Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

By 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,

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The podcast currently has 238 episodes available.

Best of Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

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Number 1: The Dunning Canoe-ger Effect
When John Darwin walks into a shop in London, it causes an instant stir. After all, John Darwin has been dead for five years. He claims to have amnesia, but everyone - from the police and the media to his insurance company - suspects he is lying. No one can prove a thing, until a young woman at home with her baby thinks of something everyone else has missed. For the show notes, see timharford.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
June 12, 202641min
Number 2: Arsenic and Lace: The Trial of the Yorkshire Witch - with Maddy Pelling
Mary Bateman lived in Yorkshire in the late 18th Century, an age that prized rational thought. Many people still longed to believe in the old ways and Bateman used this to her advantage, selling spells and enchantments to the desperate. Dr Maddy Pelling, co-host of the After Dark podcast and author of Hoax: Truth and Lies in the Age of Enlightenment, joins Tim to tell the tale of the villainous Yorkshire Witch, and just how far she was willing to go. For the sources, see the show notes at timharford.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
July 31, 202644min
Number 3: The Inventor who Almost Ended the World (Classic)
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 with leaded gasoline or wreck the ozone layer with CFCs - but while these dire consequences were unintended... could they have been anticipated? For a list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 22, 202637min
Number 4: The Queen's Astrologer: The Price of Prophecy (Part 1)
In Tudor England, the line between mathematics and the mystic arts is vanishingly thin. Straddling both worlds is John Dee, a brilliant scholar and astrologer whose intellect grants him access to the highest circles of power. Dee navigates the politics of the court by making bold prophecies, which win him royal favour. But even correct predictions may come with a price - and laying claim to the future is a dangerous game. For a list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 08, 202644min
Number 5: Can You Make a Sherman Tank Float?
It’s D-Day and the Allies are about to invade Nazi-occupied France. For the landings to succeed, American soldiers on Omaha Beach will have to break through some formidable coastal defences - Hitler’s Atlantic Wall. Sherman tanks will come in very handy - and the Allies have come up with a novel solution for getting them to the beach. These tanks will swim. Everyone from Winston Churchill down thought swimming tanks were a great idea… but were they? For a full list of sources, see the show notes at ⁠timharford.com⁠ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 29, 202640min