Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

Pushkin Industries 262 - How a Broken Arm Improved my French - with David Epstein

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

18 Sep 2026

11 Sep 2026

04 Sep 2026

28 Aug 2026

21 Aug 2026

14 Aug 2026

07 Aug 2026

31 Jul 2026

24 Jul 2026

17 Jul 2026

10 Jul 2026

03 Jul 2026

26 Jun 2026

19 Jun 2026

12 Jun 2026

05 Jun 2026

29 May 2026

22 May 2026

15 May 2026

08 May 2026

01 May 2026

24 Apr 2026

17 Apr 2026

10 Apr 2026

07 Apr 2026

03 Apr 2026

27 Mar 2026

13 Mar 2026

06 Mar 2026

27 Feb 2026

20 Feb 2026

17 Feb 2026

13 Feb 2026

06 Feb 2026

30 Jan 2026

23 Jan 2026

16 Jan 2026

09 Jan 2026

02 Jan 2026

26 Dec 2025

19 Dec 2025

12 Dec 2025

05 Dec 2025

04 Dec 2025

28 Nov 2025

21 Nov 2025

14 Nov 2025

07 Nov 2025

31 Oct 2025

28 Oct 2025

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

Episodes

How a Broken Arm Improved my French - with David Epstein

Talent, Time and Money: The Curse of General Magic

Evel Knievel Faces the Abyss

Dumm und Dümmer: Hitler Invades Florida

The DeLorean Saga: Fraud, Drugs and Marty McFly's Car - with Business History

Proceed with Caution - Pascal's Guide to Podcasts

The Weight of Fame: A Hollywood Tragedy

Arsenic and Lace: The Trial of the Yorkshire Witch - with Maddy Pelling

The Doors of Death: The Herald of Free Enterprise

"What a Bloody Mess we're in" - Britain's [REDACTED] Accident

Attack of the Night People

LIVE: We Are Not Machines - with Sarah O'Connor

Treacle Tears: The Boston Molasses Disaster

The Thief, the Jewels, and the Dublin Castle Conspiracy

The Dunning Canoe-ger Effect

How Civilizations Die - with Paul Cooper

Can You Make a Sherman Tank Float?

The Inventor who Almost Ended the World (Classic)

Angels, Gold and Lust: John Dee and the Philosopher's Stone (Part 2)

The Queen's Astrologer: The Price of Prophecy (Part 1)

Beware Tech Tycoons with Piranha Tanks - with Katie Prescott

Finding Grace in a Burger Bun: An Incrediburgible Quest

Run, Switzer, Run: The Women who Broke the Marathon Taboo (Classic)

The Lovestruck Explorer's Deadly Guessing Game

The Refugee Who Led a Software Revolution - with Ben Walter

The Mad Mystic and the Last Battle on English Soil - with Ian Breckon

The Sightseeing Flight and the Invisible Mountain

"And it went click" - Dawn of the Working Dead

Explosives or Sugar? The Deadly Art of Distraction in Putin’s Russia - with Helena Merriman

Flight of the Fantasist: The Race Around the World - Part 2

The Philosopher and the Handyman: The Race Around the World - Part 1

Presenting... American Criminal: The Great McDonald's Monopoly Heist

Sphygmograph Be Damned: The Science of Love

The Angels, The Stones and The Dead

Powered by Orgasm: The Rise and Fall of a Sex Cult - with Ellen Huet

The WOW Machine Stops (Pt 2)

Shoes, Booze and the Pursuit of Happiness (Pt 1)

Liar, Bigamist, Brute: How Isaac Singer Liberated Women

Fritterin' Away Genius (Classic)

Photographing Fairies (Classic)

"They fall behind and are slowly crushed" - Board Games and Economics with Richard Garfield

Flixborough: The Factory that was Wiped off the Map

The Disappearance of Grace Oakeshott

Your Chance to Attend a Cautionary Tales Table Read

Homo deceptus: Science's Dirty Little Secret

Kyoto: The Battle that Defined Climate Politics - with Joe Robertson

The Treasure Hunt that Broke America (Part 2)

The Treasure Hunt that Broke America (Part 1)

The Truth About Hansel and Gretel (Classic)

On Fire from the Inside - Lethal Injection Up Close with Malcolm Gladwell