Pushkin.

You might have noticed that things are a little different on cautionary tales this year.

In 2024, we brought you a new episode every fortnight.

But this year, we are doubling our output.

New stories of heart-thumping peril, mind-blowing mistakes, and jaw-dropping scandal will now be delivered straight to your ears every week.

Here's one for you right now.

This episode, which combines Oscar ceremony Stardust with the far less glamorous world of taxation,

was recorded in front of a live audience at the Bristol Festival of Economics. Ernest Borgnine was getting tired of playing heavies.

Nearing 40, thickening around the middle and thinning on top, the actor was running out

of time to become a Hollywood leading man.

Ernest had joined the US Navy right out of high school, but on leaving in 1945 had struggled to

find work amidst the mass of men returning home from war. He'd pack a lunch and stand outside factories in his

hometown just in case they were hiring. They weren't. But life on the production line didn't

much appeal anyway. After navigating the high seas, to Ernest, the factories of Connecticut

looked like jails. It was Ernest's the factories of Connecticut looked like jails.

It was Ernest's mother, Italian-born Anna Bonigno,

who suggested he enter show business.

It didn't seem an obvious career choice to Ernest.

Why should he become an actor of all things?

You always like to make a damn fool of yourself, making people laugh.

Why don't you give it a try?

So try he did.

...