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!

the directory enquiries affair

1999. Before cheap mobile 'phones, text messaging, the internet, and when people actually wrote letters to each other. I used to work in marketing for a hotel company with a young lady called Gillian. She was the funniest and loveliest person in a very dull office. When I resigned to study for a Masters degree in London, we stayed in touch, by letter, infrequently. One day, she wrote to me with news of her latest career move - working for another hotel company based in York. Before I finished my course, I was invited by a York-based insurance company to attend an interview at their head offices. I wasn't keen on the job, but thought it would be a good opportunity to catch up with Gillian at the interviewer's expense. Before I set out on the day of the interview, I couldn't find the telephone number for Gillian's office. So I called BT's directory enquiries service. They gave me the number and I called it. A man answered. No company name, no corporate greeting, just "Hello". Strange. I asked to be put through to Gillian. "Who?" "Gillian Smith, works in Marketing", I said. "No one of that name here.

6000 miles from home

my late father went to Los Angeles in the late 1960s whilst he was there he went to a small town a hundred miles from Los Angeles trying to sell advertising,on the first call he made his next door neighbour from Blackpool was also in they're trying to sell to same business neither knew the other was going to America

End of the pier.

One day in 1972 I woke up having spent the night with an American fellow student from my university in London. We were in our early 20s, in the same friendship group, which included our current partners. It was a beautiful day and we were falling in love so instead of going to lectures in London, and facing the inevitable break up conversation with our girl/boyfriend, I suggested we escaped and took a day trip to Brighton. We drove down there with another American student who owned a red sports car. Neither of these two knew Brighton, it was my idea. First stop was the pier. At the end of the pier, with the water swirling beneath us all, we came round the corner and there walking towards us was his girlfriend and my boyfriend and another friend. We should all have been in London at lectures at university. They had also chosen to come here on a whim, knowing nothing about us. There was no need to explain, it was obvious what had happened with us and we were all in shock. We went to someone's house to recover, I have no idea whose. Fifty years later we stay in touch. Brighton is a fairly popular place for a day trip, but the end of the pier, made it very bizarre.

Schoolfriend in Kenya

I'm in the British Army and in Kenya at the moment on a very large exercise involving thousands of soldiers. Whilst unloading equipment from a container at the camp I bumped into a friend from primary school. I last spoke to him in 1997 and had no idea he was in the army.

Mr Adams

I attend a multicultural church in Swindon, Wilts. I have been in attendance there for three years plus. One Saturday, last year, on our way to Bath, the train stopped as usual at Chippenham, Wilts. I spotted a church member, who lives in Chippenham, seeking a seat along the train gangway. He never spotted me until I drew attention to myself and my wife. In the carriage there was only one seat available, an end seat on the other side of the passage opposite me. Both of us were stunned! The train had EIGHT carriages.

Cambridge to boot

We were living at the top of Histon Rd at the time, a few doors from Nasreen Dar We spent a week on Tioman Island (off Malaysia) and I did a try dive - the instructor came from the top of Victoria Rd. And or my OH's sister (Portsmouth and Cardiff Uni) married a bloke (Staffs and Cardiff Uni) whose sister, then a student, also lived at the top of Victoria Rd

Cambridge to boot

We were living at the top of Histon Rd at the time, a few doors from Nasreen Dar We spent a week on Tioman Island (off Malaysia) and I did a try dive - the instructor came from the top of Victoria Rd. And or my OH's sister (Portsmouth and Cardiff Uni) married a bloke (Staffs and Cardiff Uni) whose sister, then a student, also lived at the top of Victoria Rd

The Lost Watch

While taking his gap year my brother worked as a school gardener where he befriended another gap year student. One weekend they stayed at our parents' house in Dorset. My cousin and a friend had cycled up from their homes in Cornwall that same weekend and the four of them were playing cards when someone asked what the time was. My cousin produced a watch from his pocket. My brother's friend, Ben, asked where the watch had come from. My cousin replied that his brother had found it on Dartmoor. Ben said 'That's my watch. It has my initials on the back. I lost it on Dartmoor last year.' This happened more than 20 years ago. Recently my brother found out that Ben and my cousin now live within 4 miles of each other in the North East and their children attend the same school.

Aussie outback petrol station

I was working at an Aussie roadhouse (petrol station, cafe, shop,camping ground) on the west coast of Australia when I went backpacking in 2001. I served an English couple who had midlands accents so asked them where they were from as I'm from Birmingham. It turned out after chatting that I went to school with the girl's brother and we had been in all the same classes for 5 years of high school. The place was in the middle of nowhere, about 100 miles from the nearest town. It definitely brightened my day as the woman who I worked for was mental!!

Self-Texting iphone

I was taking a walk with my phone in my pocket. I heard the swooshing sound it makes when I receive a text and pulled the phone out of my pocket. I had a text from my housekeeper that said, "In the garage." I looked at the last text I sent to her. It was minutes earlier and read, "Moop". I did not type or send this text. The phone did it as I was walking.

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