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!

A short break.

My partner and I hadn't been on holiday for a while after she had suffered a long illness and we decided to take a family short break in the UK in case she wasn't fully recovered. We decided Center Parcs would be a good place to go, and tried to get accommodation at Longleat as its not too bad a drive from London. As we were booking fairly last moment we couldn't get accommodation there or anywhere else except the Whinfell forest in Cumbria. As it was far we decided to drive to York, stay overnight and spend the day there, then go onto Cumbria. As it was a late booking we selected the option for the Parc to allocate our accommodation. When we eventually arrived we checked into the allocated lodge only to find that the lodge next door was a work colleague who sits two desks away from me and thier family. It felt quite awkward and planned - but it was a total coincidence!

A short break.

My partner and I hadn't been on holiday for a while after she had suffered a long illness and we decided to take a family short break in the UK in case she wasn't fully recovered. We decided Center Parcs would be a good place to go, and tried to get accommodation at Longleat as its not too bad a drive from London. As we were booking fairly last moment we couldn't get accommodation there or anywhere other sites except the Whinfell forest in Cumbria. As it was far we decided to drive to York and stay overnight and spend the day there, then go onto Cumbria. As it was a late booking we selected the option for the Parc to allocate our accommodation. When we eventually arrived we checked into the allocated lodge only to find that the lodge next door was a work colleague who sits two desks away from me and thier family. It felt quite awkward and planned - but it was a total coincidence!

Bittersweet

When I was 12, I ran away looking for a relative, whom I was certain, in that adolescent self-obsessed way, would be looking for me. I was desperately unhappy and troubled, and had stayed away from home for a few hours, but this time, I intended to stay out all night to wait for her. The boiler had broken at school that afternoon, 19th October 1964, and we were sent home early. I think I went to a friend's first, and then caught a bus, which I stayed on for hours. I have no idea why I chose a churchyard to wait for this person, but settled into position with a sort grim determination to sit, or stand it out until she turned up. I did wonder, during my vigil, if that's what it was, why I waited, but felt compelled to stay. Around 1am the following day, 20th October, I stepped out onto the main road and wandered around. Eventually, a police car pulled up and I was taken to the local station. There were interviews with social workers, and several questions, but I never did reveal why I was at the church yard. A record was made of the event, and kept in a file. Decades later, I decided to look for this relative in a more methodical way.

Park

Walking in a park with my ex girlfriend we came across a spectacle case on a park bench. My ex went to open it and I said leave it just in case there needles in it. She opened it anyway and her face went odd. Yes she said there is a needle in it. The name and address of the owner was on a piece of paper. The name Needle. The address our next door neighbour. The neighbour was nonplussed about the whole thing. The same ex came back from a shopping trip with an old furniture construction book from the 50's. A post card fell out. Addressed to a fifteen year old who would become head of the furniture department at High Wycombe. This man while interviewing me for the course mentioned he grew up near to where I lived in Birmingham.

Name coincidence/parallel lives

A friend of mine introduced me harmlessly on Twitter to someone who shares my full name (not too freaky - James Gilberts are not uncommon), who is also a scientist (OK) and who is also semi-seriously into cycling (getting weirder). My friend thought this weird enough to write "Here's someone pretending to be you." However, when I looked at this guy's Twitter profile I realized I recognized him. Googling revealed that he is at Cambridge University where I lived and worked for 10 years up until 2 years ago - definitely getting odd. But - this is the amazing bit - for the final 2 years we had PASSED EACH OTHER EVERY DAY while cycling to work. My girlfriend and I had passed him so often that we actually started saying hello to him - she and I used to joke that we should invite him for dinner since he was technically our best friend in the village to which we'd just moved. Little did I know this guy was my doppelganger... Weird, eh?

Ex boyfriend

Me and my ex boyfriend haven't been in touch for over months lately then one night I would have a dream about him and then the next day I would get a text from him. It's like we were thinking about eachother at the same time. It's like we'll go long periods without talking but when one thinks about the other it's at the same time.

Family date?

My husband was born on 28th June. My daughter's second long term boyfriend was born on 28th June and so was her next boyfriend whom she married. Both the boyfriends have the surname White, (which was also the name of my maternal grandmother and my cousin's husband).

The barman's mistake

My son was returning from a three month holiday in Greece before going to University. He was with his then girlfriend and on their way from Gatwick Airport they stopped at a pub somewhere near the airport. My son approached the bar and the barman said "Hello Rob, how are you". My son replied "Do I know you". The barman then said "I know you because you look so much like your dad" My son replied "I look nothing like my dad at all". the barman then said "but you are Ron Green's son from down the road, the farmer. "My name is Rob Green and my dad is Ron Green, but he isn't a farmer, he's bus driver" and we don't live down the road. The barman replied "are you trying to have me on sonny". Having just flown in from Greece my son pulls out his passport. Shows him his name and the back page of next of kin showing his dad. By this time there was silence around the bar. His girlfriend also related the story, which is so bizarre, it doesn't appear to have any meaning. My son did dine out on this one for a while.

Pen Pal

When I was about 10 I desperately wanted a pen pal in another country. My friends seemed to have one and I didn't want to be left out. So when one of them asked me whether I had one I lied that I had, but I also had to give him a name. The name of Douglas Paterson popped into my head, although I can't think why and so my imaginary Douglas satisfied my friends. About a year later my aunt in Canada said she had found me a pen pal in Vancouver. I was worred because I would have to tell my friends that he had a different name. I needn't have worred because it turned out to be Douglas Paterson.

German connection

Back in the 60's I lived in South Africa and became friendly with a couple of german guys who had backpacked their way around the world. They were a curious pair, both really nice, but came from different backgrounds. One was from an aristocratic family and always wore shirts with the family motif on the pockets. Some five years after I left South Africa for England and they too had travelled to South America. I was walking across Trafalgar Square when these two guys appeared in front of me. We were both excited to see each other again, then we had lunch and they had bedded down for a couple of nights in my flat. They left and I never saw them again. Some 20 years later I had married and my husband worked for a German company in England. The Chairman of the company turned out to have the same surname as the Aristocratic German I remembered. He wasn't the same person as the ages were wrong, but he did have that same motif on his shirt.

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