Cambridge Coincidences Collection

Well I Never!

Professor David Spiegelhalter of Cambridge University wants to know about your coincidences!

Why? By recording your coincidence stories here, you can help him build a picture of what kinds of coincidences are out there and which ones seem to ‘get to’ us the most. Your coincidence stories can also help him explore the scientific explanations which may account for them – whether by doing the maths to calculate the chances of a coincidence, or speculating on the weird and wonderful workings of our brains.

Coincidences tend to be ‘surprising matches’ – sometimes they are lucky, sometimes unlucky, sometimes just mind-boggling. To help you recall the coincidences that have happened in your life, here’s a list of some common types of coincidence:

  • Surprising repetitions: for instance when you’ve had not contact with someone for ages, then find two connections to them very close together in time. Or when over several years multiple members of the same family are born with the same birthday. Or even a repetition of a really rare event – like winning the lottery twice, or your life being saved twice by the same person!
  • Simultaneous events: for example when two people phone each other at exactly the same time.
  • Parallel lives: such as when two people in a small group find they share a birthday or an unusual name, or when two people discover their lives match each other in bizarre details.
  • Uncanny patterns: imagine picking letters in Scrabble that spell your name.
  • Unlikely chains of events: perhaps you lost your false teeth overboard and found them inside a fish you caught twenty years later?

If anything coincidental has happened to you - anything that made you stop and say "well, what were the chances of that..?" - then please record your story in the form below! Please try to keep your story personal - about you or someone you know. The only thing we'd ask you to steer clear of are premonitions or déjà vu, purely because - whilst fascinating - they're quite common and also difficult to analyse.

You could also tell us about coincidences in the news, but please provide a link to a reliable source!


Title: two or three words that give a simple description of your story, eg ‘old friend’ or ‘birthday coincidence’
Coincidence: tell your coincidence story - and please include plenty of relevant detail (places, dates, numbers etc.) and include your first name if you want.
Email address (optional): please leave an email address, as then we can get in touch to find out more!

All of the information entered below except your email address will be published on this website when you press save




By ticking this box you agree that your email address can be forwarded to Wingspan Productions Ltd, who are making a BBC television programme about Chance and would like to feature Professor David Spiegelhalter's coincidence collection. In doing so you agree that the producers of the programme may contact you directly to ask you more about your story, though whether you decide to help them is entirely up to you. Your details will not be forwarded to any other party or used for marketing purposes.


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Star City Casino

One day we had friends come to Sydney for a holiday so we took them out to Star City Casino for dinner, after dinner a few of us walked to a roulette table to watch, when I said to my brother in law I bet you number 31 is going to come up not putting any money on it, then yep, number 31 came up, I then said to him I bet you the same number comes up again, he looked at me and said put some money on it, I didn't put any money on it and the yep, it came up again, we decide to move on to the next roulette table to see the amounts people were betting, as soon as we got there I did't say a

So Close...Never Meeting

I recently started dating a man, I'm 36, he's 45 in talking to him I realized we had both lived in the same house at one time...he was in it five years before I moved in (I was 16 at the time we lived there) and in talking some more we realized that at the house we had lived at before this one...his brother lived right behind us...we had to have passed each other many times without even realizing...until we were introduced by my sisters boyfriend.

Birthdate matching (sort of)

I have a work colleague - she and I were born exactly two years and one day apart (me on 9 January 1969, and her on 10 January 1971). We both have one child (daughters in both cases). As it turns out, our daughters were also born exactly two years and one day apart (my daughter on 17 May 2007, and her daughter on 16 May 2005).

Unlikely chains of events / Synchromysticism.

Have you heard of synchromysticism ? Synchromysticism is a portmanteau of the words "synchronicity" and "mysticism." The synchromystic world-view is that every-Thing in the universe is connected. All symbols have multiple layers of information, histories, and interpretations. Given enough time and information, eventually all symbols, themes and ideas will be found to contain information about all the others so that each piece of the puzzle becomes holographic in nature; meaning that by focusing on one idea, all others can potentially be expressed.

Three consecutive catches dropped by the same fielder in a cricket match

This refers to a cricket match in the Indian Premier League between the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings played on the played on the 5th of May. The fielder in question was Kieron Pollard, the batsman was Michael Hussey and the bowler was Mitchell Johnson. The fielder dropped three consecutive catches of the batsman off the same bowler in the same over. Also the field positions were the same in all the three drops.

Bryanston Square London W1

In 1997 I lived for about six months in a flat belonging to my employer in 24 Bryanston Square, London W1, an upmarket address in the Marylebone area. A few years later, out of curiosity, I did an internet search on my full name: moderately common first name G, common middle name with two spellings P, moderately common English surname with three possible spellings L. I learned that three doors down in Bryanston Square, in the mid-nineteenth century, had been the London home of a man employed in Queen Victoria's personal household with exactly the same full name as myself, including

Men Leaving my life on the same date!

My dad past away on 16 March 2008 from a heart attack, my stepmom called me to help but I couldn't. On 16 March 2011 I got divorced, I didn't ask for the date it just happened. Yesterday I visitd my grandads grave after haven't been there for many years. It freaked me out when I saw his date of death was also 16 March 1988. I remembered that day. My grandmother called me to help but also I couldn't. Did I do something wrong? I also noticed his year of birth is the pin to my bank card! Weird!

WWII Family Link

All the Pahlka family in the U.S. comes from a Charles and Elizibeth Pahlka and their eight sons. During WWII, a David Pahlka from Portland, Oregon was shot down in the Pacific. All ships were called out to search for the possible survivors. H.I. Pahlka, from Oklahoma was given a Navy cap with the name Pahlka written in it. It wasn't his but the downed pilot who still hadn't been found. Years later when in S.F. at a small reunion, H.I.

Memorial Cactus

On January 3, 1995, while working as a cab driver in Las Vegas, the terrorist Terry Nichols hired my cab and he informed me of the plot. I didn't believe him and although the authorities were informed by others, the tragedy still happened. In April 1995, I planted a beavertail cactus and dedicated it as a memorial for the victims, as they plant a tree in Israel for the Holocaust victims. Said a brief prayer, and thought this would be all their was to it. April 13, 1995 was the first blossoming.

New Girlfriend

My new girlfriend's name is the same as my mother's second Christian name, which happens to be my laptop password. And her birthday is the same as my flatmate's.

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