Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford Episodes Episode guide
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Bowie, Jazz and the Unplayable Piano
At times we do our best work not when things are going well, but outside our comfort zone
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Beware Tech Tycoons with Piranha Tanks - with Katie Prescott
Mike Lynch was often lauded as Britain's answer to Bill Gates...
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Attack of the Night People
Jean Shepherd's 1950s "Night People" live on online today under a different name.
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Arsenic and Lace: The Trial of the Yorkshire Witch - with Maddy Pelling
Dr Maddy Pelling joins Tim to tell the tale of the villainous Yorkshire Witch.
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Angels, Gold and Lust: John Dee and the Philosopher's Stone (Part 2)
Part Two: Tudor polymath John Dee meets a man who claims he can speak with angels...
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Airships, AI and Alan Cumming: Tim Answers Your Questions
Why does economics get a bad rap?
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Adidas v Puma: A Battle of Boots and Brothers
Adi and Rudi Dassler made sports shoes together - until a feud erupted between them.
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A Leap of Faith From the Eiffel Tower
Can we learn anything useful from unorthodox experiments? Or are they just reckless?
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A Deadly Day at the Races: What Radical Protest Can and Cannot Do
Suffragette Emily Davison’s bold actions sparked change—do we know the full story?
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“I love being the person who doesn’t know anything” - Why Steven Levitt has swapped academia for podcasting
Why Steven Levitt swapped academia for podcasting.
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"You’re Not Howard Hughes!"
Hughes had an amazing life story... but he wasn't sharing his memories with anyone.
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"What a mess we're in" - Britain's [REDACTED] Accident
Britain's nuclear dream becomes a deadly nightmare at Windscale.
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"They fall behind and are slowly crushed" - Board Games and Economics with Richard Garfield
Tim is joined by Richard Garfield for a special Q&A about economics and game design.
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"I get in trouble when I say things like this" - Michael Lewis on Sam Bankman-Fried
Acclaimed author Michael Lewis discusses his time with Sam Bankman-Fried.
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"Genius Still Unrecognised" - The Worst Poet in the World
William McGonagall's poems are something else.
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"Dangerously Near to Absolute Perfection"
Two friends in the flourishing Arts and Crafts Movement in London share a vision.
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"Captain Kirk Forgot to put the Machine on Stun"
Lying on the cold metal table, Voyne Ray Cox knew the drill...
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"And it went click" - Dawn of the Working Dead
Robert Propst wasn't just an inventor; he envisioned the modern office workstation.
