Shows / Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
True stories of ordinary people who did extraordinary things: a labourer who cut through a mountain, a clerk who hid children's names in glass jars, a stranger who changed everything. Short documentary episodes, carefully researched and sourced. Every life has a story worth remembering, including yours. Start writing it, one chapter at a time, at talesof.life
Episodes
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
Thinking Traps 6/8: Imagine Your Plan Already Failed. Now It Might Not (The Premortem)
Thinking Traps, lesson 5 of 7: the premortem. Before a big decision, the leader says: imagine it is a year from now, we went ahead, and it was a disaster…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
The First Record Breakers 5/7: They Said No Woman Could Swim the Channel. She Beat Every Man by 2 Hours (1926)
The First Record Breakers, Episode 5 of 7. In 1926 many people believed a woman could never swim the English Channel. Five men had done it. Gertrude Ederle, a…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
Thinking Traps 5/8: Their Book Was Due in 2 Years. It Took 8 (The Outside View)
Thinking Traps, lesson 4 of 7: the outside view. In the 1970s Daniel Kahneman's team agreed their new school textbook would take about two years. Then he asked…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
The First Record Breakers 4/7: A Doctor Told a Sick Boy to Swim. He Became the First to Break One Minute (1922)
The First Record Breakers, Episode 4 of 7. In 1922 nobody had ever swum 100 metres freestyle in under a minute. The great Duke Kahanamoku of Hawaii had come…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
Thinking Traps 4/8: 93% Said They Drive Better Than Average. Half of Them Can't (Overconfidence)
Thinking Traps, lesson 3 of 7: overconfidence. In a 1981 study, 93% of the American students asked put themselves in the top half of drivers for skill. Only…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
The First Record Breakers 3/7: He Set the First Official 100m World Record. The Next Day He Lost the Final (1912)
(00:00) Heat sixteen Chapters: (01:47) 10.6 (01:29) A boy from Philadelphia (00:54) Who was fastest?(02:22) Eight false starts(03:04) The rules(03:53) From…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
Thinking Traps 3/8: 2, 4, 6: The Simple Puzzle Most People Get Wrong (Confirmation Bias)
(02:12) Same evidence, two verdicts (01:59) What confirmation bias is (00:56) The real rule (00:00) The 2, 4, 6 puzzle Chapters: Thinking Traps, lesson 2 of 7…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
The First Record Breakers 2/7: The First Car to Go 100 km/h Wasn't Powered by Petrol. It Was Electric (1899)
The First Record Breakers, Episode 2 of 7. In 1899 no car on Earth had ever gone faster than 100 kilometres an hour. Two men near Paris were racing to be the…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
Thinking Traps 2/8: Same Facts, Different Words: Why "75% Lean" Beats "25% Fat" (The Framing Effect)
Chapters: Thinking Traps, lesson 1 of 7: the framing effect. Two packs of the same minced beef, one labelled 75% lean and one 25% fat. Most people choose the…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
The First Record Breakers 1/7: Everyone Said No Human Could Swim the Channel. A Sailor Did It in 1875
The First Record Breakers, Episode 1 of 7. In August 1875 nobody had ever swum across the English Channel, and most people thought nobody ever could. Then…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
The First Olympians 7/7: A Water Carrier Won the First Olympic Marathon (The True Story of Spyridon Louis)
(00:00) The stadium goes silent Chapters: The First Olympians, Episode 7 of 7, the finale. The true story of Spyridon Louis, a water carrier from the village…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
The First Olympians 3/7: His Father Drowned. He Won the Olympics in the Sea (The True Story of Alfréd Hajós)
The First Olympians, Episode 3 of 7. The true story of Alfréd Hajós, the 18-year-old from Budapest who became the first Olympic swimming champion. When he was…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
The First Olympians 6/7: They Wouldn't Let Her Run. So She Ran Alone (1896) (The True Story of Stamata Revithi)
(00:00) A signed piece of paper Chapters: The First Olympians, Episode 6 of 7. The true story of Stamata Revithi, a poor young mother from Piraeus who wanted…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
The First Olympians 5/7: Too Small to Wrestle? He Won the 1896 Olympics (The True Story of Carl Schuhmann)
Chapters: The First Olympians, Episode 5 of 7. The true story of Carl Schuhmann, a gymnast from Berlin who won four titles at the 1896 Athens Olympics in two…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
The First Olympians 4/7: He Came to Watch the 1896 Olympics. He Won Twice (The True Story of John Pius Boland)
(00:49) An orphan from Dublin (00:00) A visitor in Athens Chapters: The First Olympians, Episode 4 of 7. The true story of John Pius Boland, a young Irishman…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
The First Olympians 2/7: Harvard Said No. He Went to Athens Anyway (1896) (The True Story of James Brendan Connolly)
The First Olympians, Episode 2 of 7. The true story of James Brendan Connolly, the son of poor Irish immigrants from South Boston, who became the first Olympic…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
Billie Eilish's Parents Slept in the Living Room: The Family Behind the Bedroom Album
A short documentary about a family, and three ordinary choices any family can make. No music by the artists is used. In a small two-bedroom house in Highland…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
The First Olympians 1/7: He Was a Cook. He Became the First Olympic Champion (The True Story of Koroibos)
The First Olympians, Episode 1 of 7. The true story of Koroibos of Elis, a cook who won the only race of the Olympic Games in 776 BC and became the first…
Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True StoriesKoroibos: The Cook Who Won the First Olympics in 776 BC
The First Olympians, Episode 1 of 7. The true story of Koroibos of Elis, a cook who won the only race of the Olympic Games in 776 BC and became the first…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
His Wife Kept Cutting Herself. So He Made the Band-Aid: The True Story of Earle Dickson
(00:00) A cut in the kitchen Chapters: The true story of Earle Dickson, the Johnson & Johnson cotton buyer who made the first Band-Aid in 1920 for his wife…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
Nobody Would Push His Cart. So He Paid People To: The True Story of Sylvan N. Goldman
(00:00) The invention nobody used Chapters: The true story of Sylvan Goldman, the Oklahoma City grocer who invented the shopping cart. In 1936 he looked at two…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
A Dog Walk and Sticky Burrs Gave Us Velcro: The True Story of George de Mestral
The true story of George de Mestral, the Swiss engineer who invented Velcro after a walk with his dog. In the summer of 1941 he came home from the Jura…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
Her China Kept Chipping. So She Invented the Dishwasher: The True Story of Josephine Garis Cochrane
Chapters: The true story of Josephine Cochrane, the woman from Illinois who invented the first practical dishwasher. Her fine family china kept coming back…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
A Snowy Streetcar Ride Gave Every Car a Wiper: The True Story of Mary Anderson
The true story of Mary Anderson, the woman from Alabama who invented the windshield wiper. On a snowy winter visit to New York in the early 1900s, she watched…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
We Landed on the Moon Before Suitcases Got Wheels: The True Story of Bernard Sadow
The true story of Bernard Sadow, the luggage company executive who put wheels on suitcases in 1970, a year after people walked on the Moon. Dragging two heavy…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
No Pedals, No Horse: The First Bike Ride of 1817: The True Story of Karl Drais
(00:00) The first ride, 1817 Chapters: The true story of Karl Drais, the German inventor who rode the first two-wheeled running machine on 12 June 1817: two…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
He Didn't Want to Walk to a Sausage Stand. So He Changed How Cities Move: The True Story of Wim Ouboter
(00:53) No money, no experience (00:00) A sausage one kilometre away Chapters: The true story of Wim Ouboter, the man from Zurich who invented the Micro…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
Equilibrium Price: How a Market Finds the Right Price on Its Own | A Life Well Lived
Every life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life (04:22) A life well lived (02:41) Marshall's fish market and time (01:58) Too low: a shortage…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
Marginal Utility: Why the Third Slice Is Never as Good as the First | A Life Well Lived
(00:52) What marginal utility means (00:00) The first glass of water On a hot day the first glass of cold water is wonderful, and by the fifth you'd rather…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
Elasticity: Why Some Prices Can Double and Nobody Stops Buying | A Life Well Lived
(04:05) Why it matters (02:33) Four clues (01:31) Elastic and inelastic (01:02) What elasticity means (00:00) Salt or a restaurant? If salt doubled in price…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
Supply and Demand, Explained by the Man Who Made It Famous | A Life Well Lived
Every life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life (04:31) Both blades in everyday life (03:22) Moving the whole curve (02:30) Marshall's…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
The Bank Clerk's Son Who Taught the World How Markets Work: The True Story of Alfred Marshall
Every life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life (05:43) A life well lived (04:58) Students and a library (03:46) The book of his life (03:24)…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
Two Officers Said Fire. He Said No: The True Story of Vasili Arkhipov
(08:54) Forty years of silence (07:46) Up into the light (06:42) Three officers, one vote (05:27) Hunted (04:39) Thirteen days (03:13) A secret voyage (02:21)…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
28 Men Trapped in Antarctic Ice. All 28 Came Home: The True Story of Shackleton's Endurance
(05:08) Elephant Island (04:14) Camps on the ice (03:27) Leaving the ship (02:23) Frozen in (01:40) By endurance we conquer (00:54) A man who turned back…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
He Planted a Forest Bigger Than Central Park. Alone: The True Story of Jadav Payeng
(05:03) The elephants and the villagers (04:04) The animals come back (02:58) The one who stayed (02:22) Twenty bamboo seedlings (01:58) Snakes on the sand…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
He Didn't Want to Fight. Then 132 Men Surrendered: The True Story of Alvin York
In 1917 a Tennessee farmer named Alvin York wrote "Don't want to fight" on his draft card. He asked to be excused from the war as a conscientious objector and…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
9 People on a Rock in a Storm. She Rowed Out
The true story of Grace Darling, the lighthouse keeper's daughter who rowed into a storm. On 7 September 1838 the steamship Forfarshire broke in two on Big…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
4 Men Died on This Arctic Island. She Survived Alone
The true survival story of Ada Blackjack. In September 1921, five people were left on Wrangel Island in the Arctic: four experienced men and a 23-year-old…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
She Said No to a Pill the World Called Safe
In September 1960, Frances Kelsey, a new medical officer at the US Food and Drug Administration, was handed what looked like an easy file: thalidomide, a…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
Two Spoonfuls of Tuna Every Two Days: The Chilean Miners' Leader
On 5 August 2010 the San José mine in Chile's Atacama Desert collapsed and trapped 33 men about 700 metres underground. Their shift foreman, 54-year-old Luis…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
She Buried Children's Real Names in Glass Jars
In occupied Warsaw, a 32-year-old social worker named Irena Sendler walked into the sealed ghetto with a pass to check for typhus, and walked out with…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
His Grandfather's Stories Were Never Written Down. So He Built This.
The founder of Tale of Life had a grandfather who told the same amazing stories hundreds of times. Nobody ever wrote them down, and now they are fading. That…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
At 63, She Went Over Niagara Falls in a Barrel
On 24 October 1901, her 63rd birthday, a widowed schoolteacher named Annie Edson Taylor climbed into an oak barrel above Niagara Falls. No one had ever gone…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
He Refused to Carry a Gun. Then He Saved 75 Men.
In 1942, Desmond Doss joined the US Army and refused to carry a weapon. His fellow soldiers called him a coward, and his officers tried to have him thrown out…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
The Night One Man Stopped a Nuclear War
Shortly after midnight on 26 September 1983, in a secret bunker south of Moscow, the Soviet early-warning system reported that the United States had launched a…
- Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories
The Mountain Man: 22 Years, One Hammer
In a poor village in Bihar, India, a rocky ridge stood between the people of Gehlaur and the nearest doctor. After his wife Falguni Devi was badly injured…