Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford cover art

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

By: Pushkin Industries
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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.

2026 2025 Pushkin Industries
Social Sciences World
Episodes
  • Treacle Tears: The Boston Molasses Disaster
    Jun 26 2026

    The children of North End, Boston, play in the shadow of an enormous steel tank of molasses. The thick, sticky sugar syrup is being used to make munitions for the First World War. When a worker notices dark molasses seeping from the tank he warns the company that there could be a leak. But the man in charge, Arthur Jell, has more important things to worry about: schedules to meet and profits to make. Besides, it's only sugar. How dangerous could it be?

    For the sources, see the show notes at timharford.com.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    41 mins
  • The Thief, the Jewels, and the Dublin Castle Conspiracy
    Jun 19 2026

    In the early 1900s, Sir Arthur Vickers keeps the magnificent Irish Crown Jewels safe under lock and key at Dublin Castle. When the jewels disappear, the King rages, the police investigate, and even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle gets involved. No one is ever charged and no jewels are ever recovered. Except, we have a very good idea of who took them, and why the truth has stayed buried.

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

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    42 mins
  • The Dunning Canoe-ger Effect
    Jun 12 2026

    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.

    Show More Show Less
    40 mins
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All stars
Most relevant
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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“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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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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