Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford By cover art

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.
    2024 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
  • Run, Switzer, Run: The Women Who Broke the Marathon Taboo

    Run, Switzer, Run: The Women Who Broke the Marathon Taboo
    Jul 5 2024

    Until the 1960s, it was deemed too "dangerous" for women athletes to run distances longer than 200m - and a marathon would kill them, or leave them unable to have children. Rubbish, of course. But when Kathrine Switzer signed up for the 1967 Boston Marathon, it wasn't the distance that bothered her - it was the enraged race director trying to assault her.

    Thanks to pioneers like Kathrine, women have made huge strides in long distance running - and are now challenging the times of men in the very races they were banned from for so very long.

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

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    36 mins
  • Adidas v Puma: A Battle of Boots and Brothers

    Adidas v Puma: A Battle of Boots and Brothers
    Jun 21 2024

    Adi and Rudi Dassler made sports shoes together - until a feud erupted between them. They set up competing companies, Adidas and Puma, and their bitter rivalry divided the sporting world, their family and even the inhabitants of their home town.

    The Dassler clan turned bickering into an art form - even drawing the likes of soccer legend Pele into their dispute. But did the brilliant fires of hatred produce two world-class companies, or was it a needless distraction from the Dasslers' love for their craft?

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

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    40 mins
  • The Revenge of the Whales

    The Revenge of the Whales
    Jun 7 2024

    In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, in 1819, Owen Chase is standing on a slowly sinking ship. It's just been headbutted by an 85 foot whale. It's taking in water. And now the creature is coming back for another go. This is a whaling ship, and Chase is convinced that he observes "fury and vengeance" in the animal.

    In 2010, an orca is performing for a crowd at SeaWorld - but he misses his mark and so he doesn't get his reward. That's when he grabs hold of his trainer, Dawn Brancheau, and pulls her under water. By the time he's finished, her savaged body has multiple fractures and dislocations. And her scalp has been ripped off.

    To some observers, these whales were surely out for revenge. But how much is what we think we understand about the natural world shaped by human guilt?

    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
World Social Sciences
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What listeners say about Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

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Beyond amazing!!

thank you so much for such an interesting podcast. everything is so well done, the topics, the quality of the delivery of the ideas is completely awesome, thank you so much.

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Highly Recommended

A data driven look at lessons learned from both notorious and lesser known disasters. A very different way of looking at systems.

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very good podcast.

as always the podcast does not disappoint I also like the theme music for the podcast

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Thank you

Thank you for this whole podcast. I listen in the car and when I go to bed. I love this. The way you tell a story is so good. Thank you! Can you do one about a story from Maine maybe? Thank you again!!
-Alexis From Maine

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A fantastic podcast

This is one of my favorite podcasts (and I listen to many). Every episode is incredibly well researched and totally fascinating. I highly recommend it!

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One Of The Great Podcasts

Is always interesting, and informative. little to no filler while being pleasant to listen to.

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Very interesting

I liked that it was short stories and topics I wouldn’t normally consider. Quite interesting and educational for me.








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