Advertise on podcast: Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford

This October, Cautionary Tales is going all out for Halloween. We've got four brand new spooky episodes coming your way throughout the month, plus a fifth over on the Cautionary Club on Patreon. If you have your own Halloween-themed Cautionary Tale or have any questions about belief and the paranormal we'd love to hear from you - contact [email protected] To begin the month, we're revisiting one of our favourite episodes, about the grizzly fates of the archaeologists who disturbed the resting place of Tutankhamun. For a list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com To join the Cautionary Club head to Patreon.com/cautionaryclub See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Before he became Muhammad Ali, Cassius Clay was known as the "Louisville Loud-mouth", as famous for his sharp taunts and poetic put-downs as he was for his skills in the ring. In 1963, Clay arrived in England to take down beloved British Heavyweight, Henry Cooper. Clay is the clear favourite, but the showdown will be remembered as one of boxing history's most shocking battles, changing both men forever and showing what it really means to win.  For a list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com Join our Cautionary Club to get episodes ad-free, hear bonus interviews and get an extra Cautionary Tale every month . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last week, Cautionary Tales described the rise and fall of General Magic, the startup with too much money and too few constraints. Was General Magic really doomed from the start, and what does its fate tell us about AI, drug discovery and our love lives? David Epstein, author of Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better, joins Tim to make the case for loving limitations. For a list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com Join our Cautionary Club to get episodes ad-free, hear bonus interviews and get an extra Cautionary Tale every month. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's 1990. A new company called General Magic is going to build its vision of the future: the smart phone. They have talent, almost unlimited cash, and a 15 year head start on the iPhone. What could go wrong?  This episode was based, with permission, on David Epstein's book Inside the Box: How Constraints Make us Better. For a list of sources, see the show notes. Join our Cautionary Club to get episodes ad-free, hear bonus interviews and get an extra Cautionary Tale every month. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is available exclusively to Cautionary Club members and Pushkin+ subscribers. To join the Club and get access to ad-free listening, behind the scenes content and bonus episodes, head to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/cautionaryclub⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. To join Pushkin+ visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠pushkin.fm⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or the ⁠show page⁠ on ⁠⁠Apple⁠⁠. In the noughties, reality TV is in an arms race. Shows compete for viewers by one-upping each other with increasingly shocking and controversial formats. The Dutch production company behind Big Brother, Endemol, has a bold idea. What if, instead of money, the contestants competed for a chance to live? What if the prize was a human kidney? For a list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com

Evel Knievel, the world-famous daredevil, is planning his greatest ever stunt. In 1974, he wants to leap over Snake River Canyon in Idaho. The chasm is almost a third of a mile wide, much bigger than any jump he's done before. To make it work, he'll need a custom-made rocket-powered "Skycycle," TV camera crews and - most importantly - a very positive attitude.  For a list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com. Join our Cautionary Club to get episodes ad-free, hear bonus interviews and get an extra Cautionary Tale every month. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1942, eight men are sent from Nazi Germany to infiltrate America. Their mission: to sabotage critical infrastructure. Their problem: they're idiots. Operation Pastorius soon devolves into one of the most baffling failures of World War II. For a list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a special crossover episode with Business History. John DeLorean was a visionary who wanted to create a futuristic new sports car - a stainless steel marvel with distinctive gull-wing doors. The British Government agreed to finance the project, provided he built his factory in a troubled part of Northern Ireland. Production stumbled, sales fizzled and DeLorean liked to fiddle with the numbers. As the company approached ruin, a neighbour offered DeLorean a lifeline, if he'd only come in on a cocaine deal.   See the show notes at timharford.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How does a story on Cautionary Tales come to life? In this episode of our subscriber-exclusive series, Proceed with Caution, sound designer Pascal Wyse shows Tim how the audio magic happens. He explains how he picks the music in an episode, why it's best to avoid 'Mickey Mousing', and how to sound design some of the stranger moments of Cautionary Tales. To subscribe to the Cautionary Club and hear more like this, go to patreon.com/cautionaryclub. Dumm und Dümmer : Hitler Invades Florida is available now on Patreon, or will be released on this feed on August 28th.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is available exclusively to Cautionary Club members and Pushkin+ subscribers. To join the Club and get access to ad-free listening, behind the scenes content and bonus episodes, head to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/cautionaryclub⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. To join Pushkin+ visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠pushkin.fm⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or the ⁠show page⁠ on ⁠⁠Apple⁠⁠. Born into a poor, abusive household in 1838, Victoria Woodhull doesn't have much hope of a comfortable life. But she's smart, charismatic and has an uncanny ability to read people, managing to forge a path to Wall Street and the publishing world. When Woodhull decides to run for president, she understands that capturing people's attention will be key to success. But capturing attention and controlling it turn out to be two very different things. For a list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com

Talented and beautiful, Molly O'Day is a rising star in 1920s Hollywood. But when Molly's teenage body starts to change and she can no longer fit into the dress she wore when she was 16, the studio wants nothing to do with her. As the scripts dry up and the money runs out, Molly faces a difficult but painfully familiar choice.  For a list of sources, see the show notes at timharford.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mary Bateman lived in Yorkshire in the late 18th Century, an age that prized rational thought. Many people still longed to believe in the old ways and Bateman used this to her advantage, selling spells and enchantments to the desperate. Dr Maddy Pelling, co-host of the After Dark podcast and author of Hoax: Truth and Lies in the Age of Enlightenment, joins Tim to tell the tale of the villainous Yorkshire Witch, and just how far she was willing to go.  For the sources, see the show notes at timharford.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Herald of Free Enterprise is a new class of ferry that allows cars to drive directly into the ship. The doors must be closed before every departure, or the ship sails with a gaping hole at one end. One black night in 1987, on the freezing waters off Zebrugge, Belgium, a single crew member falls asleep at the worst possible time.  For the sources, see the show notes at timharford.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Windscale is supposed to be Britain's big leap into the nuclear age, bringing science fiction to life in 1950s Northern England. But in the race to catch up with America's nuclear program, scientists are tinkering with forces they don't fully understand. When the reactor catches fire, no-one knows how bad it could be, or how to put it out. As the reactor workers scramble to save lives, other eyes on Windscale are much more concerned with containing the political fallout and burying the truth.   See the show notes at timharford.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is available exclusively to Cautionary Club members and Pushkin+ subscribers. To join the Club and get access to ad-free listening, behind the scenes content and bonus episodes, head to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/cautionaryclub⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. To join Pushkin+ visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠pushkin.fm⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or the ⁠show page⁠ on ⁠⁠Apple⁠⁠. Chargin' Charlie Beckwith is an American colonel who expects nothing less than perfection from his squad. When hostages are seized during the 1979 Iranian revolution, Chargin' Charlie is given the chance to lead the rescue operation - and to show what a leader who demands the best can really achieve. For a list of sources see the shownotes at timharford.com