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!

Surname coincidence

My late mothers sister married a man many years ago with the same surname as mine and his brother married a girl who was the daughter of an old army colleague of my fathers from WW 2.

Finding a Screen

About 25 years ago, I lived in a flat in Southsea which had one very large room. One day my mother visited and I said I would love to divide the room with a panalled screen, preferably an old one which I could restore and decorate myself. On walking down the steps to the street a few moments later, we saw an antique screen lying abandonded in the gutter in front the building. I picked it up and took it into the flat. (Unfortuantely I have still not finished restoring it and my husband keeps threatening to throw it out!) Well-intentioned restorer-to-be Be Lucky

One or Two scoops please

My wife & I went on holiday to Crete to a new holiday centre, anyway we got to meet and go around with a Cretian expat and his wife that looked after us (he knew the best places), but during one of the discussion we turned to our different jobs. He mentioned that he came to a UK University and ended up at Unilever (yes a big employer), to which I added that when my 'street uncle' worked at Walls he was part of the team that developed Soft scoop ice cream and he had gone to work at Unilever... he then had a puzzled look on his face and said "Whats his name ?" to which I said "Malcolm Tate - why ??" . To which he replied "I work for Malcom Tate !!!!" be lucky Peter

linda

Several years ago my son purchased an old reel to reel tape recorder from a car boot sale in Henley upon Thames. Along with the tape recorder were 2 pre recorded tapes. The tapes contained a message that appeared to be from a son working in Africa to his family in the UK. Imagine my sons surprise when the son made reference to his ex headmaster in Gloucester who happened to be my nephews grandfather who now lived in Yorkshire.

Twins is there a link ?

Hi there, My Father is a Twin and a concidence with his brother, during an engagement party my Uncle came over to speak to his brother and they happened to mentionthey had just got some new glasses, my uncle brought his out and my father produced his, funnily they were both Half Rim specimens, anyway at the marriage of the same cousin (My uncles daughter) he had arranged for the photos to be rushed back at the reception, and he came across to my dad and asked if he could borrow his glasses (similar eye disorder) to which my father said -" I have just broken one of the lenses" to which my uncle said. "So have I that's why I asked", when they brought them out the SAME LENSE was broken... :-) be well Peter

Singing with the children

One afternoon at my house about 15 years ago, my cousin and I started singing the nursery song 'Oranges and lemons' to her two young children. We were trying to get the names of the bells, and their right order in the song....but couldn't quite get it right. Later on, we all decided to go shopping at the supermarket. As we were putting all the shopping into the car, I heard a sound like something had been thrown, and had landed on the ground. I looked to see what it was, and discovered a book on the floor of the car park, just a few feet away from me. the book was one of children's nursery rhymes.....and it was wide open on the page with the words to 'Oranges and lemons'!!!! We were all stunned as no one else was around who could have dropped the book. I kept that book, and still have it to this day. Janice.

Multiple synchronicities

At work today (29/3/12), with Radio 2 on in the background, I was telling 2 colleagues how I'd been experiencing synchronicity, whereby I'd be thinking of a song and when I switched on the radio that very song was playing. I said the weirdest instance was about 3 years ago when I'd met a young lady who told me her name was Tracey. On the way home I was reminded of Tracey Ullman's version of the Kirsty McColl song, 'They Don't Know'. On arriving home I switched on the radio and the very next song played was Tracey Ullman singing 'They Don't Know'! Just after I'd related this, who should come on Steve Wright's programme but David Spiegelhalter, talking about synchronicity! About 45 minutes later I was saying how much I'd enjoyed a visit to British Columbia, and almost immediately Steve Wright mentioned someone 'in British Columbia, Canada'! As if that wasn't enough, this evening at home I was watching a holiday programme on Channel 5 about Jordan. When it switched to surfing in San Diego I went into another room and switched on BBC Radio Oxford.

Canine Brothers

My daughter is profoundly deaf and recently met another deaf girl during a visit to a deaf club event who she became good friends with virtually straight away. A few months prior to meeting her new friend, our family dog died aged 13 years from cancer. One day she was chatting with her friend via a social network and the friend showed her a picture of her dog who had died a couple of years previous. Her dog was the same breed as ours (black labrador) and looked spookily like our old dog. Her friend told her that her dog had died of cancer as well. My daughter explained that he looked just like her dog and asked where she had got him from. The friend told her and my daughter then asked me where we had bought our dog from, when I told her, she explained that her friend had bought her dog from the same place and it transpired that she had had our dog's brother - they were from the same litter. I thought it was amazing that my daughter had met a new deaf friend who had the same outlook as her, only to find that she had our dog's brother as family pet!

Winning bet

I was at home, sitting at my PC selecting racehorses on which to place my daily bets when the phone rang. It was my daughter who lives about 80 miles away. She wanted to know the surname of neighbours of ours who had been kind enough to send her some gifts on the births of her twin boys. I told her that it was "M****n" and we chatted for a while before I got back to the job in hand of selecting my bets. Imagine my surprise when I spotted a horse called M****n, exactly the same as my neighbour's surname, listed as a runner. It was an outsider, about 25/1 if I remember correctly. Well I couldn't resist it, a modest £5 each way and, yes you guessed it, it won! My daughter was pleased with the bottle of wine she got for providing the tip.

met Aunty Pat

While studying in Blackpool which is nearly 300 miles from my home town in west wales,i was on the mobile to my wife outside a pub that i was lodging in,while i was talking to my wife my Aunty and uncle passed me by. As if that wasn't spooky enough she had no idea i was in Blackpool and she also lives 300 miles from Blackpool but on the other side of the country from me in Kent. Gobsmacked

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