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!

Birthday coincidences

My Father, my Sister and my eldest daughter were all born on 5th December - three generations! On 5th December 1976 my Father was 90, my Sister was 50, and my daugher was 21 ! Jonathan M

Extraordinary encounter in Harrods

I live 130 miles from London and on one of my infrequent visits there I decided to buy a present for a neighbour called Nicki who had recently done me a favour. I ordered some handmade chocolates from the Foodhall in Harrods and whilst I was waiting for them to be wrapped I felt a tap on my shoulder. A voice said "Hello" and as I turned round I saw my friend Nicki who by sheer unexpected coincidence had also decided to visit London. At the same time the sales assistant handed me the box of chocolates which I was able to hand over there and then!

atacama desert - chile

My eye was being examined by an optemitrist from Chile yesterday and I happened to mentionhow much I had enjoyed the Atacama Desert when in Chile and he told me how beautiful it was smothered in flowers in Spring and Autummn when I got home and openend my emails there was one from a friend visiting the Atacama Desert just then! All she told me was that she was going to Antarctica - I had no idea.

The young man lost in the outback

In the Parish church of St Michael at Woodham Walter in Essex is the following poignant memorial: "Sacred to the memory of Henry Bryan, 5th son of the Rev Guy Bryan (Rector of this Parish) and Selina Elizabeth his wife; accompanying Governor Gawler on his perilous expedition into the unknown regions of South Australia, his generous endeavours to secure the Governor’s personal safety were accomplished under mysterious providence by the painful sacrifice of his own life. December 1839. Aged 18 years." Two of the sons of the Rector, Henry and Guy were accompanying Governor Gawler in November 1839 in the search for suitable agricultural land and the source of the Murray River. Henry had begged to be allowed to go out with the Governor who wrote: “I was much pleased with his enterprising spirit and acceded to his request, the next morning on coming in sight of a very high mountain before unknown to Europeans, I called it after him, Mount Bryan” On 13th December the pair discovered that they had lost all their water.

Phone call

I met my wife to be when we she was twelve and I was 15 or so, we were friends for a year or so when we played in a band together. We had met a couple of times over the next 25 years as we had a common interests but not really spoken much to each other. I found out one February, from a mutal friend that she had separated from her husband and was going through a divorce but thought nothing more about it. By the time April came around I found myself thinking about her more often than I ever had and wondered how I could find her telephone number without anyone knowing. I didn't have her address or even know what her married name was. One evening in April I was sat trying to think of a way to justify my interest in her to a mutual friend without actually saying that I wanted to ask her out when the telephone rang. It was my now wife, who had been wrestling with exactly the same dilemma as me for about a week before coming up with a solution. What struck me was not that she had wanted to phone me, obviously we must subconciously have felt some sort of attraction to each other even if it was based on a friendship formed 25 years earlier.

The Dam-Buster

Some years ago an elderly neighbour had a friend, Ted, to stay who he had known all his life. They came to church on the Sunday morning and all was well until the last hymn was announced – No 219, “God is our strength and refuge” during which the tears started to flow down Ted’s face. The tune of this hymn is by Eric Coates, well-known as The Dam-Buster’s March, but what we did not know was that Ted was a member of the Dam-Buster’s Team in 1942. I’m sure the organist who chooses the hymns a month in advance was not aware of this either!

The musical repair man

A few years ago my husband and I were joining a small party for a painting holiday in southern Spain. At Malaga airport we saw the luggage of some other members of our party being loaded into a taxi, but unfortunately the driver dropped a large white cello case as he tried to put it in the boot. On arrival at the house the owner of the cello (a world-renowned ballet choreographer who had taken up learning the cello and brought it with him to practice) examined the instrument, which was not damaged, but the bow was snapped, making playing impossible. At dinner that evening he was telling us about this mishap and another member of the party of 16 round the table said: “Perhaps I can help, I am a restorer of musical instruments!” The next day with the help of a tool box supplied by our host the bow was repaired – what are the chances of an expert of this calibre being present in a group of 16 random people?

The lost and found ring

In the spring of 1959 my fiancé and I were travelling overnight by train with two friends to holiday in the south of France. In those days the couchette carriages had a toilet and washroom at the end of each coach where we all washed and dressed in the morning. It was not until we reached our destination that my fiancé realised he had lost his engagement ring. Two weeks later we were returning to London by train and were sitting opposite a young man who was wearing a sapphire “gentleman’s ring”. My fiancé asked him to cover his hand as he described the ring to him and asked if he had found it in the train washroom two weeks previously – he agreed he had and fortunately gave back the ring.

Shared Acquaintance

When I was aged 20 I worked for one year as a secretary in a five star hotel in Tenerife. I was given staff accommodation - a twin bedded room which I had all to myself for most of my time there. However, for about two months in the middle of my term of office an English girl was employed as an assistant and she shared my room. After I left the hotel I had my first job in England as a secretary at Manchester Polytechnic. I became friendly with the secretary of the English and History Department there. One Friday afternoon we were discussing our plans for the weekend and this girl said she was spending the weekend at her girlfriend's house in Sheffield. After chatting about her friend for a while, it transpired that it was the same girl who had shared my room in Tenerife. Di

work coincidence

In 1983 i was working on a medical ward as a student nurse. in those days patients beds were on a long ward and nurses were allocated a left or right side. i was doing observations of blood pressure pulse etc when i heard my name called out loud, i turned round to see the nurse working opposite me looking at me she asked why i had called her, i said no you called me, we were both so astonished and it felt really spooky. i have always wondered what caused this and what it meant!

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