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!

Chinese Birth Year Co-incidences in my family

I don't believe in horoscopes, but it is strange that in my family: My maternal grandmother, me, my half-sister and my eldest daughter are all born in the Year of the Tiger, while my mother, my husband and my youngest daughter, are all born in the Year of the Horse. My father and my brother are both born in the Year of the Snake. While these are not matching dates, they are repetitions of multiples of 12.

Father; Father-in-law

My father worked all his life for a company that made industrial driers, based in Ilkley in West Yorkshire. When he died in 1983, he was the Sales Director. My father-in-law worked for many years for a firm making linoleum in Kirkaldy, Fife. My future husband and I met in London in 1991. When my husband told his father my name, it transpired that my father-in-law had met my father frequently in the course of business as he bought industrial driers from the company my father worked for. As my husband never met my father, this was a particularly lovely coincidence for my husband and I.

birthday coincidence

My wife's mother's birthday, February 10, is the same as that of his son-in-law (me). My wife's father's birthday, August 29, is the same as that of his daughter-in-law (the wife of my wife's brother i.e. my sister-in-law).

Gordon Brown

I have the same name as ex-Prime Minister: Gordon Brown. He and I were born in the Central Belt of Scotland. Not many people know that his first name is actually James - so is mine. His father's name was John - so was mine. His mother was known as Bunty, but her formal name was Elizabeth - so was mine. Gordon Brown has two brothers - so do I. His brothers' names are John and Andrew - my two brothers also have these names. He has a son with the name James - so do I. Tragically he had a daughter with the name Jennifer who died - and I also have a daughter Jennifer, thankfully alive and well. Finally his birthday is 20 February - so is mine, BUT he is one year older than I am. Gordon Brown.

Chance connection

In May this year I bought a camera and decided to take a beginners photography course a Morley College. There were 9 people in the class, including me, 4 of whom had bought similar Nikon cameras, so th tutor suggested we sit together. In general conversation I found that 1 man, also retired, shared 2 entirely unrelated coincidental things with me. The first was that he had worked in a building, which is now part of the Cinema Museum - a very small independent outfit in Kennington, which I had recently heard about and visited. A few weeks later when we were asked to share some examples of our photographic work Graham posted some pictures of his allotment. Knowing he lived, like me in south London I asked where the allotment was. It turned out that his plot was on the same allotments as my (recently deceased) sister in law Gillian and her daughter Poppy, had the plot next to his. More than that he and his wife had known Gillian and my brother Nicky (her ex-husband) more than 25 years ago through a mutual friends Fred & Pam, who I also know.

Miss Cook

CLAIRVOYANCE - is anyone brave enough to research this subject? One Saturday morning, I drove about thirty miles to visit a 'clairvoyant' recommended to me. The first thing she said to me was; "In ten days there will be a reunion." I was then unwise in entering into a discussion* with her as to which of two male friends this may involve. She asked: is either of these people involved with precious metals because I see a wedding ring in his pocket. This does not mean a ring; it is symbolic - gold. She also asked is either of these possibilities in business - I see him wearing a pinstripe suit - this is not literal but symbolises business. Ten days later, when I had forgotten the prediction, I heard my front gate open and looked up to see my ex-husband walking up my garden path, wearing a pinstripe suit. I was living in Surbiton and he was living in Sutton Coldfield and I had not seen him for any reason for some years. During our chat I learned that the reason he was there was that his second wife was having and affair and it was clear to him this marriage was going to end. (Wedding ring in pocket).

Revd Dr John Ogden

When our younger son met his wife they (and shortly afterwards we) made a discovery. Her father shares a birthday with my wife, and her mother shares a birthday with me. I'm sure a probability can be calculated fairly easily (I taught Computer Science at Reading University for many years) but I believe there are procedural traps which I don't know how to avoid.

Photo on TV

Watching 'Heartbeat' on television, the actor Derek Fowlds was called upon to look at a photo album. He opened the album and the camera homed in on a photo of a gtoup of young men on a beach that included myself taken during National Service in 1956 in Malta. I was able then to find my copy of the photo within minutes

Photo on TV

Watching 'Heartbeat' on television, the actor Derek Fowlds was called upon to look at a photo album. He opened the album and the camera homed in on a photo of a gtoup of young men on a beach that included myself taken during National Service in 1956 in Malta. I was able then to find my copy of the photo within minutes

Meeting people

In 1975 I was hitch hiking across Canada, I got to Calgary, I had a friend named Jim Fisk who I had met in Israel on a kibbutz, I looked up Fisk in the phone book and called and asked if I could speak to Jim, the lady who was Jim's mother said her son was in Europe, I knew my friend was in Canada, it turned out to be the wrong Jim Fisk, I found the right one subsequently and all was fine. Then the following year back in London where I live, I was walking in Russell Square, I used to talk to strangers a lot, I saw a chap lying on the grass writing a letter, I asked him where he was from, he was Canadian, I asked where, he said Calgary, I saw the name on an envelope containing the letter he was answering, it was Jim Fisk! It turned out to be the person whose mother I had talked to in Calgary and said her son was in Europe!! At first he didn't believe me, but I was so insistent he began to, then said he had received the other Jim's, my friend's,school reports by mistake once. I never saw him again but it was a nice experience.

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