Cautionary Tales – Run, Switzer, Run: The Women Who Broke the Marathon Taboo (Classic)

https://omny.fm/shows/cautionary-tales-with-tim-harford/playlists/podcast

Until the 1960s, women couldn't compete in Olympic events any longer than a sprint - and commentators declared that a marathon would kill them, or leave them unable to have children. Rubbis

https://timharford.com/2026/04/cautionary-tales-run-switzer-run-the-women-who-broke-the-marathon-taboo-classic/

#CautionaryTales

Cautionary Tales – Bravo, Comrade Lysenko! The Man Who Failed To Feed The USSR

Comrade Lysenko has seized control of Soviet agriculture with his radical ideas about genetics. He disdains traditional scientists who learn everything from books and nothing from the land, and those who question his methods soon find themselves in trouble with Stalin.  Meanwhile, across the world the abrasive Iowan

https://timharford.com/2026/04/cautionary-tales-lysenko-and-borlaug/

#CautionaryTales

Cautionary Tales – The Lovestruck Explorer’s Deadly Guessing Game

https://omny.fm/shows/cautionary-tales-with-tim-harford/playlists/podcast

In 1860, police officer Robert O'Hara Burke plans an expedition to map the ghastly blank in the centre of Australia. Joining him is scientist William Wills, and a ragtag team of hires. Burke falls out with virtually everyone around him, and demonstrates a

https://timharford.com/2026/04/cautionary-tales-burke-and-wills/

#CautionaryTales

Cautionary Tales – The Mad Mystic and the Last Battle on English Soil – with Ian Breckon

https://omny.fm/shows/cautionary-tales-with-tim-harford/playlists/podcast

As the Victorian era dawns, modernisation erodes the old ways of life and poverty rises. In the unrest, an unlikely hero emerges, capturing the imagination of the countryside's w

https://timharford.com/2026/04/cautionary-tales-the-mad-mystic-and-the-last-battle-on-english-soil-with-ian-breckon/

#CautionaryTales

Cautionary Tales – The Sightseeing Flight and the Invisible Mountain

https://omny.fm/shows/cautionary-tales-with-tim-harford/playlists/podcast

In November 1979, Flight 901 departs New Zealand on a sightseeing journey over Antarctica, heading directly towards a volcano. When the plane vanishes, investigators are left with a mystery: how could a seasoned pilot mi

https://timharford.com/2026/03/cautionary-tales-the-sightseeing-flight-and-the-invisible-mountain/

#CautionaryTales

Cautionary Tales – “And it went click”: Dawn of the Working Dead

https://omny.fm/shows/cautionary-tales-with-tim-harford/playlists/podcast

Robert Propst is more than an inventor: he is a visionary, an innovator dreaming up how to make the perfect office workstation. When he reveals his bold design for a creative, flexible 'cockpit of tomorrow', he comes into con

https://timharford.com/2026/03/cautionary-tales-and-it-went-click-dawn-of-the-working-dead-2/

#CautionaryTales

Cautionary Tales – When Muhammad Ali Met Henry’s Hammer

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 rem

https://timharford.com/2026/03/cautionary-tales-when-muhammad-ali-met-henrys-hammer/

#CautionaryTales

There’s a running joke/theme here on the mastodon edition of @robmanuel’s @fesshole about lack of spousal communication.

In absolute seriousness, the ending of this recent #CautionaryTales episode is an unexpectedly strong reminder of how devastating and tragic the effects of just using the British stiff upper lip and not having someone you can be actually honest with is:
https://timharford.com/2026/02/cautionary-tales-round-the-world-yacht-race-part-2/

It’s a great story, well told… and it hit me quite hard at the end.

Rob, I wonder if the masto Fesshole account might perhaps boost this? It may actually do someone some good.

(p.s. I have nothing whatsoever to do with that show or Pushkin or anything, except as a listener.)