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Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford Episodes

  1.

    Missing Fish and Fatal Feasts: Ritual and Ruin at the Sun King鈥檚 Table

    In the gilded court of Louis XIV, 17th Century France, manners are everything...

  2. Masterly Inactivity Versus Micromanaging

    Lady Sale (Helena Bonham Carter) was part of a British retreat from Afghanistan in 1842.

  3. Martin Luther King Jr, the Jewellery Genius, and the Art of Public Speaking

    Some speeches help us dream of a better world鈥hile others become the stuff of nightmares

  4. Lights, Camera, Tax Break

    When Ernest Borgnine gets his big break, it's not the dream gig he thought it was.

  5. Liar, Bigamist, Brute: How Isaac Singer Liberated Women

    The sewing machine was once thought to be an impossible invention.

  6. Le Mans 55: The Deadliest Race

    A race for speed ends in disaster, changing motor sport forever.

  7. Lab Leak: Could Smallpox Come Back?

    When a photographer begins to feel ill, doctors are mystified.

  8. La La Land: Galileo's Warning

    Giving an Oscar to the wrong film proved that some safety systems can increase mistakes.

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

    Tim is joined by playwright Joe Robertson to discuss Kyoto.

  10. Introducing... The Science of Happiness

    The Science of Happiness is available now on 麻豆社 Sounds.

  11. Introducing... Short History Of...

    Introducing Short History Of... The Dambusters. Listen other episodes on 麻豆社 Sounds now!

  12. Into the Black Lair: V2 Rocket (Part 2)

    How Nazi Germany was convinced that they couldn鈥檛 afford to ignore rocket technology.

  13. How the Radium Girls Fought Back

    Tim Harford and Kate Moore discuss how the "Radium Girls" took on their employers.

  14. How Britain Invented, Then Ignored, Blitzkrieg

    Why organizations can't always see a brilliant idea that's staring them in the face.

  15. Houdini's Detective and her 1500 Dead Husbands (Part 2)

    Harry Houdini - part 2/3.

  16. Houdini: The Phone Call from the Coffin (Part 3)

    In 1926, Houdini's death shocks the world, but what follows is even more astounding.

  17. Houdini: A Message from the Spirits (Part 1)

    Part 1 of 3: Harry Houdini

  18. Homo deceptus: Science's Dirty Little Secret

    In 1912, a fossil discovery shakes the scientific world.

  19. Grand Theft Automated: How to Save a Trillion Lives

    Sam Bankman-Fried is either a humanitarian hero or a con artist at an astonishing scale.

  20. Glowing Peril: The Magical Glitter That Poisoned a City

    No-one saw this horrifying radiation accident coming. Should they have?

  21. Give Politicians a Raise, Smuggle Smartphones into School, and go Full Donk! Cautionary Questions with Risky Business

    Can game theory be used to win a world cup? Can you pay the way out of corruption?

  22. Frozen in a Burning 747 (Tenerife Air Disaster 2)

    Two airplanes have just collided on the runway at Tenerife Airport.

  23. Fritterin鈥� Away Genius

    Are restlessness and "fritterin'" important parts of a rich and creative life?

  24. Frankenstein Versus the Volcano

    What are the limits of our ability to weather even the worst circumstances?

  25. Flying Too High: AI and Air France Flight 447

    Panic has erupted in the cockpit of Air France Flight 447...

  26. Florence Nightingale and Her Geeks Declare War on Death

    How the famed nurse battled to save lives...using statistics, graphs and colored pens.

  27. Flixborough: The Factory that was Wiped off the Map

    The people of Flixborough unknowingly drift towards disaster...

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

    Donald Crowhurst is a brilliant inventor with a failing business...

  29. Fire at The Beverly Hills Supper Club (Update)

    Tim recflects on the pandemic.

  30. Finding Grace in a Burger Bun: An Incrediburgible Quest

    This is the story of two very different approaches to making hamburgers... and money.

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