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Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

By: Pushkin Industries
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About this listen

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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Episodes
  • The Shark That Ate Hollywood: Jaws at 50

    The Shark That Ate Hollywood: Jaws at 50
    Jun 20 2025

    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 failure, but the movie that came out defined the Hollywood blockbuster. In this special episode celebrating 50 years of Jaws, we take lessons from the greatest monster movie that almost wasn't made.

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    39 mins
  • Le Mans 55: The Deadliest Race

    Le Mans 55: The Deadliest Race
    Jun 13 2025

    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 get a little faster. In 1955, that push for ultimate speed results in a catastrophe that changes the sport forever.

    For a full list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com.

    Get ad-free episodes, plus an exclusive monthly bonus episode, to Cautionary Tales by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple Podcasts or Pushkin.fm. Pushkin+ subscribers can access ad-free episodes, full audiobooks exclusive binges, and bonus content for all Pushkin shows.

    Subscribe on Apple: apple.co/pushkin
    Subscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.fm/plus

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    40 mins
  • The Nazis, the Bomb, and the Woman that Science Forgot

    The Nazis, the Bomb, and the Woman that Science Forgot
    Jun 6 2025

    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 snatched away. As a Jewish woman, Lise has a critical decision to make: is her passion for science worth her life?

    An earlier version of this podcast mistakenly gave the wrong date for the bombing of Hiroshima. We apologize for the error.

    For a full list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com.

    Get ad-free episodes, plus an exclusive monthly bonus episode, to Cautionary Tales by subscribing to Pushkin+ on Apple Podcasts or Pushkin.fm. Pushkin+ subscribers can access ad-free episodes, full audiobooks exclusive binges, and bonus content for all Pushkin shows.

    Subscribe on Apple: apple.co/pushkin
    Subscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.fm/plus

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show More Show Less
    41 mins
All stars
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“Exceedingly insightful tales with narratives that contain poignant and informative lessons.”

Each episode contains valuable and useful insights about stories I previously became curious about but as an adult didn’t know who to ask, so put them aside. I think sealing open questions with well sourced answers supports my understanding.

Note Worthy Events Explained Very Well

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I had no idea about the self testing humans had the bravery to encounter. The point is made near to the end of the broadcast possible reasons for this bravery. These are astonishing accounts.

Riveting

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Love this (as well as pretty much anything Tim Harford does) - just wish they clearly titled which episodes are the proper episodes and which are conversations - you end up having to listen to the start to figure it out a lot of the time

Super interesting

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Why did no-one tell Tim it's pronounced Eem, not Eee -am, and he says he grew up nearby....little things like this can be so frustrating. So apart from getting that basic fact wrong, and changing Curbar Edge from 'Curber' to become 'Curr - pause - barr it's not ' a bad retelling.

If only someone had actually researched the name

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Tim H is highly entertaining and authoritative journalist, making complicated topics seem very straight forward. So why the 3 stars? I highly resent the adverts when I’m paying for an annual subscription to a streaming service. If these were free, fair enough but the high cost of the audible service does not justify adding adverts. Plus, as Tim H would himself would say, paying twice for an item is not economical! Audible, pls sort it out and don’t treat your audience like idiots.

Very good but…

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