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!

Following my family

During the course of my family history research I have found that I have lived in the same areas around the country as my ancestors. Things got ridiculous when I was living with my boyfriend and his parents and found that one branch lived in the same road as where I was then living.

pony by chance

We used to name our ponies after beers. So when we lost foster to illness we looked for a replacement. My daughter found a filly for sale and made arrangements to view her. Only having had geldings before we struggled to come up with a feminine beer name, Stella didn't cross my mind. So I came up with milly, after miller light beer. When being driven across the new forest to view her by the vendor, she was a feral pony, he turned to us and said, we have already named her, we called her milly.

pony by chance

We used to name our ponies after beers. So when we lost foster to illness we looked for a replacement. My daughter found a filly for sale and made arrangements to view her. Only having had geldings before we struggled to come up with a feminine beer name, Stella didn't cross my mind. So I came up with milly, after miller light beer. When being driven across the new forest to view her by the vendor, she was a feral pony, he turned to us and said, we have already named her, we called her milly.

mrs josephine bond

We used to name our ponies after beers. So when we lost foster to illness we looked for a replacement. My daughter found a filly for sale and made arrangements to view her. Only having had geldings before we struggled to come up with a feminine beer name, Stella didn't cross my mind. So I came up with milly, after miller light beer. When being driven across the new forest to view her by the vendor, she was a feral pony, he turned to us and said, we have already named her, we called her milly.

do not follow Bob

This is about Bob, my ex-father in-law. It seems that if Bob visits your town you should leave when he does. In 89 Bob was in San Francisco the day before the quake In 97 Bob was in Paris the night before princess Diana died In 2011 Bob visited the twin towers the Monday before they went down. Don't follow Bob!

birthday coincidence

tomorrow I will be 55y 7m and 17 days old which is my partners birthday - 17 07 55 What is really strange is that tomorrow he will be 59y 2m and 2 days old which is my birthdate 02 02 59

No Chance its only chance #2

Law and Order One evening a few years ago, I went to bed with a book to read during commercials. The book had been in a box of books in my garage but I’d not read it. I noticed it one day and took it into the house, intending to read it. That evening I decided to read it. The book was so interesting I didn’t give much attention to the television show when it ended, then a different show began. It was a show I never watch, the Law and Order series; as a rule I change the station. I wasn’t listening to the television when suddenly the words being spoken on the television caused me to glance up. I heard: “Do you recognize anyone?” The screen showed a page in a high school year book on which a young girl’s senior picture was prominent, they were talking about her. But that’s not what I saw. At very first glance I saw a name I thought I recognized below a picture adjoining hers of another senior in the class: Andrew Samuels. It was only a glimpse so I wasn't certain but the book I was reading at that moment was The Plural Psyche by Andrew Samuels. He's a well-known (but not to me) Jungian author.

Professor of Chance

Place- Manipal, India<br /> Date-15 Sep, 2014<br /> Name-Shabbeer<br /> Event- I study Msc. (biostatistics) and had recently borrowed a book from library - Bayesian Adaptive Methods for Clinical Trials by Scott Berry et al. While making a list of important papers and books to refer i found couple of papers and book by Prof. David Spiegelhalter. So, i downloaded and started reading them in evening over a cup of nice South Indian coffee. Then my friend pings me in skype and posts a link of an interesting video of a documentary on probability produced by BBC. So, out of curiosity i started watching the video and ahh-la presto comes David Spiegelhalter as the presenter !!! Now that was a coincidence...

Chance meeting

My partner and I were walking around Chirk Castle the other week for the first time, when some old friends we knew from University (about 3 years ago in Yorkshire) bumped into us. Strange that we both decided to go there on the same day. My parents have also bumped into friends in other parts of the world whilst on holiday after not seeing them for years.

Birthdays in my family

My family has two odd coincidences with dates. First: Mine, my older sister's and my parents birthdays are 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 25th various months. My younger sister breaks this one by being born on the 7th. Interesting but not that amazing. Secondly, my and my sisters share birthdays with three of my mother's siblings (plus I also share with a cousin on my father's side). Also, my parents and an aunt and uncle unintentionally share a wedding anniversary. My parents' wedding should have been the week before, but was delayed by a civil servant strike.

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