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.

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Well I Never!

Professor David Spiegelhalter of Cambridge University wants to know about your coincidences!

mrs

About 25 years ago my daughter and her friend were cycling round the Isle of Cumbrae . We have an unusual surname shared with only one other family in Scotland and neither family live on Cumbrae . At lunch time the two girls decided to eat their sandwiches in the churchyard of the CATHEDRAL of the ISLES . My daughter sat on a tombstone and looked around . On the next grave was the name of a woman bearing our surname . There are very few graves in that churchyard but the lady had been the daughter of one of the provosts of the cathedral . We discovered who she had married but cannot imagine how she could have met her husband since my husbands forebears had been living in the south of England at that time . Could it have been a Boer war liason or holiday romance ?

Same name

I met Dafydd, 7 years ago when he came to Cardiff to visit my best friend who he went to University with (he's from Aberystwyth, I'm from Cardiff) . When I was introduced to him he told me that there was a girl with the same name in his Primary school (Elizabeth ********). Although my name is not very common, I didn't think much of it and quickly forgot about it. When I was introduced to his parents a few months later, his mum told me that Dafydd was Christened when he was a baby by a Priest with the same surname as me in the parish of Aberystwyth and he was the father of the girl in Dafydd's school. I recalled this story to my parents who told me that they knew this Priest and he was actually my father's cousin. A few days later, I was watching the 6 o'clock news and heard the story of Tony ********, the Bishop of Bangor, had passed away. Dafydd exclaimed that that was the person who had Christened him. After a phonecall to my father, he confirmed that it was his cousin and he knew the family had moved to North Wales a few years previously, but had lost touch many years ago.

Family Chance Meetings whilst at War!

My Grandfather (on my fathers side) Denis was born in Bromham Nr Devizes Wiltshire but later moved to Farnham Surrey, leaving his younger brother Alan behind at the family farm. During the Second World War he was a Major in the North African Campaign and was in charge of moving the Italian Prisoners of War to the other Camps, past the British lines when he saw a Tank marked with "Devizes" he asked his driver to stop and speak to the driver of the tank- thinking that they might know of his family, but to his shock and surprise it was actually his brother Alan! He had joined the Wiltshire Yeomanry and had began the War with working Horses and ended up in the Tanks- he hadn't even passed a Driving Test! My Uncles(on my mothers side) John and Charles were born in Trowbridge Wiltshire, John married and later moved to Salisbury. Both men joined the Royal Navy, John ended up shore based in Capetown doing Administration whilst Charles was posted to India and other places on the M.T.Boats. Their families did not know of their whereabouts as mail was censored, but my Grandmother did receive a photo in the post of her two sons together!

Same name at the chemist

I've been reading the posts for a few days, trying to think of any coincidence that had happened to me. Yesterday moring whilst at the chemist, i sat down next to woman. When the chemist shouted out a name, the woman said "was that Green?". It wasn't, and being friendly i said, "Oh, your Green too." On further conversation i mentioned my first name, turns out her daughter-in-law has the same name as me (Amanda Green). I would have asked further, but my name was called.

Haddock

True story. One day I was in the office fielding phone calls. I gentleman ring. "this is Mr Haddock, please send your brochures. I think odd name. In the afternoon I drive from Lewes to Maidstone to visit my elderly uncle in hospital. One the way I pass a signpost that says "Haddock". when I get to the hospital I get into helping ncle to eat his supper - it is haddock!!

My friend witnessed my car crash 22 yrs before we met!

My name is Jim. I am 54. On January 17th 2011, I was sat, idly chatting to one of my golfing buddies, Phil, who I have only known since 1998, reminiscing about the fact that it was 35 years to the day, that I was involved in a bad car crash in Prestbury, Cheshire. I started to describe the crash to Phil , and told him how 4 lads, who happened to be walking up the dark country road from the nearby Pub , witnessed the crash and helped pull me and my girlfriend from the wreck. Phil then chipped in and finished the story... He was one of the 4 lads! and described correctly how he was later summonsed to Court to act as a witness for the prosecution against the drunken driver who hit us. Phil lived in Bramhall, I lived in Cheadle Hulme, and Prestbury is 8 miles away from where we both lived.. Although Phil has lived all over the UK and even for a spell in Africa, he has returned in the last 15 years to his roots - he now lives back in Bramhall, I live in Lymm ( 21 miles away ), so Geographically perhaps the odds of us meeting reduce, slightly.

Birthday coincidence

We have two married daughters living with their parners in Wales.They were born in 1980 and 1984. The older daughters' first born, a boy, was born in the evening of his mum's birthday 7th April. Six years later our younger daughter has just had her first, a boy, born in the evening of her birthday 24th January. My neighbour told me he had heard the Today programme on Radio 4 and suggested I write in with our birthday coincidence. (By the way I have two sisters, one 3 years older the other 6 years younger than me and they share the same birthday of 24th Dec while mine is 25th Dec. Also in '96 I was 48 my son was 24 and my two daughters were12 and 6.)

Two birthday coincidences

One I was six when my mother died. I was brought up by my father, who married again when I was 11. We never talked about my mother very much, I always perceived it as too painful a subject for my father to talk about. Consequently I reached my thirties without ever knowing what day her birthday was. Then I decided to do some finding out of such things. The occasion was a holiday in the UK (I was living abroad by then). We went to Somerset House in London, only to discover that by then the national Record Office had moved to Kew. This was on a Friday, so we had to postpone further investigation until the following Monday. At Kew I was able to obtain a copy of her birth certificate, which revealed that her birthday was January 2nd. And the Friday on which I had started out at Somerset House was Friday, January 2nd 1987. Two My birthday is February 9th. For some reason February is always a popular month for birthdays, at least judging by the number of colleagues at work who have birthdays in February.

Shared birthdays and chance meetings, etc

I was told about your site when I met an old work colleague that I hadn't seen for 10 years taking water samples by the River Wylye which is not that remarkable. Of more interest may be: My wife and I share the same birthday, and her father and my father likewise. At a Christmas dinner in Salisbury in the '80s, a colleague's wife turned out to be someone that lived next door to me and was a child playmate in Belfast 30 years earlier. I could always remember the house number as it was 365. When we visited a very remote village in Tunisia, we met another work colleague and his wife walking down the street. On a day-trip to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco our local guide turned out to know a good school friend who had started a Moroccan travel company. When touring in a camper-van round Australia, we first met a Dutch family in the Blue Mountains. They went off into the interior and we went round the coast. We found them again in a camp site at Phillip Island near Melbourne. From there they went inland to the Grampians and we went a completely different route and again we met them in a camp-site at Mount Gambier on the way to Adelaide.

Mrs. Pat J

Three coincidences that occurred during the 80's and one very recent one. 1. At that time we owned a lovely chocolate and cream Morgan car. One day we parked it at Treyarnon Bay, North Cornwall. Returning to the car, a family were admiring it and we chatted. Spur of the moment, on the way home, we decided to make a detour so we could buy some fish and chips from a favourite shop in St. Columb. We parked close to the shop and, by chance, exactly opposite the home of the family we had just met. They were waving at their window, "We thought you might be delivering it for us!" 2. We attended Speech Day at our son's school, Bryanston, held in a large amphitheatre in the grounds, seating many people. I knew that the grandson of family friends who lived in Australia was a pupil, but we had never met him or his parents. I said to my husband "I wonder if Ronny and Ian's daughter-in-law will be here?" At that the woman directly in front of us turned round, smiled and introduced herself. It was her! 3. For many years we lived in Qatar and I worked for the local radio station.

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