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!

Boat premonition

When on my boyfriends canal boat with his family on the way to York, my boyfriend's brother was showing off his art skills drawing our canal boat next to a previous drawing of his, of a bigger boat (ship size) he then put lines of three ropes attaching our boat to the ship as though our boat was being towed by it... 10 minutes later we were sand-banked by our fault of misreading the warning buoys (you're meant to go through them not around them) and so we tried to push ourselves free by the boys jumping in the water and us reversing but we were well and truly stuck with crowds watching us laughing. Finally after a 5minute struggle a much BIGGER BOAT offered to TOW us out, it took THREE ropes attached between the boats to pull us out. When we came back inside we all noticed the drawing and were extreeeeemmely freaked out. :P

Availability of Songs,Rainbow connections & Cheezits Freaks etc.

In 2006, I woke up on a Saturday with the song "I Don't know Why I Love You But I Do" going through my head. I had not recently heard this song, nor was it one of my favorites. I dialed a local pet supply store and they put me on hold-- the hold music playing? You guessed it, and even more amazingly, in the same spot as it was in my head at the time. About two years later, my 11 year-old daughter excitedly told me to look at a rainbow outside. When I came back in, the radio was playing "Somewhere over the Rainbow" by Judy Garland. A few minutes later, my daughter climbed on the kitchen counter to get a glass, when I immediately told her to "Get down. Down!" At that instant, the radio was playing Frank Sinatra's "That Old Black Magic" and was at the part that goes "and down and down I go, into a spin..." I told her, "See? Even Frankie is telling you to get down!" About a year after that, I was on my way to work taking a route I'd taken hundreds of times. I had on my music player a song called "Jesus Freak" by DC Talk.

friend

I know dated a guy long distance on an off for 4 years whenever we were on the outs I would see his name on tv like I turn it on the character name would be George, I would go to the store to buy something the brand would be George even stockings, I could turn the tv on in the middle of the night a female character name George, I would get off a plane trip and waiting for the shuttle the driver name George and he quote something my friend would say. This happens all the time evening the city he lives in always appear. I ask god to help with this message.

Moving House

15 years ago we were living in Reading Berks, we still had 2 children living at home, my husband was now working in Gloucester a long journey each day. some time later the 2 remaining children moved out. One day sometime later I went to visit the company where my husband was a design engineer, he was joking with one of his coleagues Keith about me spending all his money on clothes Keith said if you do that you will not be able to afford to buy my house. I thought this a bit odd but dismissed it, about a year later Keith decided to re marry so was selling his house, at the same time we were thinking of moving to Glos as the petrol bill was getting higher. We went to view Keiths house but it needed so much work we said no way, so carried on looking at many houses in the area, but I could not get this house out of my head to cut a long story short we ended up buying it. to the surprise of us both.

Family history

We have an unusual surname - W. We knew very little about my husband's ancestors except that his grandfather was born in Glasgow, and my father-in-law is on only child. When we went to live just outside G'gow in 1984 we looked in the phone book and there were 2 Ws listed. I phoned the first nimber and explained why I was ringing, and the lady I was speaking to (Margaret) told me that my father-in-law was her cousin whom she last saw in the 1930's. We visited her and she told us more about the family, including the fact that she was an only child too, and there was another cousin (also an only child) and that she had lost touch with him too. Time passed, and in 1987 my sister-in-law had a baby in the Royal Free Hospital in London. As she was waiting for her discharge papers she noticed that a Midwife had W on her ID badge, so she spoke to her and told her that her maiden name was W. This lady was the daughter-in-law of Edmund, the missing cousin. Although my father-in-law was not interested in all this, Margaret and Edmund were in touch with each other for the rest of their lives.

Circle of Life

My Mum Irene had been a nurse all her life, working for some of the time in Rotten Row hospital in Glasgow. An old newspaper photo of her exists, attending the very first baby scan in Scotland. It must have been about 45 years ago. She spent her last months in Aboyne Cottage Hospital, being nursed by a wonderful woman called Mags. It turned out that Mags was the very first baby to have been scanned in Scotland. The Minister talked about this story at my Mum's funeral. Mags sat with us. It was a lovely, completion to her caring life.

Family reunited

Many years ago, I was working in Australia, but was due to attend my brother's wedding in Mexico City. After a delay and missed flight in LA, and a cross country jaunt through Houston, I finally managed to arrive in Mexico a day late. As a total novice to air travel (I had never flown before and had reached Sydney by ship,) I had erroneously assumed that one's luggage would automatically be waiting for you at your destination. My trusting nature had allowed me to also assume that it was perfectly safe to pack one's address book and credit cards in the luggage. Suffice to say that once I arrived in Mexico, there was no luggage, or means to find my way out of the airport. My family were all due to be in the city for the wedding, but although I had promised to attend, I had not specified exactly when I was due to arrive, and as such, was not expecting anyone to meet me. My trusting nature had also allowed me to assume that it would be a simple matter of securing local currency with my credit card, and hopping a taxi to the address in my address book. Having neither, obviously resulted in a massive vicissitude.

telephone coincidences

One of my many coincidences is, when I was at 6th form college (1990), studying Psychology A level. My friend Simon and I had to do an experiment/project together.We were both into films, music art etc so as mates,. we teamed up.There was one evening that I needed to discuss something to do with our experiment so I called him up. After several minutes of chat on the phone about various things,the conversation got onto our project.We were trying to see the effect caffine had on concentration.At this piont, Simon said ,'why are you talking about Caffine, our experiment is on'.....I can't remember exactly what his was on to be truthful. It turns out that I'd miss dialied my friend Simon's number and got through to another Simon at another 6th form collage doing another Psychology experiment with another student called Tom.Due to our age and similar outlook on life, for the first few minutes we both thought we were talking to the real Tom and simon,it was only the subject matter of the experiment that gave it away.<br /> Another quick one is on behalf of my Brother. Early 1990's.

Officer and a Gentleman

I have a picture framing business in south wales it been a family business now for over 25 years. About 8 years ago a lady came into the shop for the first time with a ltd edt print of a fighter plane from the RAF, she needed it re glazed, her son who was in the RAF had broken it, bringing it back home from where he was station. She then left the shop and ten minutes later my friends husband who both live just outside Blackpool and was visiting her mother called into my shop for the first time, I have known him for over thirty years. On my desk he spotted the print which the lady had brought in and said that he knew the artist who had painted that picture and he was a friend of his in the RAF which he was once an Officer in. A couple of days later the lady picked up the picture and I told her what had happened. She then went on to tell me that her son was going for an interview for a job in Dubai to do with aviation. I told her that was where my friends husband used to be about five years previously .

Idiots Guide To Dieting

I was visiting my father in hospital, while i was waiting to see him i picked up a magazine, I spotted something in it which I thought might interest a friend of mine, I was going to take the page from the magazine which i have never done before, but decided to take the magazine, which again I have never done before. The following day I visited my friend, she made us coffee and we sat in her garden, I took the magazine out told her what I had done, and read out what I thought might have interested her. We carried on chatting and i continued to flick over the pages of the magazine, we where complaining about how bloated we felt and how we could eat what we wanted when we where young , she then jokingly said, which side of the family do you get your fat gene from? I jokingly replied oh that is my fathers side, I then turned another page of my stolen magazine, and there was a full spread article of my cousin with a before and after photo of herself after dieting, incidentally I have not seen or spoken to her for over thirty years, and had no idea she wrote books. This one was called Idiots Guide To Dieting.

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