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!

Bought at auction!

I was at an auction in London about 10 years ago and one lot was a box of paperwork, postcards, letters, things cut out of a newspapers, just a box of odds and ends. I had no intention of buying the box (and had not even looked in it). Unfortunately for the auctioneer, nobody wanted this lot and he looked at me because I tended to buy 'cheap' things that wouldnt sell. So I accepted the suggestion that I buy the box for £1 and I took it home along with a car full of other purchases. A couple of months later I picked up the box at home to have a look at its contents, I lived at the time in Basingstoke, Hampshire. I came across a picture postcard that looked familiar. It was a picture of the house that I was brought up in, in Plymouth, Devon! The picture was taken in the 1940s. Where I lived there had been a post office opposite. I guess the picture postcard manufacturer would have stood outside the post office and taken a picture of my house representing the area. The postcard is now a prize possession! Why was I at the auction at the time? Why was this box of 'rubbish' at the auction at the time? Why did nobody else want to buy it?

Birthday coincidence

My birthday. 18th February Brother 1. 18th October Sister. 27th November Brother 2. 27th May Father. 22nd April Daughter. 22nd April

exam coincidence

Sorry, I gave the wrong email address in the version I sent earlier. Studying Italian A level as mature student. Chose Mafia as oral topic (free choice of topic, not on/from syllabus). Obscure important anti-mafia judge called Giovanni Falcone. Found book in Italian on Falcone in Italian specialist bookshop. Struggled to read/understand it. At top of my street, people sometimes dump rubbish by railway line. Saw book dumped, with tile "F a l c o n ", one month before exam. assumed about falconry/birds, but on Falcone, in English. Tremendous exam help and very improbable unlikely, amazing, coincidence.

birthday coincidence

In 2001, i met my now husband on the net. I was recently divorce. I am malaysian and he is american. When we were chatting & trying to get to know each other, we got to birthdays. I jokingly said to him, "i hope its not 17 Sept!" He asked, "why not? What's wrong with 17 Sept?". My reply, "it is my ex husband's birthday". Ended up, both my ex & now husband share the same birthday! People tease me about marrying the wrong person the fiirst time! However, their year is different.

returned book

Whilst fund raising for the local scout group, I separated some books from bags of jumble. I skimmed through them and discovered a book with a sticker inside which indicated that it had been awarded as a prize to my wife by her Secondary School (under her maiden name) She confirmed that it was her book, but she had not seen it for about 25 years and last remembered it when she lived near Royston in Herts. She was living in Kent when I met her, and she did not bring it with her when we married. As we were living in Essex near Romford and no other members of her family or friends live within 50 miles of us, it seems bizarre that this book found its way to our home. I had been fund raising for about 10 years so had handled maybe 1000 books in this time.

Mr

Studying Italian A level as mature student. Chose Mafia as oral topic (not on syllabus) Obscure important anti-mafia judge called Giovanni Falcone. Found book in Italian on Falcone in Italian specialist bookshop. Struggled to read/understand. At top of my street, people sometimes dump rubbish by railway line, say book dumped, "F a l c o n ", one month before exam. assumed about falconry/birds, but on Falcone, in English, tremendous exam help and very improbable unlikely, amazing,very helpful coincidence.

Coincidence,Fate or Master plan

While at Glentress(mountain biking) the events of the day left me scatching my head. So taking into account arrival time setup time and the speed i went round the course on my bike, all this set up a 'chain reaction'. So i planned my route the night before to go around the red route, but as luck would have it, part of that route was closed for maintenance so i followed the diversion, but just to make sure i was going the right way i stopped to check my map, then as i set off again on a big climb my chain broke,damn. So having forgotten to bring a spare link i stopped the next group off riders to see if they could help, they offred to fix my chain so i got talking with them, one of the guys was from America and suddenly he realised he had dropped his camera somewhere along the course, while they were fixing my bike if offered to go look for the camera. Less than 10m away there it was, so one good deed deserves another. But just think if i had peddled faster or not been diverted or snapped my chain, would that guy of found his camera

Same PIN

My PIN number is the same as my wife's birthday. I haven't told her..........

Magic Car Keys

About 10 years ago, work asked me to collect a van from their Exeter depot and drive it back to Birmingham. When I got back to Birmingham I accidentally locked the keys in the van. We tried a few tricks, but couldn't open the door. I then tried my car keys and the door opened.

Oxford Street Coat

I reckon it was about 15 years ago and I was shopping in Oxford Street, London with my girlfriend. </p> <p>I remember having a cigarette outside a shop my gf had gone into to.<br /> On the other side of the road was a shop that sold jeans and t-shirts and I remember seeing a clothes hanger outside the shop. I could see a coat hanging there I liked the look of.<br /> I don't know how it caught my eye as it was very busy. </p> <p>I thought about crossing the road but never did as I'd had enough of bumping into other shoppers and we were about to leave London and travel back home in the West Midlands. </p> <p>I remember driving back wishing I'd bought the coat that caught my eye. I'd hardly bought anything that day and although there were a few things I wish I'd bought, for some reason the coat was top of the list. </p> <p>Anyway, back home later on that night I was watching the news on the telly.<br /> There was a 30 second story about a suspected package found in Oxford Street that same day and part of the street had been cordoned off.

Pages