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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The Doors of Death: The Herald of Free Enterprise24 Jul 2026 · 37m"What a Bloody Mess we're in" - Britain's [REDACTED] Accident17 Jul 2026 · 40mAttack of the Night People10 Jul 2026 · 40mLIVE: We Are Not Machines - with Sarah O'Connor3 Jul 2026 · 41mTreacle Tears: The Boston Molasses Disaster26 Jun 2026 · 41mThe Thief, the Jewels, and the Dublin Castle Conspiracy19 Jun 2026 · 42mThe Dunning Canoe-ger Effect12 Jun 2026 · 40mPresenting...This is History: A Dynasty to Die For11 Jun 2026 · 33mHow Civilizations Die - with Paul Cooper5 Jun 2026 · 42mCan You Make a Sherman Tank Float?29 May 2026 · 39mThe Inventor who Almost Ended the World (Classic)22 May 2026 · 36mFrom Drilled: The Carbon Gold Rush19 May 2026 · 28mAngels, Gold and Lust: John Dee and the Philosopher's Stone (Part 2)15 May 2026 · 46mThe Queen's Astrologer: The Price of Prophecy (Part 1)8 May 2026 · 43mBeware Tech Tycoons with Piranha Tanks - with Katie Prescott1 May 2026 · 40mFinding Grace in a Burger Bun: An Incrediburgible Quest24 Apr 2026 · 40mRun, Switzer, Run: The Women who Broke the Marathon Taboo (Classic)17 Apr 2026 · 36mThe Lovestruck Explorer's Deadly Guessing Game10 Apr 2026 · 39mThe Refugee Who Led a Software Revolution - with Ben Walter7 Apr 2026 · 27mThe Mad Mystic and the Last Battle on English Soil - with Ian Breckon3 Apr 2026 · 43mThe Sightseeing Flight and the Invisible Mountain27 Mar 2026 · 39mPresenting: Drug Story - On Xanax and Anxiety20 Mar 2026 · 46m"And it went click" - Dawn of the Working Dead13 Mar 2026 · 41mExplosives or Sugar? The Deadly Art of Distraction in Putin’s Russia - with Helena Merriman6 Mar 2026 · 42mFlight of the Fantasist: The Race Around the World - Part 227 Feb 2026 · 41mThe Philosopher and the Handyman: The Race Around the World - Part 120 Feb 2026 · 39mPresenting... American Criminal: The Great McDonald's Monopoly Heist17 Feb 2026 · 40mSphygmograph Be Damned: The Science of Love13 Feb 2026 · 42mThe Angels, The Stones and The Dead6 Feb 2026 · 39mPowered by Orgasm: The Rise and Fall of a Sex Cult - with Ellen Huet30 Jan 2026 · 41mThe WOW Machine Stops (Pt 2)23 Jan 2026 · 40mShoes, Booze and the Pursuit of Happiness (Pt 1)16 Jan 2026 · 38mLiar, Bigamist, Brute: How Isaac Singer Liberated Women9 Jan 2026 · 37mFritterin' Away Genius (Classic)2 Jan 2026 · 37mPhotographing Fairies (Classic)26 Dec 2025 · 37m"They fall behind and are slowly crushed" - Board Games and Economics with Richard Garfield19 Dec 2025 · 47mFlixborough: The Factory that was Wiped off the Map12 Dec 2025 · 38mThe Disappearance of Grace Oakeshott5 Dec 2025 · 38mYour Chance to Attend a Cautionary Tales Table Read4 Dec 2025 · 1mHomo deceptus: Science's Dirty Little Secret28 Nov 2025 · 38mKyoto: The Battle that Defined Climate Politics - with Joe Robertson21 Nov 2025 · 39mPresenting: Twenty Thousand Hertz18 Nov 2025 · 29mThe Treasure Hunt that Broke America (Part 2)14 Nov 2025 · 40mThe Treasure Hunt that Broke America (Part 1)7 Nov 2025 · 38mThe Truth About Hansel and Gretel (Classic)31 Oct 2025 · 36mOn Fire from the Inside - Lethal Injection Up Close with Malcolm Gladwell28 Oct 2025 · 27mDerek Bentley Must Hang24 Oct 2025 · 38mThe Canal, the Crash and the Ketamine - Pushkin's Reign of Error17 Oct 2025 · 44mSchrödinger's Spy: Businessman, Fraud, or Russian Agent? - with Sam Jones10 Oct 2025 · 1h 1mMissing Fish and Fatal Feasts: Ritual and Ruin at the Sun King’s Table3 Oct 2025 · 42mDon't Panic! Douglas Adams' Guide to Tomorrow - with Arvind Ethan David26 Sept 2025 · 37mA Deadly Day at the Races: What Radical Protest Can and Cannot Do19 Sept 2025 · 41mTrue Lies and Genuine Fakes12 Sept 2025 · 41mStalling for Survival - A Lonely Fight Against a Deadly Medicine5 Sept 2025 · 38mAnnouncing: The Cautionary Club2 Sept 2025 · 2mDisaster Favours the Daring: Shipwreck at Honda Point29 Aug 2025 · 39mParadise Poisoned: How Utopias Fall Apart22 Aug 2025 · 41m"Genius Still Unrecognised" - The Worst Poet in the World15 Aug 2025 · 40mOffice Hell: The Demise of the Playful Workspace (Classic)8 Aug 2025 · 38mNumber Fever: How Pepsi Nearly Went Pop (Classic)1 Aug 2025 · 35mFire at The Beverly Hills Supper Club (Update)25 Jul 2025 · 32m"Captain Kirk Forgot to put the Machine on Stun"18 Jul 2025 · 40m"I get in trouble when I say things like this" - Michael Lewis on Sam Bankman-Fried11 Jul 2025 · 45mGrand Theft Automated: How to Save a Trillion Lives4 Jul 2025 · 38mThe Man who Solved Kindness27 Jun 2025 · 37mThe Shark That Ate Hollywood: Jaws at 5020 Jun 2025 · 38mLe Mans 55: The Deadliest Race13 Jun 2025 · 39mThe Nazis, the Bomb, and the Woman that Science Forgot6 Jun 2025 · 40mGive Politicians a Raise, Smuggle Smartphones into School, and go Full Donk! Cautionary Questions with Risky Business30 May 2025 · 43mRoosevelt and the Renegade (Panama Disaster 2)23 May 2025 · 40mThe Great Frenchman's Folly (Panama Disaster 1)16 May 2025 · 39mLab Leak: Could Smallpox Come Back?9 May 2025 · 37m"Dangerously Near to Absolute Perfection"2 May 2025 · 38mBuried by the Wall Street Crash (Classic)25 Apr 2025 · 35m“I love being the person who doesn’t know anything” - Why Steven Levitt has swapped academia for podcasting11 Apr 2025 · 39mThe Old Man and the Wrecking Crew4 Apr 2025 · 38mHoudini: The Phone Call from the Coffin (Part 3)28 Mar 2025 · 40mHoudini's Detective and her 1500 Dead Husbands (Part 2)21 Mar 2025 · 41mHoudini: A Message from the Spirits (Part 1)14 Mar 2025 · 43mWould You Trust a Gangster Nanny? - Cautionary Questions with Rachel Botsman7 Mar 2025 · 41mLights, Camera, Tax Break28 Feb 2025 · 39mThe Nursery Rhyme That Ruined a Rock Band21 Feb 2025 · 38mThe Widow Who Disrupted Champagne (with Ben Walter)19 Feb 2025 · 20mThe Thrill and the Drop: A First Date Rollercoaster14 Feb 2025 · 39mDr. Brinkley's Miracle Cure For Impotence (with Betwixt The Sheets)7 Feb 2025 · 38mThe Night of the Mugger31 Jan 2025 · 42mMissing on "Dead Mountain": A Cold War Cold Case24 Jan 2025 · 46mFrozen in a Burning 747 (Tenerife Air Disaster 2)17 Jan 2025 · 36mCleared For Take-Off? (Tenerife Air Disaster 1)10 Jan 2025 · 32mDo NOT Pass GO! (Classic)3 Jan 2025 · 35mDemonizing Dungeons & Dragons (Classic)20 Dec 2024 · 37mCaptain Coward and the Blame Game6 Dec 2024 · 36mGet Happier, Help Others: Some Good Ideas About Giving2 Dec 2024 · 51mRoboPod and the Perpetual Money Machine - Cautionary Questions 222 Nov 2024 · 42mDarwin's Grandpa and the Art of Sex Appeal8 Nov 2024 · 40mThe Edinburgh Body Snatchers: Murder at Halloween25 Oct 2024 · 41mCautionary Tales Presents: Death Fraud and Other Risky Business14 Oct 2024 · 48mThe Poet Who Toppled The British Empire11 Oct 2024 · 43mReason, Wrath and Rebellion on the High Seas27 Sept 2024 · 41mSteel and Kindness: Clash of the Skyscrapers13 Sept 2024 · 39mThe Nice Guy, the Bully and the Kiss13 Sept 2024 · 39mTim's Tolkien Obsession & Amazon Prime's The Rings of Power30 Aug 2024 · 45mThe Human Guinea Pigs of Camp Lazear16 Aug 2024 · 40mEmbracing the Escape Fire (with Adam Grant)2 Aug 2024 · 36mCautionary Tales Presents Vultures from Lost Hills: Dark Canyon25 Jul 2024 · 37mFlying Too High: AI and Air France Flight 44719 Jul 2024 · 40mRun, Switzer, Run: The Women Who Broke the Marathon Taboo5 Jul 2024 · 36mAdidas v Puma: A Battle of Boots and Brothers21 Jun 2024 · 39mThe Revenge of the Whales7 Jun 2024 · 38mWhen the Robots Take Over... - Cautionary Questions24 May 2024 · 39mWW2: How Britain Ignored the Mother of All Secrets10 May 2024 · 42mThe Fraudster's Guide to Magic Money26 Apr 2024 · 1h 0mBlood and Gold (with Dan Snow)23 Apr 2024 · 40mThe Rise and Fall of a Megalomaniac12 Apr 2024 · 58mInside the Bizarre World of Dictators29 Mar 2024 · 42mDo Nothing, Then Do Less15 Mar 2024 · 35mBuried Evil: V2 Rocket (Part 3)1 Mar 2024 · 39mInto the Black Lair: V2 Rocket (Part 2)16 Feb 2024 · 38mSupersonic Nazi Vengeance: V2 Rocket (Part 1)2 Feb 2024 · 36mTenerife: The Most Deadly Air Disaster30 Jan 2024 · 4mMartin Luther King, the Jewelry Genius, and the Art of Public Speaking (Classic)19 Jan 2024 · 36mDANGER: Rocks Ahead! (Classic)5 Jan 2024 · 34mWhen Stalin Killed the Weekend (with The Happiness Lab)22 Dec 2023 · 36mHow the Radium Girls Fought Back8 Dec 2023 · 40mGlowing Peril: The Magical Glitter That Poisoned a City24 Nov 2023 · 35mGeorge Washington's Beard of Beetles (with The Dollop)17 Nov 2023 · 28mLaser Versus Parchment: Doomsday for the Disc10 Nov 2023 · 39mCautionary Tales Presents The Dream6 Nov 2023 · 45mKillers of the Flower Moon: Osage Chief Jim Gray In Conversation27 Oct 2023 · 39mOil and Blood: The Osage Murders20 Oct 2023 · 41mDOUBLE BILL: A Monkey For Mayor / A Screw Loose At 17,000 Feet13 Oct 2023 · 34m"7000 horses are being flown across space..." - Cautionary Questions #229 Sept 2023 · 35mCautionary Tales Presents: Getting out of Dodge from Revisionist History19 Sept 2023 · 44mA Chorus of Contempt at The Sydney Opera House15 Sept 2023 · 40mThe City That Sold Itself To Wall Street1 Sept 2023 · 38mGeneral Ludd's Rage Against the Machines18 Aug 2023 · 36mAndy Warhol's Factory of Truth11 Aug 2023 · 36mPoles Apart: How A Journalist Divided A City4 Aug 2023 · 37mThe Father of Space Travel28 Jul 2023 · 26mA Fascination with Failure: Death On The Dancefloor (Classic)21 Jul 2023 · 42mWhen Parakeets Plundered New York14 Jul 2023 · 36mThe Coup, the Poet and the Secret to Winning Wimbledon7 Jul 2023 · 35mThe Man Who Played With Hurricanes23 Jun 2023 · 38mCautionary Tales Presents: Lost Hills - The Dark Prince15 Jun 2023 · 42mSonic Poison? The Genesis of Havana Syndrome9 Jun 2023 · 37mAirships, AI and Alan Cumming: Tim Answers Your Questions26 May 2023 · 37mThe Man Who Bet His House on a Pop Song - A Eurovision Tale12 May 2023 · 31mThe Dark Money Behind Mother's Day28 Apr 2023 · 39mThe True Scandal of Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound14 Apr 2023 · 37mWhat if Terrorists Could Weaponize Covid?7 Apr 2023 · 38mThe Vigilante and the Air Traffic Controller31 Mar 2023 · 34mAmerica's Mata Hari? The Double Life of Esther Reed24 Mar 2023 · 36mOffice Hell: the Demise of the Playful Workspace17 Mar 2023 · 38mLa La Land: Galileo’s Warning (Classic)10 Mar 2023 · 30mThe Scientist and the Swindler3 Mar 2023 · 37mThe Hero Who Rode His Segway Off a Cliff17 Feb 2023 · 35mThe Mummy's Curse (Classic)10 Feb 2023 · 37mThe Final Illusion of the Great Lafayette3 Feb 2023 · 36mLIVE: The Myth of the Million Dollar Tulip Bulb20 Jan 2023 · 38mDOUBLE BILL: When a Plague Struck World of Warcraft/Blood on the Tracks6 Jan 2023 · 34m"Snow Crashing Into The Metaverse" from Imaginary Worlds3 Jan 2023 · 29mThe Company That Cancelled Christmas9 Dec 2022 · 35mThe Wild Turkeys of Schleswig25 Nov 2022 · 39mCautionary Conversation: The Blitz Spirit and the Blackout Ripper18 Nov 2022 · 32mThe Inventor Who Almost Ended the World11 Nov 2022 · 36mThe Halloween Poisoner28 Oct 2022 · 35mCautionary Conversation: The Conspiracy Theorist Who Changed His Mind21 Oct 2022 · 41mCautionary Tales Presents: Warfare, The Life of Anne Frank14 Oct 2022 · 41mThe Online Date That's Too Good to be True7 Oct 2022 · 37mA Leap of Faith From the Eiffel Tower23 Sept 2022 · 33mCautionary Conversation: Flying on Empty9 Sept 2022 · 32mTim Talks Bicycles with Patented2 Sept 2022 · 38m"You’re Not Howard Hughes!"26 Aug 2022 · 35m"Who would you dine with? Scott or Amundsen?" Malcolm Gladwell and Tim Harford in Discussion.19 Aug 2022 · 25mSouth Pole Race: When the Limeys Get Scurvy12 Aug 2022 · 33mThe Bowery Boys and the Black Tom Explosion5 Aug 2022 · 45mSouth Pole Race: “Mummy, is Amundsen a good man?”29 Jul 2022 · 35mSouth Pole Race: David and Goliath on Ice15 Jul 2022 · 33mChicago When It Sizzles1 Jul 2022 · 38mThe French Knight’s Guide to Corporate Culture17 Jun 2022 · 36mFrankenstein Versus the Volcano3 Jun 2022 · 34mBless the Coal-black Hearts of the Broadway Critics20 May 2022 · 33mMonkey for Mayor from This Day in Esoteric Political History13 May 2022 · 28mWhen the Autopilot Switched Off6 May 2022 · 33mCautionary Tales Presents: World's Greatest Con29 Apr 2022 · 1h 12mPhotographing Fairies22 Apr 2022 · 37mTim Joins ‘No Such Thing As A Fish'15 Apr 2022 · 57mThe False Dawn of the Electric Car8 Apr 2022 · 37mThe Balloons That Ate Cleveland (A Cautionary Tales Short)25 Mar 2022 · 18mDeath on the Dance Floor25 Mar 2022 · 36mCautionary Tales Returns Every Other Friday from March 25th11 Mar 2022 · 3mThe Mummy’s Curse29 Oct 2021 · 36mThe Truth About Hansel and Gretel22 Oct 2021 · 36mDo NOT Pass GO!28 May 2021 · 35mWrong Tools Cost Lives21 May 2021 · 33mFritterin’ Away Genius14 May 2021 · 36mThe Fan Who Infected a Movie Star7 May 2021 · 31mWhistleblower on the 28th Floor30 Apr 2021 · 31mMasterly Inactivity Versus Micromanaging23 Apr 2021 · 32mDemonizing Dungeons & Dragons16 Apr 2021 · 36m
Where to listen to Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
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