Cambridge Coincidences Collection

As of the 23rd May 2022 this website is archived and will receive no further updates.

understandinguncertainty.org was produced by the Winton programme for the public understanding of risk based in the Statistical Laboratory in the University of Cambridge. The aim was to help improve the way that uncertainty and risk are discussed in society, and show how probability and statistics can be both useful and entertaining.

Many of the animations were produced using Flash and will no longer work.

Well I Never!

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

Three way phone call

I was at home, calling into work sick. My elder brother was at his house. 5-6 miles away, he was phoning his work partners tony in bury: 10 miles from both of us. Here is a brief synopsis of conversation: Me "hello" Brother: "hello" Tony "hello" Me "Hector" Hector "Andy" Tony "hello" The gist of it was not only had I a three way crossed line, but it was with my brother and his colleague. What would be the chances of this happening with someone you know, let alone with your own brother ( and recognising his voice too)

Birthday coincidence

My uncle was born on 19th January about 1915. His brother was born on 19th January 1923. When he met his future wife he discovered that they were born on the same day within an hour of each other only a few miles away.

New neighbour, shared holiday home

As a girl, at the age of 10, I moved with my brother to live with adoptive parents 50kms away from where we spent our early childhood. One day during our first week living in the new family, we went out to play in the garden and found that the neighbour had children of similar ages. When we got talking about where we had been on our recent summer vacations, we realised that we been going on holidays every summer to the very same camping site as our new neighbours at the seaside, just during different weeks and were able to compare stories and photos together.

Strange coincidence

I was working in San Antonio, Texas for one day only in 1978,I decided to buy a new rucksack and went into town,walking along the street opposite the Alamo i went into the first shop I saw selling bags. i asked the lady serving about rucksacks,on hearing my English accent asked what I was doing in town. I replied that I was working with a group playing at the city stadium that night,she said her son is in the music industry as well,I asked her his name and she replied Alex Sedkin,I knew him and worked for the same record label in London a couple of years before,to add to this she had only moved to Texas 3 days before from Florida where Alex had grown up.

died 16th August

My grandfather on my fathers side died on 16th August 1917. My grandfathers son, my uncle died on 16th August 1927. My grandfather on my mothers side died on 16th August 1957 and my mother died on 16th August 1987. All on the same date and all in years which ended with a 7. ...

Zsuzsa Bella

Hi, I'm British with a Hungarian name (Zsuzsa Bella) as I have a Hungarian father. My last name is very rear even in Hungary and we only know of one other family there with the name. Yesterday I was googling my name whilst bored... and came across another Zsuzsa Bella in not only the UK but in Bristol where I am working! I contacted her and we re now friends on Facebook and we are trying to see if we are related now. Thanks

Of all the hotels in all the world.

Between 2000 and 2001 I worked for a company who provided staff accommodation in an old hotel just off the sea front in Cromer. When I visited Cromer in 2013 with my wife, she mentioned that when she was little she had come to Cromer on holiday three times and stayed at the same hotel each time. When she showed me the building it was, of course, the same building.

old boyfriend

In Mexico I used to date a boy (we were in diferent careers), we broke up, and 3 years later I went to Barcelona to study; one day I went out for a walk (I miss the bus so I decide to walk) and suddenly I saw him, we couldnt believe it! He told me that he was studying in Madrid and that weekend he went into a trip to Barcelona. It was nice to find him.

Bumped into Neighbour other side of world

Partner grew up in Kempsey NSW Australia. Moved away in 1996. In 1998 while<br /> working in Cambridge England, we went on day trip<br /> to Greenwich. Standing on platform when light rail<br /> train rolled in, he yelled "that's my neighbour".<br /> Ran down platform, it was the family who lived next<br /> door to his parents in Australia. Another day, 5 minutes later,<br /> and if they hadn't been sitting in the front of the driverless<br /> train we never would have seen them. They were<br /> on their first holiday to the U.K.

Sheridans working for the Chinese state media

My family name is Sheridan and I grew up in Salford and Manchester, spent a year in Brighton, also spent time living in London, but I'd never met another Sheridan who wasn't an immediate relative (grandparents, parents, sisters), until at the age of 31 I went to Beijing. I landed a job working for the Chinese state media, working as a journalist for China Central Television, and I soon met another Sheridan, a journalist called Trudi who worked for China Radio International, and her brother Nelson, who worked for the news agency Xinhua. Incidentally, they were neither Irish nor British, they were both from New Zealand. What was even more of a coincidence is that because all the foreigners working for the Chinese state media lived in accommodation provided by our employers at the Beijing Friendship Hotel, Nelson even happened to live in the same apartment block as me. So I went from never meeting any Sheridans for the first three decades of my life, to living in the same small apartment block as one, and when Trudi left her job, I moved over from television to radio and replaced her.

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