In Goiânia, Brazil, a junk dealer acquires an old medical device from two scrap-metal scavengers. The device itself isn't useful, but it comes with precious lead which will fetch him good money. There's something else inside the device, too: a curious, crystal-like...
/p> Cautionary Conversation: Just before Christmas 1799, President George Washington was riding around his country estate, Mount Vernon, when it began to snow. When he arrived home, guests were waiting for him. Known for his punctuality, he hurried to entertain them -...
William the Conqueror undertook a remarkably modern project. In 1086, he began compiling and storing a detailed record of his realm: where everyone lived, what they did and where they came from. 900 years later, the BBC began its own Domesday project, sending school...
Henry Roan has been shot through the back of his head. The local sheriff and town marshall have found his body slumped over the steering wheel of his car. There's no gun at the scene: this is no suicide - it's murder. And the man who ordered Henry Roan's killing? He...
Minnie Smith had grown ill quite suddenly. She had been young, fit and healthy and the doctors were baffled. "A peculiar wasting illness," they called it. But then, her sister Anna went missing. Her rotting corpse was found a week later, a bullet hole through her...
This week, we've twice the storytelling fun for you: two Cautionary Tales shorts, previously only available to Pushkin+ subscribers. [Apple] [Spotify] [Stitcher] A Monkey for Mayor: It was supposed to be a publicity stunt, but when the man who dressed as Hartlepool...
1957. Jørn Utzon receives a phone call: he's just won an international competition to design a brand new opera house for the Australian city of Sydney. Utzon is unknown in the field, so this is a triumph. But the young architect couldn’t have imagined what a bitter...
Cautionary Book Club:When Morgan Stanley offered to lease Chicago's parking meters for the princely sum of $1 billion, the City Council were convinced they had struck gold and hastily signed the deal. They soon learnt, however, that they hadn't just traded away...
1812. A band of "Luddites" is laying siege to a textile mill in the North of England, under cover of night. They plan to destroy the machines that are replacing their jobs. But mill owner William Cartwright is prepared: he's fortified his factory with skilled...