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Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford cover

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

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.

180 episodes

Episodes

The Canal, the Crash and the Ketamine - Pushkin's Reign of Error

00:44:2510/17/2025

Schrödinger's Spy: Businessman, Fraud, or Russian Agent? - with Sam Jones

01:01:3010/10/2025

Missing Fish and Fatal Feasts: Ritual and Ruin at the Sun King’s Table

00:42:1810/3/2025

Don't Panic! Douglas Adams' Guide to Tomorrow - with Arvind Ethan David

00:37:549/26/2025

A Deadly Day at the Races: What Radical Protest Can and Cannot Do

00:41:179/19/2025

True Lies and Genuine Fakes

00:40:379/12/2025

Stalling for Survival - A Lonely Fight Against a Deadly Medicine

00:38:409/5/2025

Announcing: The Cautionary Club

00:02:169/2/2025

Disaster Favours the Daring: Shipwreck at Honda Point

00:39:578/29/2025

Paradise Poisoned: How Utopias Fall Apart

00:41:008/22/2025