forged several Che Guevara... more

11 Aug 2023 · 36 minutes
Poles Apart: How A Journalist Divided A City

Heroic explorer Frederick Cook has just returned from the very roof of the world, the first man to reach the... more

04 Aug 2023 · 37 minutes
The Father of Space Travel

Cautionary Conversation: Did a Nazi put America on the moon? To celebrate the launch of his mini-series on the V-2... more

28 Jul 2023 · 26 minutes
A Fascination with Failure: Death On The Dancefloor (Classic)

Henry Petroski is one of Tim Harford's favourite fellow nerds. His study of engineering failures has profoundly influenced Tim's own... more

21 Jul 2023 · 42 minutes
When Parakeets Plundered New York

Cautionary Conversation: An invasive parakeet species began spreading in New York City - and the government decided to kill every... more

14 Jul 2023 · 36 minutes
The Coup, the Poet and the Secret to Winning Wimbledon

“If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss..." Those words... more

07 Jul 2023 · 35 minutes
The Man Who Played With Hurricanes

Today, the idea of controlling the weather is controversial. Scientists who research geoengineering have even received death threats. But once... more

23 Jun 2023 · 38 minutes
Cautionary Tales Presents: Lost Hills - The Dark Prince

Today, we're sharing an episode of the gripping Pushkin series Lost Hills: The Dark Prince. The brand-new season takes a... more

15 Jun 2023 · 42 minutes
Sonic Poison? The Genesis of Havana Syndrome

CIA agents in Havana complaining of mental fog, dizziness and ear pain in 2016. Children in Miami in 1974, hyperventilating... more

09 Jun 2023 · 37 minutes
Airships, AI and Alan Cumming: Tim Answers Your Questions

Why does economics get a bad rap? How did a small Hungarian airline wreak havoc in the 2000s? What cautionary... more

26 May 2023 · 37 minutes
The Man Who Bet His House on a Pop Song - A Eurovision Tale

You can gamble on horses or on the turn of a card - but Daniel Gould made a living betting... more

12 May 2023 · 31 minutes
The Dark Money Behind Mother's Day

Anna Marie Jarvis wanted a national holiday to honor the dedication and sacrifice of America's mothers. She wasn't the first... more

28 Apr 2023 · 39 minutes
The True Scandal of Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound

It could cure any 'female ailment' - even cancer - said the adverts. But Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound was,... more

14 Apr 2023 · 37 minutes
What if Terrorists Could Weaponize Covid?

Cautionary Conversation: In 1990, a small extremist group launched a nerve gas attack on passengers riding the Tokyo subway. Thousands... more

07 Apr 2023 · 38 minutes
The Vigilante and the Air Traffic Controller

Air traffic controllers are meant to stop aircrafts from flying into one another... and if they fail, computer systems are... more

31 Mar 2023 · 34 minutes
America's Mata Hari? The Double Life of Esther Reed

Cautionary Conversation: When a small-town detective gets a tip about a missing woman, he believes he's uncovered a highly-trained chameleon:... more

24 Mar 2023 · 36 minutes
Office Hell: the Demise of the Playful Workspace

In the early 90s, cutting-edge advertising agency Chiat/Day announced a radical plan, aimed at giving the company a jolt of... more

17 Mar 2023 · 38 minutes
Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
Office Hell: the Demise of the Playful Workspace
Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
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Description

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