Tales of Life: Ordinary People, Extraordinary True Stories

Episodes

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  Thinking Traps 3/8: 2, 4, 6: The Simple Puzzle Most People Get Wrong (Confirmation Bias) 30.10.2026 5m

  (02:12) Same evidence, two verdicts(01:59) What confirmation bias is(00:56) The real rule(00:00) The 2, 4, 6 puzzleChapters:Thinking Traps, lesson 2 of 7: confirmation bias. I'm thinking of a rule, and 2, 4, 6 fits it. Can you find the rule? In 1960 the psychologist Peter Wason gave people this puzzle, and most of them confidently announced the wrong answer, because they only tested numbers that fitted their own idea. You'll learn what confirmation bias is, the Stanford study where two groups read the same evidence and both became more sure of themselves, where the bias hides in searches, sport and family stories, and three ways to beat it, including Charles Darwin's golden rule.(04:52) Family stories(03:40) Three ways to beat it(02:49) Where it hidesEvery life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=tt-confirmationSources: Wason (1960), On the failure to eliminate hypotheses in a conceptual task, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 12; Lord, Ross & Lepper (1979), Biased assimilation and attitude polarization, JPSP 37; Charles Darwin, Autobiography (1887), the golden rule; Wikipedia - Confirmation bias.Who in your family remembers a different version of a story you know? Get free questions to help you write it: https://talesof.life/life-story-question-generator/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=tt_confirmation
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  The First Record Breakers 2/7: The First Car to Go 100 km/h Wasn't Powered by Petrol. It Was Electric (1899) 29.10.2026 6m

  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 first: a French count and a red-bearded Belgian engineer called Camille Jenatzy, nicknamed the Red Devil. In four months they set the world speed record six times between them. Then Jenatzy built a bullet-shaped car called La Jamais Contente, the Never Satisfied, and on 29 April 1899 it reached 105.88 km/h. The surprise: it ran on batteries. The true story of the first car faster than 100 km/h: who built it, why, and how.Chapters:(00:54) The Red Devil(00:00) A road near ParisEvery life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=rb-jenatzySources: Wikipedia - La Jamais Contente; Wikipedia - Camille Jenatzy; Wikipedia - Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat; Wikipedia - Land speed record.What was the first car in your family, and who drove it? Get free questions to help you write it: https://talesof.life/life-story-question-generator/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=rb_jenatzy(04:56) Never satisfied(04:08) Petrol wins(03:19) 105.88 km/h(02:34) The Never Satisfied(01:53) Six records(01:29) The count
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  Thinking Traps 2/8: Same Facts, Different Words: Why "75% Lean" Beats "25% Fat" (The Framing Effect) 28.10.2026 6m

  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 lean one, and even say it tastes better. In 1981 Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman showed how far this goes: when the same disease programme was described as lives saved, 72% chose the safe option; when it was described as lives lost, 78% chose the gamble. You'll learn why frames work, where you meet them every day (shops, doctors, deadlines), and three simple ways to see through them.(00:53) 600 people(00:00) Lean or fat?(02:29) Frames all around us(04:02) Three ways to see throughHow would you frame the hardest chapter of your life? Get free questions to help you write it: https://talesof.life/life-story-question-generator/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=tt_framing(04:49) Your own storySources: Tversky & Kahneman (1981), The Framing of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice, Science 211; Levin & Gaeth (1988), How Consumers Are Affected by the Framing of Attribute Information, Journal of Consumer Research; Gächter et al. (2009), Are experimental economists prone to framing effects?, JEBO 70; Wikipedia - Framing effect (psychology).Every life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=tt-framing(01:58) Why frames work
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  The First Record Breakers 1/7: Everyone Said No Human Could Swim the Channel. A Sailor Did It in 1875 27.10.2026 6m

  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 Matthew Webb, a 27-year-old sailor from Shropshire, dived off Admiralty Pier in Dover covered in porpoise oil. He swam through a jellyfish sting, a long night and tides that dragged him back and forth, and after 21 hours and 45 minutes he walked ashore near Calais. It would be 36 years before anyone did it again. The true story of the first person to swim the Channel: who he was, why he tried, and how he did it.Chapters:Who in your family did something first? Get free questions to help you write it: https://talesof.life/life-story-question-generator/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=rb_webb{CHAPTERS_SPOTIFY}Every life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=rb-webbSources: Wikipedia - Matthew Webb; Dover Historian - Captain Matthew Webb, the first person to swim the Channel; Wikipedia - Paul Boyton.
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  The First Olympians 7/7: A Water Carrier Won the First Olympic Marathon (The True Story of Spyridon Louis) 25.10.2026 5m

  (00:00) The stadium goes silentChapters:The First Olympians, Episode 7 of 7, the finale. The true story of Spyridon Louis, a water carrier from the village of Marousi near Athens, who won the first Olympic marathon on 10 April 1896. The race was a brand-new idea, inspired by the legend of a messenger who ran from Marathon to Athens. The favourites dropped out one by one, Louis stopped in a village halfway for a drink, and then ran into the Panathenaic Stadium first, where two Greek princes ran the last lap beside him. His time was 2 hours, 58 minutes and 50 seconds. Offered rich gifts, he asked for a horse and cart for his water business. The series ends where it began: with an ordinary working man as the hero of the Games.(00:51) A water carrier from Marousi(01:22) A brand-new race(02:02) The favourites fall(02:39) A drink at Pikermi(03:10) Into the stadium(03:48) A horse and cart(04:31) The end of the series(04:51) What we can learnEvery life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=louisSources: Wikipedia - Spyridon Louis; Olympics.com - Local hero Spyridon Louis earns cult status in marathon; World Athletics - 1896 Olympic marathon: Spiridon Louis 125th anniversary and the Bréal Cup; Wikipedia - Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics, men's marathon.Who in your family worked hard all their life and never asked for much? Get free questions to ask them: https://talesof.life/life-story-question-generator/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=louis
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  The First Olympians 3/7: His Father Drowned. He Won the Olympics in the Sea (The True Story of Alfréd Hajós) 24.10.2026 5m

  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 thirteen, his father drowned in the Danube, and the boy decided to become a strong swimmer. At the 1896 Athens Olympics there was no pool: the swimmers were taken out by boat into the cold, rough water of the Bay of Zea and had to swim back to shore. Hajós won the 100 metres and the 1,200 metres, covered in grease against the cold, and later said his will to live had beaten his wish to win. He went on to become an architect and designed the swimming stadium in Budapest that now carries his name.Chapters:(00:00) Into the cold sea(00:50) The Danube(01:20) No pool in Athens(01:57) The 100 metres(02:31) 1,200 metres of waves(03:15) In the water(03:42) The architect(04:24) What we can learnWhich old family story shaped the people who came after? Get free questions to ask them: https://talesof.life/life-story-question-generator/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=hajosEvery life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=hajosSources: Olympics.com - Hajos turns tragedy into glory in the water; Wikipedia - Alfréd Hajós; Swimming World Magazine - Hungary's Alfréd Hajós overcomes heartbreak to become first Olympic champion; Wikipedia - Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics.
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  The First Olympians 6/7: They Wouldn't Let Her Run. So She Ran Alone (1896) (The True Story of Stamata Revithi) 24.10.2026 5m

  (00:00) A signed piece of paperChapters:The First Olympians, Episode 6 of 7. The true story of Stamata Revithi, a poor young mother from Piraeus who wanted to run the first Olympic marathon in 1896. The organisers refused to let her start. So the next morning she asked the teacher, the mayor and the magistrate of Marathon to sign a paper with her starting time, and ran the whole route to Athens alone, in about five and a half hours. Soldiers stopped her before the Olympic stadium, and she asked them to sign her arrival time too. Then she disappears from history. Women first ran an Olympic marathon 88 years later, in 1984.Every life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=revithiSources: Wikipedia - Stamata Revithi; Marathons.com - Stamata Revithi, the anonymous glory; Wikipedia - Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics, men's marathon; Wikipedia - Women's marathon at the 1984 Summer Olympics.Which brave woman in your family was never written about? Get free questions to ask them: https://talesof.life/life-story-question-generator/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=revithi(04:43) What we can learn(03:58) Melpomene(03:22) Stopped at the gate(02:45) Running alone(02:10) Not allowed(01:33) The road to Marathon(00:53) A mother from Piraeus
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  The First Olympians 5/7: Too Small to Wrestle? He Won the 1896 Olympics (The True Story of Carl Schuhmann) 23.10.2026 5m

  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 different sports. He won the vault and two team gymnastics events, and then entered the wrestling, where there were no weight classes. Much smaller and lighter than most of his opponents, he beat the weightlifting champion Launceston Elliot, and in the final wrestled the Greek Georgios Tsitas for 40 minutes until it grew too dark to continue. The next morning he won. He also lifted weights and jumped in the athletics events. Today his gravestone in Berlin carries the five Olympic rings.(00:50) A gymnast from Berlin(00:00) The wrestler in the dark(01:28) Three gymnastics titles(02:36) Beating the strongest man(01:57) No weight classes(03:13) Forty minutes(04:12) Rings on a gravestone(03:38) Everything at once(04:47) What we can learnSources: Wikipedia - Carl Schuhmann; Wikipedia - Wrestling at the 1896 Summer Olympics, men's Greco-Roman; Olympics.com - Carl Schuhmann; Wikipedia - Gymnastics at the 1896 Summer Olympics.Who in your family was told they were too small for something, and did it anyway? Get free questions to ask them: https://talesof.life/life-story-question-generator/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=schuhmannEvery life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=schuhmann
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  The First Olympians 4/7: He Came to Watch the 1896 Olympics. He Won Twice (The True Story of John Pius Boland) 22.10.2026 5m

  (00:49) An orphan from Dublin(00:00) A visitor in AthensChapters:The First Olympians, Episode 4 of 7. The true story of John Pius Boland, a young Irishman who lost both parents by the age of twelve, studied law at Oxford and went to Athens at Easter 1896 to visit a Greek friend and watch the first modern Olympics. His friend, who was on the organising committee, entered him in the tennis tournament. Boland won the singles, and then won the doubles together with the German player he had beaten in the first round. When the flags went up, he asked for the flag of Ireland. Later he became a member of parliament, worked all his life for education in Ireland, and died on St Patrick's Day 1958.(02:01) Four matches(01:26) Easter in Athens(02:29) Rival, then partner(03:31) A life of service(02:59) A harp on greenSources: Wikipedia - John Pius Boland; Olympedia - John Boland; Olympics.com - John Boland; Wikipedia - Tennis at the 1896 Summer Olympics.Which simple yes changed your family's story? Get free questions to ask them: https://talesof.life/life-story-question-generator/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=boland(04:28) What we can learnEvery life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=boland
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  The First Olympians 2/7: Harvard Said No. He Went to Athens Anyway (1896) (The True Story of James Brendan Connolly) 21.10.2026 6m

  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 champion of the modern era at the 1896 Athens Olympics. Harvard refused to give him leave to travel, so he withdrew from the university and went anyway. On the way he was robbed in Naples and had to chase the thief to get his ticket back. On 6 April 1896, on the first day of the Games, he won the triple jump with 13.71 metres, the first Olympic title in more than 1,500 years. Later he became a writer of sea stories, and when Harvard finally offered him an honorary doctorate, he said no.Chapters:(00:56) A boy from South Boston(00:00) The first jumpEvery life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=connollySources: Wikipedia - James Brendan Connolly; Olympics.com - Connolly takes a leap into the history books; Wikipedia - Athletics at the 1896 Summer Olympics, men's triple jump; Wikipedia - 1896 Summer Olympics.Who in your family went anyway when everyone said no? Get free questions to ask them: https://talesof.life/life-story-question-generator/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=connolly(04:56) What we can learn(04:14) A life at sea(03:42) Silver for the winner(02:52) Hop, hop, jump(02:19) Robbed in Naples(01:37) Harvard says no
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  Billie Eilish's Parents Slept in the Living Room: The Family Behind the Bedroom Album 20.10.2026 10m

  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 Park, Los Angeles, two actor parents slept in the living room so their children could each have a bedroom. In one of those rooms, with an 80-dollar microphone, Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas recorded a song for her dance teacher, and later the album that won the four biggest Grammy Awards in one night.Every life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=billie-eilish-family-true-storySources: Wikipedia (Billie Eilish), Sound On Sound, People/AOL, GPB News.Who in your family gave up something so you could grow? Free questions to ask them: https://talesof.life/life-story-question-generator/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=billie
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  The First Olympians 1/7: He Was a Cook. He Became the First Olympic Champion (The True Story of Koroibos) 19.10.2026 7m

  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 Olympic champion whose name we know. He ran one length of the stadium at Olympia, about 192 metres, and his prize was a wreath of wild olive. How do we know his name almost 2,800 years later, what historians still doubt, and how a French baron brought the Games back to life in Athens in 1896? This is the beginning of our seven-part series about the first Olympians.Chapters:(00:00) One race, one cook(01:02) Olympia(01:57) The race(02:40) How we know his name(03:34) A thousand years of Games(04:20) Coming back to life(05:27) What we can learnSources: Wikipedia - Coroebus of Elis; Wikipedia - Ancient Olympic Games; Olympics.com - Ancient Olympic Games; Wikipedia - 1896 Summer Olympics.Who in your family deserves to be remembered by name? Get free questions to ask them: https://talesof.life/life-story-question-generator/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=koroibosEvery life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=koroibos
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  His Wife Kept Cutting Herself. So He Made the Band-Aid: The True Story of Earle Dickson 18.10.2026 5m

  (00:00) A cut in the kitchenChapters:The true story of Earle Dickson, the Johnson & Johnson cotton buyer who made the first Band-Aid in 1920 for his wife Josephine. She kept cutting and burning her fingers in the kitchen, and the big bandages of the time would not stay on. Earle laid small squares of gauze along a strip of surgical tape, covered it with crinoline and rolled it up, so she could cut off a bandage herself whenever she needed one. His boss loved it, but in the first year only 3,000 dollars' worth were sold. Then the company gave them away to Boy Scouts, machines began making them in 1924, and more than a hundred billion have been made since.(01:28) Tape, gauze and crinoline(00:49) A cotton buyer(02:17) Only 3,000 dollars(02:02) Show me(02:46) The Boy Scouts(04:29) What we can learn(03:32) A hundred billionWho in your family always had a bandage, a hug and a story ready? Get free questions to ask them: https://talesof.life/life-story-question-generator/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=dicksonEvery life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=earle-dickson-band-aid-true-storySources: Smithsonian Magazine - Get Stuck on Band-Aid History; Lemelson-MIT - Earle Dickson; Wikipedia - Earle Dickson.
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  Nobody Would Push His Cart. So He Paid People To: The True Story of Sylvan N. Goldman 18.10.2026 5m

  (00:00) The invention nobody usedChapters:The true story of Sylvan Goldman, the Oklahoma City grocer who invented the shopping cart. In 1936 he looked at two folding chairs in his office and imagined a basket on the seat and wheels on the legs. With his mechanic Fred Young he built a folding frame with two wire baskets, and on 4 June 1937 it went into his Humpty Dumpty stores. Nobody used it: men did not want to look too weak to carry a basket, and women said it looked like a baby carriage. So Goldman hired people to push the carts around the store as if they were shopping. Soon stores across America wanted them, and today his idea is in almost every supermarket.Every life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=sylvan-goldman-shopping-cart-true-storySources: Oklahoma Historical Society - Oklahoma History Center audio tour (Sylvan Goldman's shopping cart); Gulf Times - Simple yet brilliant: the shopping cart 80 years on; Wikipedia - Sylvan Goldman.Who did the shopping in your family when you were a child? Get free questions to ask them: https://talesof.life/life-story-question-generator/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=goldman(04:14) What we can learn(03:18) Everyone wants one(02:46) Paid to push it(02:18) Too proud to push(02:08) 4 June 1937(01:36) Two folding chairs(00:50) A grocer from Oklahoma
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  A Dog Walk and Sticky Burrs Gave Us Velcro: The True Story of George de Mestral 17.10.2026 5m

  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 mountains covered in burdock burrs. Under a microscope he saw hundreds of tiny hooks catching on the loops of the fabric. People laughed at his idea of a fastener made the same way. With a weaver in Lyon he spent years trying, until he found that nylon sewn under hot infrared light formed tough little hooks. He named it Velcro, from the French words for velvet and hook. Tailors thought it looked cheap, but NASA used it on the Apollo missions, and today it holds our shoes, jackets and bags.Chapters:(00:00) Covered in burrs(00:51) A boy who invented(01:22) Under the microscope(02:01) Cotton, then nylon(02:51) Velvet and hook(03:22) To the Moon(04:20) What we can learnWho in your family always took things apart to see how they worked? Get free questions to ask them: https://talesof.life/life-story-question-generator/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=demestralSources: WIPO - From a Mountain Walk to 2,100 Patents: The Velcro IP Story; Swissinfo - How a Swiss invention hooked the world; Wikipedia - George de Mestral.Every life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=george-de-mestral-velcro-true-story
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  Her China Kept Chipping. So She Invented the Dishwasher: The True Story of Josephine Garis Cochrane 16.10.2026 5m

  Chapters:The true story of Josephine Cochrane, the woman from Illinois who invented the first practical dishwasher. Her fine family china kept coming back chipped after dinner parties. When her husband died in 1883, he left her about 1,535 dollars and debts. With no engineering training, she measured every plate, cup and saucer, built wire racks inside a wheel in a copper boiler and sprayed the dishes with hot soapy water. She received her patent in 1886, her machines washed dishes at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and won an award, and hotels and restaurants bought them. Her company later became part of KitchenAid.(00:00) Chipped china(00:55) A family of inventors(01:43) Widowed and in debt(02:13) Racks, a wheel and hot water(02:00) I'll do it myself(03:03) The 1893 World's Fair(03:39) Her own factory(04:12) Into every kitchen(04:53) What we can learnWho in your family ran the household with clever tricks? Get free questions to ask them: https://talesof.life/life-story-question-generator/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=cochraneSources: IEEE Spectrum - Who invented the dishwasher?; Wikipedia - Josephine Cochrane; Popular Science - The forgotten story of the woman who invented the dishwasher.Every life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=josephine-cochrane-dishwasher-true-story
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  A Snowy Streetcar Ride Gave Every Car a Wiper: The True Story of Mary Anderson 15.10.2026 5m

  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 a streetcar driver open his window again and again to clear the glass by hand. She designed a rubber blade on an arm outside the glass, moved by a lever from inside, and received a patent in November 1903. A company wrote that it had no commercial value, and her patent ran out in 1920, before the idea took off. Two years later Cadillac made wipers standard. In 2011 she joined the National Inventors Hall of Fame.Chapters:(00:00) A snowy streetcar(00:55) A woman from Alabama(01:36) The driver and the glass(02:06) A blade and a lever(02:46) No commercial value(03:12) The patent runs out(04:17) What we can learn(03:43) Remembered at lastWho in your family always found a smarter way to do things? Get free questions to ask them: https://talesof.life/life-story-question-generator/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=andersonSources: National Inventors Hall of Fame - Mary Anderson; Wikipedia - Mary Anderson (inventor); Google Patents - US743801A Window-cleaning device.Every life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=mary-anderson-windshield-wiper-true-story
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  We Landed on the Moon Before Suitcases Got Wheels: The True Story of Bernard Sadow 14.10.2026 5m

  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 suitcases through an airport on the way home from a family holiday in Aruba, he watched a worker roll a heavy machine on a wheeled platform and said: that's what we need for luggage. Department stores turned him down because they thought men would rather carry their bags. Then Macy's said yes, and in 1972 he received the patent for rolling luggage. Seventeen years later a pilot stood the suitcase upright on two wheels, and today almost every suitcase rolls.Who in your family always carries everyone's bags? Get free questions to ask them: https://talesof.life/life-story-question-generator/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=sadowChapters:(00:00) Two heavy suitcases(00:51) Before wheels(01:28) The worker with the platform(01:53) Four wheels and a strap(02:11) The stores said no(02:45) The luggage that glides(03:13) The patent and the copies(03:57) The pilot's idea(04:40) What we can learnSources: Smithsonian Lemelson Center - Invention Stories: Roll-aboard; Wikipedia - Suitcase (history of wheeled luggage); Gulf Times - What was life like before luggage had wheels?Every life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life
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  No Pedals, No Horse: The First Bike Ride of 1817: The True Story of Karl Drais 13.10.2026 7m

  (00:00) The first ride, 1817Chapters:The true story of Karl Drais, the German inventor who rode the first two-wheeled running machine on 12 June 1817: two wooden wheels in a line, a seat, a steering bar and no pedals. The year before, a volcanic eruption on the other side of the world had brought Europe a year without a summer, when food was scarce even for horses. Drais rode about 14 kilometres out of Mannheim and back in around an hour. Crowds paid to watch his machine in Paris and London went wild for the dandy horse, but copies spread everywhere and Drais died penniless in 1851. Today every bicycle, and every toddler's balance bike, still rolls on his idea.(00:59) An inventor in Baden(01:25) A year without a summer(02:16) Two wheels in a line(03:20) Paris and London(03:55) Copied everywhere(04:42) Penniless(05:06) From his idea to every bike(06:10) What we can learnEvery life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.lifeSources: Wikipedia - Karl Drais; Cycling UK - Draisienne 1817-2017: 200 years of cycling innovation and design; German Patent and Trade Mark Office - 200 years of the patent for the first bicycle.Who taught you to ride a bike? Get free questions to ask them: https://talesof.life/life-story-question-generator/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=drais
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  He Didn't Want to Walk to a Sausage Stand. So He Changed How Cities Move: The True Story of Wim Ouboter 13.10.2026 6m

  (00:53) No money, no experience(00:00) A sausage one kilometre awayChapters:The true story of Wim Ouboter, the man from Zurich who invented the Micro scooter because his favourite sausage stand was about one kilometre away: too far to walk, too close to take the car. With little money and no experience in the industry, he launched a three-wheeled kickboard with the sports brand K2, started his own company and built the little folding Micro scooter. At its peak it sold 80,000 scooters a day and more than 30 million in a year. Then sales collapsed: more than 500 factories copied his idea. Instead of giving up, he kept inventing: the Mini Micro for small children, the eMicro One in 2013, one of the first electric kick scooters, and now his sons Oliver and Merlin build the tiny electric city car Microlino. A warm story about taking small problems seriously, starting again, and passing curiosity on to the next generation.(01:30) The kickboard(02:30) 80,000 a daySources: Micro Mobility Systems (The Micro Success Story), Levy Electric, Lyft blog.Who in your family is always tinkering with a better idea? Get free questions to ask them: https://talesof.life/life-story-question-generator/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=ouboter(05:03) What we can learn(04:28) His sons' car(04:05) The electric scooter(03:32) Starting again(02:55) Five hundred copiesEvery life has a story. Start writing yours: https://talesof.life