Hey, Secret History Fans. This is Seth Stevenson with an episode we think you might like.

Learning from our mistakes can be hard. Learning from other people's mistakes? Well, that's a lot more fun.

In cautionary tales from Pushkin Industries, economist and journalist Tim Harford retells true stories of unexpected outcomes,

from the development of tanks in modern warfare to the accidental

crowning of La La Land at the 2017 Oscars. Some of these tales are tragic, some are comic, but like

the great fables and parables, each has a moral. Tim takes you aboard a doomed airship, sits you

on a concert stage in front of a broken piano, and puts you in a room with cult members counting down the final seconds before the end of the world. A cast of actors joins him

in telling these stories. You'll hear the famous Alan Cumming, Archie Punjabi, who won an Emmy

award for the good wife, and Russell Tovey from The History Boys. Cautionary Tales from Pushkin Industries.

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Trust me, it would be a mistake not to.

As the night draws in and the fire blazes on the hearth, we warn the children by telling them stories. The Hobbit teaches them not to leave the path,

but my stories are for the education of the grown-ups.

And my stories are all true.

I'm Tim Harford.

Gather close and listen to my cautionary tales. August 1916, the Western Front in the First World War.

The opposing armies had dug into entrenched positions, stretching 500 miles across France and Belgium from

the mountains to the sea. Barbed wire and machine guns meant that it was all but impossible

for either side to advance. The noble cavalry, long the most celebrated force in the army,

were utterly useless. It was a murderous stalemate.

But a few miles behind the Allied lines, hundreds of people, both civilians and British and French

army officers, had brought picnics and were waiting patiently for a demonstration of a

...