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!

Lost Camera

I was at work one morning in Leeds when one of my colleagues told me he had found a camera in a taxi in Bradford. I didn't think anything more about it until a few days later when he came in with the photos which had been taken on this camera. I asked if I could have a look at the photos and wow, there was a picture of my then sister-in-law who had been attending a function in Bradford with my brother. It turned out the person who had left the camera in the taxi was at this function. Due to this amazing coincidence she got her camera back. What's the chance of that happening!!

lorry drivers

My husband worked nights for a lorry repair company and one night, struggling with a repair was making a lot of noise. A man rang the company and said could they stop as he had to get up for work at 5am and needed some sleep. Over a year later my husband was driving lorries in Saudi Arabia. He'd stopped for the night and was cooking some dinner on a little stove when another lorry pulled up. The driver was also English and they chatted. He was the man who had phoned to complain about the noise.

Two stories

Hello - I heard the article on Radio 4 the other morning. Perhaps you were swamped with emails after that! I’d also be interested to know the results of your research when they are published. I have two coincidences that stick in my mind, and would be happy to provide more details if you need them. About twenty years ago I was on a business trip to Bombay, and got in the hotel lift on my last day. There was a small Japanese girl in the lift, and as I turned to press the button, she said “Mel, is that you?” It was a colleague from our Tokyo office, whom I had met for the first time three weeks earlier in London. We had had dinner in London but neither of us had mentioned India. She was there on holiday, arriving the day I was leaving. Considering the number of times that lift travels in a single day, I was amazed at the coincidence. About ten years ago I had a small lunch party at my Lincolnshire cottage. Guests included people who had met there before, viz. a neighbour who was a few years older than me and a former girlfriend from university days and her husband visiting from Hastings. None of them from Lincolnshire originally.

A Spanish Coincidence

In the early 1970's my wife and I were driving down to Spain in my (British Leyland) Triumph GT6 car and we were within a few hours of reaching our destination on the Costa Brava. Suddenly the car engine started stuttering and lurched along intermittently.We were tired by this time and quite worried about the car.It was a Sunday and we found ourselves going through a small spanish village and being the weekend all the locals were out on the village square. The car had virtually stopped by this time and i decided to pulled over. We sat there tired and worried looking at the locals who were enjoying their weekend . i noticed in the corner of the square a local of peasant appearance who kept looking over at us furtively and then looked away again. Eventually he decided to wander over and introduced himself and asked if he could help.He said he was the Chief Mechanic for British Leyland in nearby Gerona. !! unbelievable we thought ...He soon spotted our engine problem and fixed it on the spot.At first he had been reluctant to disturb his time off but in the end he had kindly decided to help us.

Nannies in America

In the 80s I was looking after a little boy called Tom in London. I took him with me to the American Embassy to get a working visa. Two New Zealander girls were behind us and they talked to Tom while I went up to the desk. A few weeks later I was working in New York, and my employer's friend came to tea with her little girl and their new nanny, one of the New Zealanders.

Mrs Denise Walker

I went to Malta on holiday 25 years ago and we went out on a boat trip for the day. The boat docked at a lovely sandy beach and my husband and I sat there enjoying the sun running our hands through the sand when my husband came across a tooth on a dental plate. He went to throw it into the sea and I stopped him and took it and placed in on a rock at the top of the beach. That night we were in a restaurant and we got friendly with a couple from Yorkshire and we were having a really good laugh but she kept putting her hand up to cover her mouth. When I asked her why she said the day before they had gone out on a boat trip and she had lost her tooth. Well you can imagine my excitement. I told her about the tooth I had found and sure enough it was the same beach. They went out on the boats the next day and found it where I had left it on the rock. We have been friends for 25 years now. Denise in Worthing xx

simultaneous texts

I was on a train many years ago and texted a friend who I had been out of touch with for a month or so, as he was on a long trip. I asked when he was coming back, and I got a reply back maybe 10 or so min later. He completely ignored my question though and was asking me something totally unconnected in return. I replied but heard nothing back. Later that day he emailed me with his question again, saying: "not sure my text made it. I can't receive any right now. no reception...". When I asked whether he had received mine and was texting in return, his reply was: "I am currently still in the states, and will probably get your text, once I have reception again." I still have the email exchange. It seems it was sheer random coincidence that we thought of each other and wrote at the same time. Or a telepathic connection! Which is how I think of it. This happens to me on multiple occasions (sometimes thinking of a person and immediately getting a phone-call or text from them), but often with people I see on a more regular basis, so it is more likely that we simply think of each other at the same time for no deeper reason than a random coincidence.

Testing fate

I had just discovered the notion of synchronicity. I decided to test it. I was in the center of my city and had some time to spare. I went to a book store and found a random book and flicked to a random page. On that page it said " Succesful people talk to random strangers more often.". I then went and sat down in the square on some steps. I looked around and there were lots of couples around me and I felt a little lonely. I thought "I wish I had a pen and paper so I could write down my thoughts." Then a young woman about my age sat down infront of me, pulled out a pen and paper, and wrote "I look around me and see all of the couples and feel a little lonely." I then remembered the advice in the book about talking to random strangers. However, I did not have the courage to approach her.

Parking phenomenon

Why is it that whenever I park my car in a carpark that someone else is about to enter or leave one of the spaces immediately next to me? This seems to happen about eight times out of ten even though there may be dozens of other parked cars not in use. This has happened over many years.

relatives rediscovered

Around 25 years ago my Father decided one Saturday morning to drive from London to watch his football team, Barnsley, play Norwich at Carrow Road. He was early, got a seat and started chatting to the guy who sat down next to him. He instantly recognised a fellow Yorkshireman by his accent and found out that he had driven from Barnsley that morning. After 5 or 6 questions starting with 'whereabouts in Yorkshire have you come' to which the answer was 'a small village you won't have heard of', they realised that they were first cousins who hadn't met for over 30 years.

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