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 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.
Appearances
After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal · Britain's Worst Airship Disaster · 20 Jul 2026
podcast
He said, well, I couldn't have done anything, but maybe he didn't try.
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A Mr Frederick McWade, official airship inspector, came to examine the R101.
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Mr McWade climbed up between the mouldering gas bags, puffing and blowing with the effort.
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He was nearly of pensionable age after all, but then you don't spend 27 years inspecting airships without learning to recognise warning signs.
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He peered closely at the repaired gas bags.
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Could the patch-up job really be trusted to hold?
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How many hours of flight before it failed?
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Mr McWade had no doubts.
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His report was a thunderclap.
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R101 was grounded.
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But this was a thunderclap that nobody was prepared to hear, so they covered their ears.
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The R101 had been built by the government, and the government issued permits to fly.
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Nobody wanted to disappoint Lord Thomson, and so Mr McWade was overruled.
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It's called cautionary tales.
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So it's flown before.
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It's flown test flights.
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It's flown a demonstration flight over an air show where it... Not the same.
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It plunged towards the crowd and then just managed to bring its nose up.
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And everyone was like, oh, it...
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It nodded its nose in salute to the king and queen.
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Showing 281–300 of 476 · page 15 of 24
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