Tim Harford

speaker

476 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Jul 2026 last heard 20 Jul

Tim Harford’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.

Appearances

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After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal · Britain's Worst Airship Disaster · 20 Jul 2026 podcast

Oh, absolutely. voice-verified

Absolutely. voice-verified

So let's talk about some of the things that happened that should have called a halt to this project, or at least put it on pause. voice-verified

So the first is Barnes Wallace, the designer of the R100. voice-verified

is shown the plans for the R101 and basically says this is crude and over-elaborate and unworkable. voice-verified

But he doesn't say anything. voice-verified

He just writes back and says, until our arrangements are shown to be unsatisfactory, I prefer our design for the R100. voice-verified

Ours is better. voice-verified

See you. voice-verified

But then why would he give any advice? voice-verified

Basically, all of their jobs are on the line. voice-verified

They've got to win this competition. voice-verified

They've got to build a better airship. voice-verified

Why would you give any advice? voice-verified

The first officer, Noel Atherston, is writing in his diary. voice-verified

He is convinced that the ship is not airworthy. voice-verified

There is a moment where an inspector, Frederick McWade, climbs up inside the airship. voice-verified

We might be able to hear that. voice-verified

But there are also several moments where people write to senior officials and say, the airship's not safe, there are problems, and nobody says anything. voice-verified

So one of the weird accidents of history is Neville Shute, the novelist, was actually on the design team of the R100 and wrote on the R100. voice-verified

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