Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford cover art

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

By: Pushkin Industries
Listen for free

About this listen

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.

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 Social Sciences World
Episodes
  • Number Fever: How Pepsi Nearly Went Pop (Classic)

    Number Fever: How Pepsi Nearly Went Pop (Classic)
    Aug 1 2025

    Pepsi twice ended up in court after promotions went disastrously wrong. Other big companies have fallen into the same trap - promising customers rewards so generous that to fulfil the promise might mean corporate bankruptcy.

    Businesses and customers alike are sometimes blinded by the big numbers in such PR stunts - but it's usually the customers, not the businesses, who end up losing out.

    For a full list of show notes see http://timharford.com/

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show More Show Less
    36 mins
  • Fire at The Beverly Hills Supper Club (Update)

    Fire at The Beverly Hills Supper Club (Update)
    Jul 25 2025

    It's been five years since Cautionary Tales ran a mini-series about the Covid-19 pandemic, exploring the lessons we were learning in real time as the crisis unfolded. 'Fire at The Beverly Hills Supper Club' tells the story of a deadly blaze in a Cincinnati hotel and Tim's own experience reacting to new information about the virus. After the episode, Tim reflects on the anniversary, the cautionary tales the pandemic still had to teach us, and whether we've learned enough to deal with the next one.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show More Show Less
    32 mins
  • "Captain Kirk Forgot to put the Machine on Stun"

    "Captain Kirk Forgot to put the Machine on Stun"
    Jul 18 2025

    Lying on the cold metal table, Voyne Ray Cox knew the drill. This was his ninth round of cancer treatment - which is why he was certain that what happened next couldn't be right. He heard a sizzling sound and saw a blue flash. And then - agony. It was like someone had thrust a hot skewer through his shoulder. He cried out in pain, but the operator was down the corridor and she couldn't hear him. She blasted him again and again with the red-hot radiation beam.

    Ray wasn't the first patient to be burned by the Therac-25 therapy machine, and he wouldn't be the last. Its dual-purpose design, controlled by a software programme, was supposed to offer hospitals more bang for their buck. But as patient after patient suffered ulcerated skin and yawning lesions, it should have been clear that something was horribly wrong. Why did it take so long for anyone to put this awful puzzle together?

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

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show More Show Less
    40 mins
All stars
Most relevant  
I really enjoy how the tales are told and the lessons that we are presented in that story format. It's a fantastic podcast that I binged every episode and wish there was more to hear.

Love it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.