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!

1974 Canadian Holiday`

Three big coincidences happened to my Mother and I on our first holiday to Canada almost 40 years ago (Aug//Sep 1974) when it was still unusual to go on long haul holidays. We had been invited by my Mother's cousin after my Father's death. 1) We were on a day coach tour in the Rockies and there were six British people sitting at the back of a large coach, the rest being Canadian and American. We British got talking and I found that one of the men was a salesman at the very same garage from where I had bought my car shortly before. 2) When staying with my Mother's cousins on Vancouver Island they had arranged to go to lunch with some friends who also had a visitor from England staying with them. This man and my Mother kept looking at one another and, after some time, they realised they knew each other as he served on the delicatessen counter at the Waitrose my Mother used in Whetstone, north London. 3) When waiting in the departure lounge at Vancouver Airport on the way home we were amazed to see, sitting on seats opposite us, the couple with whom we had shared a breakfast table at our hotel in Hammamet, Tunisia the previous November.

Chance meeting

During the mid fifties I at about the age of about eighteen I was visiting Sydney an was on shore leave from a P&O Liner which I was a crew member of. I had gone into the town and decided to see a film in the then St James Cinema. At the time of the intermission when it is custom for almost all full blooded Australians to evacuate the cinema and have a cigarette and a quick drink, however I remained seated as did the friend with me. I saw that the two people two rows in front of us also remained seated and somehow one seemed to be familiar to me. I waited until the auditorium lights were fully on when I was sure I knew the person in question. I leaned forward and touched him on the shoulder and my suspicions were correct the chap was a school friend who had attended the same village school but when still in his early teens he had travelled to Australia an joined a young farmers scheme. I have always wondered what was the chance of meeting someone thirteen thousand miles away under such circumstances. I have experienced at least one other such incident.

Rayya Ghul

I started doing a yoga course at home from video. One of the items I needed was tennis ball. Ironic because I'd given away all my tennis balls earlier this year. I was thinking about how I'd been having a conversation with a friend only the day before about hoarding and how when one did finally clear out then one immediately wanted an item that had not been needed for years. I got into my car thinking about how I would now have to buy a tennis ball and drove up my cul de sac. In the middle of the road was an old tennis ball. None of the neighbours indicated it was theirs so I took it.

Church Painting

I was born in Great Waldingfield in Suffolk and baptised and married in the village church there. Some years ago my parents gave me and my husband a painting of the church by a local artist. The painting shows the church and some surrounding cottages and you can see the beginning of the lane that lead to my grandfather's farm. Before he retired my husband worked on National Nature Reserves in different parts of the county. When our daughter was born he worked in Cumbria on Moor House Nature Reserve - the highest reserve in England - and we lived in the highest inhabited house in England, about seven miles up a track from the village of Garrigill. Our daughter was born when we lived there and we had always promised to take her back to see the house one day. She is now 31 and the house was demolished some years ago but last week we made a 'pilgrimage' back to Moor House. On our first evening we went into the pub in Garrigill where we spent many a happy hour back in the 70s. The pub had been closed for a couple of years but has now been re-opened so we no longer knew the landlord.

stories of "twins"

1) On Friday, June 29, 2012 - My daughter called me to talk about the death of her high school friend (a twin) at age 22 due to a tragic car accident. 2) On Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - In the morning, an old friend of mine was visiting briefly with me in my office at work and told me that he would be attending the wake for a young man who was the son of a mutual friend of ours. This young man was only 18 and died after a brave battle with cancer. He was a twin. 3) On Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - In the afternoon, my husband texted me that he had just received a phone call from someone to tell him that young woman had died- age 22, a friend of my daughter's in high school, by car accident - and a twin. 4) On Thursday, July 26, 2012 - When relating these "coincidences" to a co-worker, she indicated that she had learned about the young man's death from cancer in a conversation she had had the day before with her friend, who had just found out that her own battle with cancer was in remission.

My Son Birthday

several months ago during my vacation in Florida i met a woman (i am a woman myself). i am not that kind of person who makes friends easily. but we started to spend our time together: to the beach, to the pool, to the gym, and so on. after two days i mentioned my son by his name. his name is not very common. she stopped, and asked: what did you say is your son's name? i repeated. she was kind of shocked. my son has the same name, she said. and we continued our bla-bla-about-nothing. all of a sudden i was kind of forced to stop and kind of forced to ask her a very-very strange question. i asked that question and at the same time i was thinking how stupid i am asking this question. the question which came from my mouth was: what month your son was born? and before she opened her mouth i knew the answer - March. my son also was born in March. and that is not the end of the story. then i noticed that in a very slow motion from my mouth is coming another stupid question: WHAT DATE? and again i knew the answer before she started to talk. our sons were born on the same date, same month, only one year apart. her son is one year younger that mine.

Planted by coincidence?

My Dad died on 25.3.12. My close friend wanted to buy me a commemorative plant. I chose "Astrantia Sunningdale Variagated" because my Dad's last address had the word "Sunningdale" in it. My friend never saw the plant, I ordered it, collected it and planted it in my garden. On 26.7.12 my friend and I went on a first time visit to a private garden in Northumberland. She called me across to view a handsome plant she was taken with and had never come across before. It was "Astrantia Sunningdale Variagated".

Hong Kong Meeting

I was in Hong Kong for a holiday and started talking to a woman in the hotel laundry. I discovered that not only did she live in the same city as I do, Brisbane, Australia, but about 30 years earlier, her Manager at work was the wife of my husbands best friend. They both worked in a small branch of a large chain of department stores. Jeanette

Grandson's dog.

My grandson, 15 year old, who stays with me nearly every second weekend was cutting down some branches in my back garden. He lives about a 20 minute drive north from me. A tradesman who i had only ever dealt with twice and who lives about 40 minutes drive south from me came to my house to get some paperwork signed. My little dog got out of the house when i went to talk to the tradesman prompting him to show me photographs on his dogs and about 12 puppies lined up in a row. My grandson came up to me to ask if i wanted other branches cut down and then realised that he knew the tradesman. He had bought one of his puppies just 4 weeks earlier. Jeanette

my first house

we arrived to America in 1990s. several years later we started to look for an affordable little house. once we stopped by a house with our agent. i didn't like it. but i liked the area. we were getting ready to go. all of a sudden i turned around and noticed a little house in front of me. it was a picture of my dream. sun was shining right above it. i told my husband: i like this one; i want to live in it. after that we were seeking for a house for another several months. finally we decided to look for houses selling by owners. one day we found ourselves in the same subdivision. and we saw a sign For Sale By Owner. we bought it. in a year or so i was standing on my front porch and kind of lightning went through my head: THIS WAS THAT SAME HOUSE i wanted to live in. a lot of coincidences happens in my live. this one i call BIG.

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