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!

Similar Birthdays.

This might not be much of a coincidence but my mum's birthday is October 12th 1963 and my Dad's is October 13th 1963. My brother's birthday is August 3rd 1995, my sister's birthday is August 3rd 2002 and my birthday is August 8th 1997. Seems quite cool and unlikely they are so close together and similar!

Stag and deer deaths

I farm in West Wales. My next door neighbour, Ken, a life-long stockfarmer of 75, was semi-retired and had bought a few hinds and a stag for his own amusement. Last week he was gored to death by his own stag. His sons have just told me that the day before Ken was killed, a previous owner of my own farm and a friend of Ken, had also been killed, by a deer running into his car, a hundred miles away in Staffordshire.

phone operator

i call some one that i don't call often and at the same time, some one that i don;t speak often call me asking me for the phone of the person i was calling

Saw, then found, in 1 hour

I was in an auto parts store 10 miles from my house in very rural southern Ohio, glancing at bottles on a shelf while waiting in line. I quickly looked over all the objects on the shelf, but I became interested in a certain product called Sea Foam Motor Treatment because it was odd seeing something that was boat related and had a big wave on it in land-locked Ohio. I real the label, then realized I was next at the counter to pay for my spark plugs. I paid and drove home, then changed my spark plugs. Right after changing them I thought maybe I should take a drive down the road to check to make sure the car was running right. I drove down my street, a way I hardly ever go, maybe only 5 times a year. At the fork in the road about 1/2 mile away, I turned around but noticed what looked like a pressurized can of some sort in the road. I thought that I should go pick it up so no one would hurt their tires, so I got out of my car, picked it up and it was a full can of Sea Foam Motor Treatment!

Same Name Same Address Different Area

Let's call my name Jonathan HARBUTTLE Let's call my address 7 MARSDEN AVENUE London SW8 For many year now I have received junk mail addressed to let's say Silvia HARBUTTLE I do not know this person I find out by querying the internet that a Silvia HARBUTTLE lives at 7 MARSDEN AVENUE but in SW20 some 8 miles away So a mixed up of names and addresses by junk mail senders The same surname living in the same-named street - Not so unlikely even though my surname is not that common But the same surname living at the same number in the same-named street - rather more unlikely

M Tero

I went out for drinks with my partner to a bar in Croydon where we meet a few people we knew from work. One girl who was a locum therapist and was leaving was there with her boyfriend. I had never met him before but on talking we found out we had the same date and year of birth which he confirmed by showing me his driving licence. I have never meet any one with the same birthday and birthyear as I.

Birth cities

My wife and I were born on opposite ends of the United States. I was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania and she at Alameda, California. Both cities begin and end with "A" and have seven letters.

death of an high school friend

Last week (monday), my husband stayed home from work. Out of the blue he decides to pull out his high school yearbook which he never does. 3 days later we learned of a high school friend who died suddenly at he age of 47. When we attended the wake my husband shared with me how he was just looking through our yearbook and reminisced about the photo of he and his recently deceased friend. The coincidence also is our friend sadly had been dead for several days before he was found which would have been the same time my husband was looking at their picture together in the yearbook.

Mother/Son Holiday Birthdays!

My mother gave birth to her first child, which was me, on Halloween (October 31), which I have found to be a pretty common birthday. Then, I gave birthday to my first child on Christmas (December 25)! Mother Halloween, baby Christmas, I thought it was kind of neat! My mother also gave birth to all her children in October, second born, 14th, and third born 27th.

Sam

My parents home phone number in Spain - 95 283 61 54 My old Army number is 25183546. This is only one 9 short of containing exactly the same digits.

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