July 1995. A deadly heat wave gripped Chicago - bridges buckled; the power grids failed; and the morgue ran out of space - but some neighbourhoods saw more deaths than others. Of course, richer and leafier districts suffered less, but poor places where social...
France 1346: The army of King Philip VI is Europe's pre-eminent killing machine. It is used to crushing any force stupid enough to oppose it, and now fully expects to annihilate a motley band of English invaders on a field near the village of Crecy. Except as night...
When Mount Tambora erupted it spewed ash across the globe; blotting out the sun; poisoning crops; and bringing starvation, illness and death to millions. It may also have helped inspire great scientific and cultural advances - including the horror masterpiece...
When Billy Joel agreed to let dance legend Twyla Tharp turn his songs into a Broadway musical it seemed like a surefire hit. But in previews, Movin’ Out was panned by the critics. It was soon headed for Broadway and was set to be an expensive and embarrassing...
Cautionary Tales will be back next Friday (and every other Friday thereafter). For Pushkin+ subscribers, I proudly present another Cautionary Tales “Short”. Shownotes The ideal source on Maintenance Guy and his travails is Matt Parker's wonderful book Humble Pi;...
An airline captain thought he was giving his children a harmless thrill by letting them "fly" his packed airplane - the young cockpit visitors weren't really in control... the autopilot was doing the real flying. Until it wasn't. Do safety features actually lull us...
Cautionary Tales episodes are released every other Friday, and so there will be one appearing again next week. Meanwhile, for Pushkin+ subscribers, I proudly present another Cautionary Tales “Short”. Shownotes The main sources on the Hartlepool elections were...
Sherlock Holmes is known for approaching all mysteries with cool logic - and yet when his creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle saw photographs taken by two young girls purporting to show real life fairies at play… he unwisely declared them genuine. Elsie Wright - Self...
As per our new rhythm, Cautionary Tales episodes are released every other Friday, so there will be one appearing again next week. As a bonus for Pushkin+ subscribers, I proudly present another Cautionary Tales "Short". Shownotes A major source was, of course, the...