Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

By: Pushkin Industries
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  • Summary

  • 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 other Friday.
    2025 iHeartMedia, Inc. © Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from iHeartMedia
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Episodes
  • Dr. Brinkley's Miracle Cure For Impotence (with Betwixt The Sheets)

    Dr. Brinkley's Miracle Cure For Impotence (with Betwixt The Sheets)
    Feb 7 2025

    Cautionary Conversation: In the 1920s, a conman convinced America that goat testicles were the secret to male virility. Tim Harford and Dr Kate Lister (Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society) dive into the bizarre and grisly tale of "Doctor" John Brinkley. This snake oil salesman mobilised the power of radio marketing to build an empire on goat gland transplants and other quack "cures". And Brinkley might have got away with it, were it not for his nemesis: the tenacious Dr. Morris Fishbein.

    Find Betwixt the Sheets here: https://podfollow.com/betwixt-the-sheets-the-history-of-sex-scandal-society

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

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    38 mins
  • The Night of the Mugger

    The Night of the Mugger
    Jan 31 2025

    Winston Trew has just been arrested for mugging. It's 1972 and the crime has recently made its way to Britain from the United States. Dangerous thugs, replicating their American counterparts, have made the city of London their hunting ground - so Winston's eventual conviction is a win for the police, and for the press.

    The problem is, 22-year-old Winston is completely innocent.

    Do you have a question for Tim Harford and Rachel Botsman about trust? Please send it in to tales@pushkin.fm.

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

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    42 mins
  • Missing on "Dead Mountain": A Cold War Cold Case

    Missing on "Dead Mountain": A Cold War Cold Case
    Jan 24 2025

    In the bleak Russian winter of 1959, nine experienced hikers led by Igor Dyatlov set out on an expedition. None of them made it back alive.

    When their campsite was finally discovered, it told a chilling story: their tent was slashed open, bodies scattered across the snow. The hikers' injuries were as baffling as they were gruesome. One had had his head stoved in. Bits of bone had been driven into his brain. Others were missing their eyes and their tongues.

    Had the hikers angered the local Mansi tribespeople? Had they witnessed a secret military experiment? Or had something even more strange and sinister unfolded on Dead Mountain?

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

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    46 mins

What listeners say about Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

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Profile Image for SEAN

Note Worthy Events Explained Very Well

“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.

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Profile Image for Mr. R. Thomas

Riveting

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.

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Profile Image for James M.

Super interesting

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

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Profile Image for BookCovered

If only someone had actually researched the name

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.

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Profile Image for Jennifer

Very good but…

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.

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2 people found this helpful