https://omny.fm/shows/cautionary-tales-with-tim-harford/treacle-tears-the-boston-molasses-disaster The children of North End, Boston, play in the shadow of an enormous steel tank of molasses. The thick, sticky sugar syrup is being used to make munitions for the First...
https://omny.fm/shows/cautionary-tales-with-tim-harford/the-thief-the-jewels-and-the-dublin-castle-conspiracy In the early 1900s, Sir Arthur Vickers keeps the magnificent Irish Crown Jewels safe under lock and key at Dublin Castle. When the jewels disappear, the King...
https://omny.fm/shows/cautionary-tales-with-tim-harford/the-dunning-canoe-ger-effect When John Darwin walks into a shop in London, it causes an instant stir. After all, John Darwin has been dead for five years. He claims to have amnesia, but everyone - from the police...
In the 1950s, polio spread at an unprecedented rate, killing or paralysing thousands of Americans. Two renowned scientists raced to develop a vaccine, taking radically different approaches and becoming bitter rivals in the process. Decades later, when a new virus...
https://omny.fm/shows/cautionary-tales-with-tim-harford/how-civilisations-die-with-paul-cooper As Governor of Britannia, Magnus Maximus has a huge army at his disposal, which is just what he needs to secure the Roman imperial throne. But perhaps the impressive general...
https://omny.fm/shows/cautionary-tales-with-tim-harford/can-you-make-a-sherman-tank-float? It’s D-Day and the Allies are about to invade Nazi-occupied France. For the landings to succeed, American soldiers on Omaha Beach will have to break through some formidable...
https://omny.fm/shows/cautionary-tales-with-tim-harford/the-inventor-who-almost-ended-the-world-classic Thomas Midgley’s inventions caused his own death, hastened the deaths of millions of people around the world, and very nearly extinguished all life on land. ...
https://omny.fm/shows/cautionary-tales-with-tim-harford/the-queens-astrologer-the-price-of-prophecy-part-1 https://omny.fm/shows/cautionary-tales-with-tim-harford/angels-gold-and-lust-john-dee-and-the-philosophers-stone-part-2 Part Two: When Tudor polymath John Dee...
https://omny.fm/shows/cautionary-tales-with-tim-harford/the-queens-astrologer-the-price-of-prophecy-part-1 https://omny.fm/shows/cautionary-tales-with-tim-harford/angels-gold-and-lust-john-dee-and-the-philosophers-stone-part-2 In Tudor England, the line between...