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Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

Pushkin Industries

237 episodes

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 page 4 of 5

  1. A Fascination with Failure: Death On The Dancefloor (Classic)

    · 42 min · S4 E20

    Henry Petroski is one of Tim Harford's favourite fellow nerds. His study of engineering failures has profoundly influenced Tim's own writing, including the classic Cautionary Tales episode Death on the Dance Floor.…

  2. When Parakeets Plundered New York

    · 36 min · S4 E19

    Cautionary Conversation: An invasive parakeet species began spreading in New York City - and the government decided to kill every last bird. Tim Harford is joined by Ben Naddaff-Hafrey, host of The Last Archive, to…

  3. The Coup, the Poet and the Secret to Winning Wimbledon

    · 36 min · S4 E18

    “If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss..." Those words - from Rudyard Kipling's poem "If" - were based on charismatic nineteenth century doctor, Leander Starr Jameson.…

  4. The Man Who Played With Hurricanes

    · 38 min · S4 E17

    Today, the idea of controlling the weather is controversial. Scientists who research geoengineering have even received death threats. But once upon a time, people were optimistic about remaking the climate in entire…

  5. Cautionary Tales Presents: Lost Hills - The Dark Prince

    · 43 min · Bonus · Explicit

    Today, we're sharing an episode of the gripping Pushkin series Lost Hills: The Dark Prince. The brand-new season takes a deep dive into the surf world to explore the legacy of Malibu's Dark Prince: Miki Dora. A surfer…

  6. Sonic Poison? The Genesis of Havana Syndrome

    · 37 min · S4 E16

    CIA agents in Havana complaining of mental fog, dizziness and ear pain in 2016. Children in Miami in 1974, hyperventilating and wracked with abdominal pain. A medieval outbreak of the “dancing plague”. A chorus of…

  7. Airships, AI and Alan Cumming: Tim Answers Your Questions

    · 37 min · S4 E15

    Why does economics get a bad rap? How did a small Hungarian airline wreak havoc in the 2000s? What cautionary tales can we glean from Tim’s own life? And what’s his favourite role-playing game? You sent in your…

  8. The Man Who Bet His House on a Pop Song - A Eurovision Tale

    · 32 min · S4 E14

    You can gamble on horses or on the turn of a card - but Daniel Gould made a living betting on the outcome of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. Daniel made a profit because he studied the voting history of the…

  9. The Dark Money Behind Mother's Day

    · 39 min · S4 E13

    Anna Marie Jarvis wanted a national holiday to honor the dedication and sacrifice of America's mothers. She wasn't the first person to propose a Mother's Day - but her campaign caught the imagination of the people and…

  10. The True Scandal of Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound

    · 37 min · S4 E12

    It could cure any 'female ailment' - even cancer - said the adverts. But Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound was, in fact, just a concoction of herbs and alcohol of no proven medicinal merit. That didn't stop…

  11. What if Terrorists Could Weaponize Covid?

    · 39 min · S4 E11

    Cautionary Conversation: In 1990, a small extremist group launched a nerve gas attack on passengers riding the Tokyo subway. Thousands of people were hurt, more than a dozen died. At the time, such use of a chemical…

  12. The Vigilante and the Air Traffic Controller

    · 35 min · S4 E10

    Air traffic controllers are meant to stop aircrafts from flying into one another... and if they fail, computer systems are installed to warn pilots of a coming collision. But sometimes these humans and computers give…

  13. America's Mata Hari? The Double Life of Esther Reed

    · 37 min · S4 E9

    Cautionary Conversation: When a small-town detective gets a tip about a missing woman, he believes he's uncovered a highly-trained chameleon: a foreign spy. Soon, Esther Reed is on the Secret Service's Most Wanted…

  14. Office Hell: the Demise of the Playful Workspace

    · 39 min · S4 E8

    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…

  15. La La Land: Galileo’s Warning (Classic)

    · 31 min · S4 E7

    With the 95th Academy Awards just around the corner, Tim Harford looks back at a basic lesson. Galileo tried to teach us that adding more and more layers to a system intended to avert disaster often makes catastrophe…

  16. The Scientist and the Swindler

    · 37 min · S4 E6

    Cautionary Conversation: Celebrated physicist Professor Paul Frampton was on his way to Brussels to meet the love of his life, swimwear model Denise Milani. Or so he thought. When he found himself in jail, he realized…

  17. The Hero Who Rode His Segway Off a Cliff

    · 36 min · S4 E5

    Steve Jobs called It “the most amazing piece of technology since the PC.” According to Jeff Bezos It was not only “revolutionary,” but infinitely commercial. It was a fiendishly clever and massively hyped invention.…

  18. The Mummy's Curse (Classic)

    · 37 min · S4 E4

    A hundred years ago, the Tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun was officially opened - despite the widely held belief that disturbing the remains of the Egyptian pharaohs could incur a deadly curse. Why did a team of…

  19. The Final Illusion of the Great Lafayette

    · 37 min · S4 E3

    Golden sparks are raining down on the Great Lafayette’s famous vaudeville show, “The Lion’s Bride”. They look like they’re part of the performance. They aren’t — and soon the theater is ablaze. The manager has to…

  20. LIVE: The Myth of the Million Dollar Tulip Bulb

    · 39 min · S4 E2

    Recorded before an audience at the Bristol Festival of Economics (11/17/2022) The Dutch went so potty over tulip bulbs in the 1600s that many were ruined when the inflated prices they were paying for the plants…

  21. DOUBLE BILL: When a Plague Struck World of Warcraft/Blood on the Tracks

    · 34 min · S4 E1

    As a special New Year treat we're presenting two Cautionary Tales Shorts - which have previously only been available to paying Apple and Pushkin+ subscribers. When a Plague Struck World of Warcraft: The makers of WoW…

  22. "Snow Crashing Into The Metaverse" from Imaginary Worlds

    · 29 min · Bonus

    This week, we’re sharing an episode of Imaginary Worlds. For the last 30 years, the real world has been catching up to Neal Stephenson’s vision of the future in his 1992 novel Snow Crash, which influenced the creators…

  23. The Company That Cancelled Christmas

    · 36 min · S3 E21

    More than 100,000 families - many of them amongst the poorest in Britain - put money aside for Christmas gifts and other seasonal treats in a savings club called Farepak. It wasn't a bank, and it wasn't great value for…

  24. The Wild Turkeys of Schleswig

    · 39 min · S3 E20

    There are eight American turkeys painted on the walls of Schleswig's Cathedral of St Peter - which is odd... since the frescoes were created two centuries before Columbus even crossed the Atlantic. How did the…

  25. Cautionary Conversation: The Blitz Spirit and the Blackout Ripper

    · 33 min · S3 E19

    In a crisis most people respond with decency and solidarity. The bombing of British cities in the Second World War did not cause society to crumble as was expected, but proved instead human resilience. That defiant…

  26. The Inventor Who Almost Ended the World

    · 37 min · S3 E18

    Thomas Midgley's inventions caused his own death, hastened the deaths of millions of people around the world, and very nearly extinguished all life on land. Midgley and his employers didn't set out to poison the air…

  27. The Halloween Poisoner

    · 35 min · S3 E17

    Candy laced with cyanide and needles in marshmallows, we've long been warned to be suspicious of the sweet treats handed out by strangers at Halloween. But it seems that most stories of "Halloween sadism" are just…

  28. Cautionary Conversation: The Conspiracy Theorist Who Changed His Mind

    · 41 min · S3 E16

    Charlie Veitch was certain that 9/11 was an inside job. The attack on the World Trade Center wasn't the work of Al-Qaeda, but an elaborate conspiracy. He became a darling of so-called "9/11 truthers" - until he…

  29. Cautionary Tales Presents: Warfare, The Life of Anne Frank

    · 41 min · S3 E14 · Bonus

    This week, it's an episode from Warfare, a podcast from our friends at History Hit. It's 1942. The year Anne Frank and her family went into hiding during the Second World War. It was there that Anne began keeping a…

  30. The Online Date That's Too Good to be True

    · 37 min · S3 E15

    Single and looking for love, Dr Robert Epstein found himself chatting with a slim, attractive brunette online. She seemed perfect... perhaps even too good to be true. Dr Epstein is an expert on artificial conversation…

  31. A Leap of Faith From the Eiffel Tower

    · 33 min · S3 E14

    Inventor Franz Reichelt wants to test his novel "parachute suit" from as tall a structure as possible - and the Eiffel Tower seems ideal. Previous trial runs used a mannequin strapped to the chute and have not ended…

  32. Cautionary Conversation: Flying on Empty

    · 32 min · S3 E14

    A meter is longer than a yard. An ounce is heavier than a gram. We harmlessly mix them up sometimes, but a "unit conversion error" when you're filling up the fuel tanks of an airliner can be fatal. Which is exactly…

  33. Tim Talks Bicycles with Patented

    · 39 min · S3 E13 · Bonus

    Invented in the mid-1800s, bicycles have had enduring popularity. Across cultures, they have been embraced, promising freedom and mobility at a lower price point. Tim joins Dallas Campbell on Patented: History of…

  34. "You’re Not Howard Hughes!"

    · 36 min · S3 E13

    By the 1970s Howard Hughes was the "invisible billionaire”. A business tycoon, a daring aviator and Hollywood Lothario, Hughes had an amazing life story... but hiding away in luxury hotels he wasn't sharing his…

  35. "Who would you dine with? Scott or Amundsen?" Malcolm Gladwell and Tim Harford in Discussion.

    · 25 min · S3 E13 · Bonus

    Malcolm Gladwell joins Tim Harford to discuss our recent three-part tale about the race to reach the South Pole. There's talk of imperial decline; the power of the underdog; why getting everything you want is actually…

  36. South Pole Race: When the Limeys Get Scurvy

    · 34 min · S3 E11

    Polar exploration is dangerous... but trudging hundreds of miles in subzero temperatures isn't made any easier if you're suffering from scurvy. The deadly vitamin deficiency destroys the body and will of even the…

  37. The Bowery Boys and the Black Tom Explosion

    · 45 min · S3 E12 · Bonus

    Cautionary Tales returns next week, but in the meantime enjoy a story of disaster from The Bowery Boys Podcast. It's July 30th 1916, just after 2am, and a massive explosion rips apart the munitions depot on Black Tom,…

  38. South Pole Race: “Mummy, is Amundsen a good man?”

    · 36 min · S3 E10

    Roald Amundsen beat Captain Scott to the South Pole. The Norwegian - using dog sleds and skis - made it look easy... fun, even. He was heading home to safety, while the British party - hauling sleds by hand - were…

  39. South Pole Race: David and Goliath on Ice

    · 33 min · S3 E9

    1910: Two men are racing to be the first to reach the South Pole. Captain Robert Falcon Scott heads a well-financed, technologically-advanced expedition - aiming to reach the pole in the "proper" and heroic way... on…

  40. Chicago When It Sizzles

    · 38 min · S3 E8

    July 1995: A deadly heatwave gripped Chicago - bridges buckled; the power grids failed; and the morgue ran out of space - but some neighbourhoods saw more deaths than others. Sociologist Eric Klinenberg wanted to know…

  41. The French Knight’s Guide to Corporate Culture

    · 36 min · S3 E7

    France 1346: The army of King Philip VI is Europe's pre-eminent killing machine. It's accustomed to crushing any force stupid enough to oppose it, and now fully expects to annihilate a motley band of English invaders…

  42. Frankenstein Versus the Volcano

    · 35 min · S3 E6

    When Mount Tambora erupted it spewed ash across the globe; blotting out the sun; poisoning crops; and bringing starvation, illness and death to millions. It may also have helped inspire great scientific and cultural…

  43. Bless the Coal-black Hearts of the Broadway Critics

    · 34 min · S3 E5

    When Billy Joel agreed to let dance legend Twyla Tharp turn his songs into a Broadway musical it seemed like a surefire hit. But in previews, Movin’ Out was panned by the critics. It was soon headed for Broadway and…

  44. Monkey for Mayor from This Day in Esoteric Political History

    · 29 min · S3 E7 · Bonus

    What happens when a monkey gets elected mayor? Well, not really a monkey, but a monkey mascot for a town’s football games. Tim Harford joins This Day in Esoteric Political History to discuss a weird moment from UK…

  45. When the Autopilot Switched Off

    · 33 min · S3 E4

    An airline captain thought he was giving his children a harmless thrill by letting them "fly" his packed airplane - the young cockpit visitors weren't really in control... the autopilot was doing the real flying. Until…

  46. Cautionary Tales Presents: World's Greatest Con

    · 1 h 13 min · S3 E5 · Bonus

    We'll be back with another story of human error next week, but today we're sharing another podcast you might like. On World's Greatest Con, Brian Brushwood talks about the most audacious con jobs, swindles, and heists…

  47. Photographing Fairies

    · 37 min · S3 E3

    Sherlock Holmes is known for approaching all mysteries with cool logic - and yet when his creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle saw photographs taken by two young girls purporting to show real life fairies at play... he…

  48. Tim Joins ‘No Such Thing As A Fish'

    · 57 min · S3 E4 · Bonus

    ‘No Such Thing as a Fish’ is one of Tim Harford’s favorite podcasts and he was recently invited on as a guest. So here’s a chance to listen to the host of Cautionary Tales chat vital vitamins, stinging schemes, and the…

  49. The False Dawn of the Electric Car

    · 37 min · S3 E2

    Sir Clive Sinclair was a computer whizz and business mogul to rival Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. He was a visionary who could do no wrong... until he tried to launch an electric vehicle. The C5 “electrically assisted…

  50. The Balloons That Ate Cleveland (A Cautionary Tales Short)

    · 19 min · S3 E1 · Bonus

    When Disneyland released one million helium balloons to set a new world record, Cleveland, Ohio looked on in envy. Could it top the Magic Kingdom? What did citizens hope to gain from getting into the record books...…

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