Alan Cumming, Russell Tovey to be Featured on CAUTIONARY TALES Podcast

CAUTIONARY TALES is a new podcast - produced by Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Weisberg's audio venture Pushkin Industries - that tells stories of history's mishaps and disasters and illuminates what we can learn from each of these remarkable and in some cases, unbelievable true tales. Written and hosted by bestselling author of The Undercover Economist Tim Harford, the podcast will launch with eight episodes on November 15, 2019.

Harford is known for his thought pieces on the economics behind every day experiences in his column for the Financial Times and his TED talks, which have garnered over 8 million views. In CAUTIONARY TALES, he unearths little known stories of notable lives, crimes, and tragedies to share with listeners how they can reshape our understanding of economics, innovation, and politics. Throughout the season, Harford delivers stories about why companies squander good ideas, why we trust people in uniform, the downside of competition, and much more.

Each story is vividly told in Harford's mordantly witty voice and highlighted by reenactments presented by the Cautionary Tales Players including actors Alan Cumming, ARCHIE PANJABI, Russell Tovey, Enzo Cilenti, Rufus Wright, Ed Gaughan, among others. Some CAUTIONARY TALES are tragic, some are comedic, but like the great fables and parables, each of them has a moral-and a warning sign for those who would dare to follow.

Episodes include:

DANGER: Rocks Ahead!: Torrey Canyon was one of the biggest and best ships in the world - but its captain and crew still needlessly steered it towards a deadly reef known as The Seven Stones. This course seemed like utter madness, but the thinking that resulted in such a risky maneuver is something we are all prone to do when we fixate on a goal and a plan to get us there.

Featuring: Enzo Cilenti, Ed Gaughan, Rufus Wright and Melanie Gutteridge

The Rogue Dressed as a Captain: One crisp morning in Berlin, in 1906, a small group of soldiers were led on an extraordinary heist by a man they believed to be a Captain. So how did an ageing nobody in a fake uniform trick them into aiding him in the crime of the century? Some say we humans will obey orders from anyone who dresses the part... but the real reason why we fall for tricksters time and again is far more interesting. Fraudsters and charlatans reel us in slowly by using psychology against us.

Featuring: Alan Cumming, Russell Tovey, Rufus Wright, Melanie Gutteridge and Ed Gaughan

Buried by THE WALL Street Crash: Both of the world's great economists, Irving Fisher and John Maynard Keynes,thought they could see into the future and make a killing on the stock market - and then both were wiped out bythe Wall Street Crash. One died a pauper, the other millionaire. What does it take to bounce back from ruin?

Featuring: Alan Cumming, Russell Tovey, Mirea Monroe, Rufus Wright, Ed Gaughan and Melanie Gutteridge

The Deadly Airship Race: A British Lord wanted to build the best airship in the world - and so he had two rival design teams battle it out to win the juicy government contract. Competition is supposed to bring the best out of people, but run in the wrong way it can cause people (and the things they make) to fall apart in the most horrifying ways.

Featuring: Alan Cumming, Russell Tovey, Rufus Wright, Melanie Gutteridge, Enzo Cilenti and Ed Gaughan

La La Land: Galileo's Warning: Galileo tried to teach us that adding more and more layers to a system intended to avert disaster - often makes catastrophe all the more likely to happen. His basic lesson has been ignored in nuclear power plants, financial markets and at the Oscars... all resulting in chaos.

Featuring: Archie Punjabi, Mircea Monroe, Enzo Cilenti, Ed Gaughan and Rufus Wright

How Britain Invented, Then Ignored, Blitzkrieg: In 1917, a brilliant British officer developed a brilliant way to use an emerging military technology: the tank. The British army promptly squandered the idea - but the Germans did not. Blitzkrieg, the devastating advance of German tanks across Europe in 1940, was invented by the other side.

This is a common story: Sony invented the iPod, Xerox the personal computer, and Kodak the digital camera. In each case they failed to capitalize on the idea. Why?

Featuring: Ed Gaughan, Rufus Wright, Toby Stephens.

How To See Into The Future (TBC): More than two and a half thousand years ago - so the story goes - King Croesus of Lydia consulted the oracle at Delphi. And the oracle assured him, he would destroy a mighty empire.

Reassured, Croesus launched his war, and was defeated. The oracle had been correct, but the mighty empire that Croesus destroyed was his own. Our modern oracles are predictive algorithms. And perhaps the strange old tale of King Croesus has a great deal to teach us about how to interact with these silicon prophets.

Featuring: Archie Punjabi, tbc

Bowie, Jazz and the Unplayable Piano: It was the biggest concert of Keith Jarrett's career - but the pianist was in for a shock when he entered Koln's opera house. The only piano at the venue was a broken-down wreck. Should he risk humiliation and play anyway or walk out? The collaboration between David Bowie and arch disruptor Brian Eno offers a lesson that staying in your comfort zone isn't always the best option.

Featuring: Archie Punjabi, Ed Gaughan, Rufus Wright, Mircea Monroe

CAUTIONARY TALES will release episodes every Friday and is available for free on all major podcast platforms.

Photo Credit: Donna Svennevik/Pushkin Industries