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PODCAST

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 grown ups – and they are all true. Tim Harford (Financial Times, BBC, author of “The Data Detective”) brings you stories of awful human error, tragic catastrophes, and hilarious fiascos. They"ll delight you, scare you, but also make you wiser. New episodes every Friday.

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All Episodes

37:54

Don't Panic! Douglas Adams' Guide to Tomorrow - with...

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford ·

2025/09/26

Writer Douglas Adams, best known for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, used science fiction and satire to warn us about potential dangers in our future, from artificial intelligence to social media and animal extinction. In this Cautionary Conversation, Tim is joined by Arvind Ethan David, author of the new audiobook Douglas Adams: Ends of the Earth, to discuss why Adams was in the business of telling Cautionary Tales, his worries (and fixes) for the future, and what we all have in common with a

en-US

41:17

A Deadly Day at the Races: What Radical Protest Can...

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford ·

2025/09/19

After years of campaigning for votes for women, the Suffragettes emerge at the turn of the 20th Century. Their motto, 'Deeds Not Words', heralds the start of more radical actions, including fire bombing, civil disobedience and hunger strikes. Emily Davison is a passionate rebel, but she pushes at the limits of what her allies find acceptable. History remembers Emily for her final act, but have we got everything about the story right? WARNING: This episode discusses death by suicide. If you are

en-US

40:37

True Lies and Genuine Fakes

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford ·

2025/09/12

In 1998, an art gallery gets a mysterious phone call. The caller claims they have been fooled by a master forger and that many of their prized paintings are fakes. Or are they? This is the story of the life and lies of the notorious Eric Hebborn. What did he do, and what does that teach us about how we can root out deepfakes without undermining our trust in reality? For a full list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

en-US

38:40

Stalling for Survival - A Lonely Fight Against a...

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford ·

2025/09/05

In 1960, FDA scientist Frances Oldham Kelsey is tasked with approving an application for a mild sedative to be sold in America. The drug is popular across Europe and is touted to be free of side effects, so this should be a routine job. But something doesn't sit right with Frances and she starts digging for evidence to support her suspicions. As the pharmaceutical company pushes for speedy approval, Frances discovers the drug's devastating impact. Katie Hafner, host of The Lost Women of Science

en-US

2:16

Announcing: The Cautionary Club

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford ·

2025/09/02

Do you want more Cautionary Tales episodes in your life? Do you want access to behind the scenes stories and bonus conversations with Tim? Do you want to support us in making the show? We're excited to announce the brand new Cautionary Club on Patreon. Subscribers will gain access to exclusive content every month, including a newsletter uncovering new details behind a recent episode, a conversation between Tim and one of the team, and a full length Cautionary Tale. The Cautionary Club is also going

en-US

39:57

Disaster Favours the Daring: Shipwreck at Honda Point

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford ·

2025/08/29

In 1923, legendary navigator Captain Dolly Hunter led a squadron of warships into America’s worst peacetime naval catastrophe. The mission was supposed to be a speed trial, a display of the squadron’s skill. But it ended in a maritime pile-up, with some destroyers stranded on rocks, others sinking fast, and deadly oil leaking into the Pacific Ocean. How?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

en-US

41:00

Paradise Poisoned: How Utopias Fall Apart

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford ·

2025/08/22

Dore Strauch and Friedrich Ritter make an unconventional couple, united by their contempt for shoes, root vegetables and, above all, society. In 1929 they leave Germany and begin anew on the deserted Galapagos island of Floreana. At first, it feels like a paradise, but soon cracks begin to show. Parasitic fleas, bombastic interlopers, and buried tensions turn their escape into a nightmare. Can they learn to thrive away from civilisation, or will Floreana claim more than their dreams?See

en-US

40:03

"Genius Still Unrecognised" - The Worst Poet in the...

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford ·

2025/08/15

William McGonagall's poems are something else. The jarring meter, the banal imagery, the awkward rhymes: they made him a laughing stock in 19th Century Scotland and are still derided to this day. How does someone get that bad at poetry? Or have we been misunderstanding McGonagall all along?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

en-US

38:40

Office Hell: The Demise of the Playful Workspace...

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford ·

2025/08/08

In the early 90s, cutting-edge advertising agency Chiat/Day announced a radical plan, aimed at giving the company a jolt of creative renewal. They would sweep away corner offices and cubicles and replace them with zany open spaces, as well as innovative portable computers and phones. A brand new era of “hot-desking” had arrived. Problems quickly began. Disgruntled employees found themselves hauling temperamental, clunky laptops and armfuls of paperwork all over the office; some even had

en-US

35:30

Number Fever: How Pepsi Nearly Went Pop (Classic)

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford ·

2025/08/01

Pepsi twice ended up in court after promotions went disastrously wrong. Other big companies have fallen into the same trap - promising customers rewards so generous that to fulfil the promise might mean corporate bankruptcy.Businesses and customers alike are sometimes blinded by the big numbers in such PR stunts - but it's usually the customers, not the businesses, who end up losing out.For a full list of show notes see http://timharford.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

en-US

32:20

Fire at The Beverly Hills Supper Club (Update)

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford ·

2025/07/25

It's been five years since Cautionary Tales ran a mini-series about the Covid-19 pandemic, exploring the lessons we were learning in real time as the crisis unfolded. 'Fire at The Beverly Hills Supper Club' tells the story of a deadly blaze in a Cincinnati hotel and Tim's own experience reacting to new information about the virus. After the episode, Tim reflects on the anniversary, the cautionary tales the pandemic still had to teach us, and whether we've learned enough to deal with the next one.See

en-US

40:28

"Captain Kirk Forgot to put the Machine on Stun"

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford ·

2025/07/18

Lying on the cold metal table, Voyne Ray Cox knew the drill. This was his ninth round of cancer treatment - which is why he was certain that what happened next couldn't be right. He heard a sizzling sound and saw a blue flash. And then - agony. It was like someone had thrust a hot skewer through his shoulder. He cried out in pain, but the operator was down the corridor and she couldn't hear him. She blasted him again and again with the red-hot radiation beam. Ray wasn't the first patient to be

en-US

45:57

"I get in trouble when I say things like this" -...

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford ·

2025/07/11

Acclaimed author Michael Lewis discusses his time with Sam Bankman-Fried and why he thinks both high finance and Effective Altruism shaped the 'Crypto King's' worldview, ultimately landing him in jail. Plus, we hear about the people fighting terrorism, cave-ins and brain-eating amoeba from Michael's new book 'Who Is Government?'. For a full list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com. Get ad-free episodes, plus an exclusive monthly bonus episode, to Cautionary Tales by subscribing to

en-US

38:48

Grand Theft Automated: How to Save a Trillion Lives

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford ·

2025/07/04

A radical thought experiment transforms the lives of a new breed of philanthropists, as they follow the logic of altruism to extraordinary lengths. The most famous convert to the Effective Altruism movement, Sam Bankman-Fried, is either a humanitarian hero, a con artist at an astonishing scale, or most bafflingly, both. For a full list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com. Get ad-free episodes, plus an exclusive monthly bonus episode, to Cautionary Tales by subscribing to Pushkin+ on

en-US

37:42

The Man who Solved Kindness

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford ·

2025/06/27

George Price is on a mission to prove that human kindness is real. He's seen the latest research suggesting any altruism is ultimately selfish and finds it deeply depressing. George decides to learn the mathematics he needs to prove that research wrong, and throws his career, and life, into the quest for complete kindness.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

en-US

38:40

The Shark That Ate Hollywood: Jaws at 50

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford ·

2025/06/20

Steven Spielberg thought his career was finished. He was behind schedule, his actors were fighting, the crew were mutinous and worst of all, his shark was broken. It looked like Jaws was destined for failure, but the movie that came out defined the Hollywood blockbuster. In this special episode celebrating 50 years of Jaws, we take lessons from the greatest monster movie that almost wasn't made.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

en-US

39:35

Le Mans 55: The Deadliest Race

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford ·

2025/06/13

The annual Le Mans 24 Hour race brings in hundreds of thousands of spectators to watch the giants of motor racing put their endurance to the ultimate test. Every year, technology improves and the cars get a little faster. In 1955, that push for ultimate speed results in a catastrophe that changes the sport forever. For a full list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com. Get ad-free episodes, plus an exclusive monthly bonus episode, to Cautionary Tales by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple

en-US

40:37

The Nazis, the Bomb, and the Woman that Science Forgot

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford ·

2025/06/06

Lise Meitner has fought for her entire life to be seen as a scientist, slowly building a career as a nuclear physicist in Berlin. When Adolf Hitler rises to power, the small gains she's made are snatched away. As a Jewish woman, Lise has a critical decision to make: is her passion for science worth her life? For a full list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com. Get ad-free episodes, plus an exclusive monthly bonus episode, to Cautionary Tales by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple Podcasts

en-US

43:08

Give Politicians a Raise, Smuggle Smartphones into...

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford ·

2025/05/30

Can game theory be used to win a world cup? Can you pay the way out of political corruption? And are there winning strategies in life we don't use because we're too embarrassed? Tim teams up with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova, poker connoisseurs and the hosts of podcast Risky Business to answer your questions, tackling everything from sports, to tariffs, to the evils of smartphones. For a full list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com. Get ad-free episodes, plus an exclusive monthly

en-US

40:33

Roosevelt and the Renegade (Panama Disaster 2)

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford ·

2025/05/23

Sixteen years have passed since Ferdinand De Lesseps' catastrophic failure in Panama and the dramatic collapse of the French Panama Canal company. Now, President Theodore Roosevelt has picked up the task. “No single great material work,” Roosevelt tells Congress, “is of such consequence to the American people.”The Americans have their work cut out. Enter chief engineer John Stevens. How does he spot a problem no-one else has noticed? And what does he do to solve it? For a

en-US

174 results

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