Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

Pushkin Industries
History Society & Culture
en-US
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.

Episodes (50)

Disaster Favours the Daring: Shipwreck at Honda Point

Disaster Favours the Daring: Shipwreck at Honda Point

August 29, 2025 39m S6E34
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...
Paradise Poisoned: How Utopias Fall Apart

Paradise Poisoned: How Utopias Fall Apart

August 22, 2025 41m S6E33
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...
"Genius Still Unrecognised" - The Worst Poet in the World

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

August 15, 2025 40m S6E32
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...
Office Hell: The Demise of the Playful Workspace (Classic)

Office Hell: The Demise of the Playful Workspace (Classic)

August 08, 2025 38m S6E31
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...
Number Fever: How Pepsi Nearly Went Pop (Classic)

Number Fever: How Pepsi Nearly Went Pop (Classic)

August 01, 2025 35m S6E30
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...
Fire at The Beverly Hills Supper Club (Update)

Fire at The Beverly Hills Supper Club (Update)

July 25, 2025 32m S6E29
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...
"Captain Kirk Forgot to put the Machine on Stun"

"Captain Kirk Forgot to put the Machine on Stun"

July 18, 2025 40m S6E28
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...
"I get in trouble when I say things like this" - Michael Lewis on Sam Bankman-Fried

"I get in trouble when I say things like this" - Michael Lewis on Sam Bankman-Fried

July 11, 2025 45m S6E27
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...
Grand Theft Automated: How to Save a Trillion Lives

Grand Theft Automated: How to Save a Trillion Lives

July 04, 2025 38m S6E26
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...
The Man who Solved Kindness

The Man who Solved Kindness

June 27, 2025 37m S6E25
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 Shark That Ate Hollywood: Jaws at 50

The Shark That Ate Hollywood: Jaws at 50

June 20, 2025 38m S6E24
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...
Le Mans 55: The Deadliest Race

Le Mans 55: The Deadliest Race

June 13, 2025 39m S6E23
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...
The Nazis, the Bomb, and the Woman that Science Forgot

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

June 06, 2025 40m S6E22
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...
Give Politicians a Raise, Smuggle Smartphones into School, and go Full Donk! Cautionary Questions with Risky Business

Give Politicians a Raise, Smuggle Smartphones into School, and go Full Donk! Cautionary Questions with Risky Business

May 30, 2025 43m S6E21
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...
Roosevelt and the Renegade (Panama Disaster 2)

Roosevelt and the Renegade (Panama Disaster 2)

May 23, 2025 40m S6E20
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...
The Great Frenchman's Folly (Panama Disaster 1)

The Great Frenchman's Folly (Panama Disaster 1)

May 16, 2025 39m S6E19
Ferdinand De Lesseps, "the Great Frenchman", is convinced that he is the man to build the Panama Canal. No, he isn't an engineer and, no, he's never actually been to Panama before. But he managed to...
Lab Leak: Could Smallpox Come Back?

Lab Leak: Could Smallpox Come Back?

May 09, 2025 37m S6E18
In 1978 the world is on the brink of declaring victory over smallpox. No cases have been seen for months, and it looks like the end for a deadly, painful disease. When a photographer in Birmingham...
"Dangerously Near to Absolute Perfection"

"Dangerously Near to Absolute Perfection"

May 02, 2025 38m S6E17
In 1900, two friends in the flourishing Arts and Crafts Movement in London share a vision: to print the ultimate edition of the Bible. Together they create The Doves Press, and its unique font, Doves....
Buried by the Wall Street Crash (Classic)

Buried by the Wall Street Crash (Classic)

April 25, 2025 35m S6E16
Cautionary Tales returns with a new episode on May 2nd. Both of the world’s greatest economists, Irving Fisher and John Maynard Keynes, thought they could see into the future and make a killing...
Presenting: You Must Remember This - Alfred Hitchcock

Presenting: You Must Remember This - Alfred Hitchcock

April 18, 2025 1h 6m
Here's a special episode from our friends at You Must Remember This. Hitchcock’s most iconic decade— a decade of Technicolor grandeur and peril inflicted on famous blondes—came to an...
“I love being the person who doesn’t know anything” - Why Steven Levitt has swapped academia for podcasting

“I love being the person who doesn’t know anything” - Why Steven Levitt has swapped academia for podcasting

April 11, 2025 39m S6E15
20 years ago, a book called Freakonomics became an instant bestseller and worldwide sensation. Tim Harford got his hands on the first copy that Steve Levitt ever signed... and promptly sold it on...
The Old Man and the Wrecking Crew

The Old Man and the Wrecking Crew

April 04, 2025 38m S6E14
When Britain entered its first Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020, many found comfort in evoking the British wartime spirit. A timely hero emerged - Captain Tom Moore, a WWII veteran who walked up and...
Houdini: The Phone Call from the Coffin (Part 3)

Houdini: The Phone Call from the Coffin (Part 3)

March 28, 2025 40m S6E13
Fearing for his life, Harry Houdini leaves secret codes with his loved ones, promising to use them in any post-mortem messaging. In 1926, Houdini's death shocks the world, but the news that follows is...
Houdini's Detective and her 1500 Dead Husbands (Part 2)

Houdini's Detective and her 1500 Dead Husbands (Part 2)

March 21, 2025 41m S6E12
Harry Houdini finds an ally in his fight against spiritualism, a brilliant detective called Rose Mackenberg, who'll do whatever it takes to expose a fake. Together, the two head to Washington to try...
Houdini: A Message from the Spirits (Part 1)

Houdini: A Message from the Spirits (Part 1)

March 14, 2025 43m S6E11
Harry Houdini is remembered today for his legendary escapes and illusions, but he also had a lifelong obsession with the paranormal. After dabbling in fake seances himself, Houdini made it his mission...
Would You Trust a Gangster Nanny? - Cautionary Questions with Rachel Botsman

Would You Trust a Gangster Nanny? - Cautionary Questions with Rachel Botsman

March 07, 2025 41m S6E10
Do we trust our fitness trackers too much? How do fraudsters gain our faith? Why do people trust podcasters? And would you trust a drug dealing nanny with a tambourine? Tim Harford is joined by trust...
Lights, Camera, Tax Break

Lights, Camera, Tax Break

February 28, 2025 39m S6E9
When Ernest Borgnine gets his big break in Hollywood, he can hardly believe his luck. But soon he discovers his supposed star vehicle, Marty, is not the dream gig he thought it was. In this episode of...
The Nursery Rhyme That Ruined a Rock Band

The Nursery Rhyme That Ruined a Rock Band

February 21, 2025 38m S6E8
"Down Under" was huge. This jokey ode to legendary Australian wanderlust helped Men at Work win a Grammy and was a key part of the band's creative legacy. By 2007, it had been earning Men At Work...
The Widow Who Disrupted Champagne (with Ben Walter)

The Widow Who Disrupted Champagne (with Ben Walter)

February 19, 2025 20m
Tim Harford is joined by Ben Walter, CEO of Chase for Business and the host of "The Unshakeables" podcast, to explore the story of the trailblazing Widow Clicquot. Her namesake brand Veuve Clicquot...
The Thrill and the Drop: A First Date Rollercoaster

The Thrill and the Drop: A First Date Rollercoaster

February 14, 2025 39m S6E7
Leah Washington and her new boyfriend Joe Pugh are on their first day out together. They're at Alton Towers theme park, where they've chosen to ride the "Smiler" rollercoaster: a terrifying tangle of...
Dr. Brinkley's Miracle Cure For Impotence (with Betwixt The Sheets)

Dr. Brinkley's Miracle Cure For Impotence (with Betwixt The Sheets)

February 07, 2025 38m S6E6
Cautionary Conversation: In the 1920s, a conman convinced America that goat testicles were the secret to male virility. Tim Harford and Dr Kate Lister (Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal...
The Night of the Mugger

The Night of the Mugger

January 31, 2025 42m S6E5
Winston Trew has just been arrested for mugging. It's 1972 and the crime has recently made its way to Britain from the United States. Dangerous thugs, replicating their American counterparts, have...
Missing on "Dead Mountain": A Cold War Cold Case

Missing on "Dead Mountain": A Cold War Cold Case

January 24, 2025 46m S6E4
In the bleak Russian winter of 1959, nine experienced hikers led by Igor Dyatlov set out on an expedition. None of them made it back alive. When their campsite was finally discovered, it told a...
Frozen in a Burning 747 (Tenerife Air Disaster 2)

Frozen in a Burning 747 (Tenerife Air Disaster 2)

January 17, 2025 36m S6E3
Two airplanes have just collided on the runway at Tenerife Airport. While no one on the Amsterdam-bound KLM plane survives the resulting fireball, 71 Pan-Am passengers and crew make it off their...
Cleared For Take-Off? (Tenerife Air Disaster 1)

Cleared For Take-Off? (Tenerife Air Disaster 1)

January 10, 2025 32m S6E2
“Evacuate the airport, we’ve planted bombs,” a terrorist tells the telephone operator at the airport in Gran Canaria, in 1977. By the end of that day, 583 people will have lost their...
Do NOT Pass GO! (Classic)

Do NOT Pass GO! (Classic)

January 03, 2025 35m S6E1
Cautionary Tales returns with new episodes on January 10th. Lizzie J. Magie (played by Helena Bonham Carter) should be celebrated as the inventor of what would become Monopoly. But, even though...
Demonizing Dungeons & Dragons (Classic)

Demonizing Dungeons & Dragons (Classic)

December 20, 2024 37m S5E27
When James Dallas Egbert III was reported missing from his college dorm in 1979, one of America's most flamboyant private detectives was summoned to solve the case. "Dallas" faced the same problems as...
Captain Coward and the Blame Game

Captain Coward and the Blame Game

December 06, 2024 36m S5E26
Off the coast of an Italian island, an enormous cruise ship - seventeen floors high, three soccer pitches long - is tilting noticeably to one side. The local mayor is horrified: there are thousands of...
Get Happier, Help Others: Some Good Ideas About Giving

Get Happier, Help Others: Some Good Ideas About Giving

December 02, 2024 51m
It's the season of giving: colorful paper and shiny bows, sure, and charitable giving, too. In this special episode, Jacob Goldstein, the host of What's Your Problem, gets smart about donating. Did...
RoboPod and the Perpetual Money Machine - Cautionary Questions 2

RoboPod and the Perpetual Money Machine - Cautionary Questions 2

November 22, 2024 42m S5E25
What really drove the 2008 financial crash? What’s a shadow bank? And what’s the connection between NIMBYs and BANANAs? Tim Harford and Jacob Goldstein answer more of your questions. Do you have a...
Darwin's Grandpa and the Art of Sex Appeal

Darwin's Grandpa and the Art of Sex Appeal

November 08, 2024 40m S5E24
Charles Darwin was stumped by peacocks. According to his theory of evolution, some creatures were better equipped to survive in their particular environment than others. It explained a lot - but it...
The Edinburgh Body Snatchers: Murder at Halloween

The Edinburgh Body Snatchers: Murder at Halloween

October 25, 2024 41m S5E23
In 1827, Edinburgh, Scotland was a world centre for anatomical study, but there was a shortage of cadavers for medical students to dissect. Two men, William Burke and William Hare, spotted a grim...
Cautionary Tales Presents: Death Fraud and Other Risky Business

Cautionary Tales Presents: Death Fraud and Other Risky Business

October 14, 2024 48m
Tim Harford joined Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova on their podcast Risky Business to discuss two of history’s most compelling swindlers: Sam Israel III and John Law. We hope you enjoy this episode of...
The Poet Who Toppled The British Empire

The Poet Who Toppled The British Empire

October 11, 2024 43m S5E22
India, 1930. Sarojini Naidu is marching towards a British-controlled saltwork; behind her is a long column of protestors all dressed in white. The great campaigner for India's Independence, Gandhi, is...
Reason, Wrath and Rebellion on the High Seas

Reason, Wrath and Rebellion on the High Seas

September 27, 2024 41m S5E21
Early morning, April 1789. Captain Bligh is abruptly dragged from his cabin. Wrists bound, bayonet pressed to his chest, he and a few loyal sailors are forced into a tiny launch and set adrift on the...
Steel and Kindness: Clash of the Skyscrapers

Steel and Kindness: Clash of the Skyscrapers

September 13, 2024 39m S5E20
Paul Starrett has just won a major building contract. If everything goes according to plan, this will be the tallest building in the world. But will everything go according to plan? This prestigious...
The Nice Guy, the Bully and the Kiss

The Nice Guy, the Bully and the Kiss

September 13, 2024 39m S5E19
Leo Durocher would stop at nothing to win. The baseball player-turned-manager was a skilled tactician and famously tough. But he also cheated, intimidated umpires and was violent; he was even known to...
Tim's Tolkien Obsession & Amazon Prime's The Rings of Power

Tim's Tolkien Obsession & Amazon Prime's The Rings of Power

August 30, 2024 45m S5E18
Tim Harford's life has been building up to this moment. In this Cautionary Conversation, he discusses the works of his favorite author J.R.R. Tolkien and the social science at play in Amazon Prime's...
The Human Guinea Pigs of Camp Lazear

The Human Guinea Pigs of Camp Lazear

August 16, 2024 40m S5E17
Young doctor Jesse Lazear has deadly Yellow Fever. He thrashes around and convulses in his sick bed, and his vomit is black. He is just 34 when he dies. Curiously, mosquito expert Lazear was...
Embracing the Escape Fire (with Adam Grant)

Embracing the Escape Fire (with Adam Grant)

August 02, 2024 36m S5E16
Cautionary Conversation: Steve Jobs hated his phone so much that he smashed it against a wall. He also referred to mobile carriers as "orifices". Yet he went on to invent the world's most popular...

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