Cambridge Coincidences Collection

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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

There are a couple of different coincidences within our family that I think are quite interesting. Firstly my mum and her brother were both born on the 19th of the month and my sister and I are both born on the 28th of the month albeit different months. My mum is 8 years older than her brother and I am 6 years and 6 months older than my sister. The second coincidence is that myself, my sister and my nephew were all born 16 minutes in the hour. I was born 16 minutes to 4 in the afternoon, my sister was born at 16 minutes to 9 in the morning and my nephew, whose birth I was there for, was born at 16 minutes past 11 at night.

Same day birth

Both my children are born on the same day 7 years difference also their grandad is born the same day too 13th July

Pictures at an exhibition

I grew up in Pembrokeshire, west Wales. In 1986 my 11th birthday treat was a day trip to Cardiff with my family to see the ‘Dinosaurs from China’ exhibition at the museum. This was quite a big deal and out of the ordinary, as back then the journey would normally take about 3.5 hours each way, so a fair undertaking. We took a lot of photos as we went round the exhibition, including one of me next to one of the amazing skeletons. In 1988 I went on a family holiday to Greece and made friends with a girl called Emma who was from the Valleys and who I had never seen before nor since. Some time later while sorting through some photos I came across the picture from the exhibition; in the background were Emma and her parents.

Meeting the new brother-in-law

This actually happened to my father, who is sadly now deceased, but it was so extraordinary that I thought I'd like to tell you about it. He was in the RAF during the Second World War and was posted to India. After his arrival there he moved around a lot, so had no contact with his family back in S. Wales for about 8 months. Eventually he was in Ceylon for a short break, and while there the mail caught up with him. On the last day he was stationed in Ceylon, he was sitting on the edge of the parade ground reading his post, while a party of recently arrived soldiers were parading. There was a letter from my grandmother in the post telling my father that his sister had become engaged to a young man, who my grandparents had only met briefly as he'd just been called up. My grandmother also included a copy of the local newspaper, so Dad started to read it. The soldiers finished parading, and one of them came across to my Dad, and said that the Monmouthshire Free Press was his local paper too. So they got chatting, and it turned out that the young soldier came from just up the valley not that far from where my father was brought up.

A FAMILY OUTING

in 1977 my wife were living in epson surrey and went to bognor one sunday in summer with a view to purchasing an old peoples' home. i have a brother and two sisters, all of whom were married, and all living in separate houses in london. as my wife and i were walking along the bognor promenade we saw all three of the family with their spouses sunbathing on the beach immediately below the promenade. they had decided to go to bognor together on the spur of the moment.

Was I destined to marry my husband?!!

My first choice of University to study medicine was Newcastle.No offer so took second choice which was Leicester and met my husband(studying psychology) who is from Newcastle. His brother was also studying Medicine at Leicester and dropped down into my year.More interesting is however that my brother who went to college in Newcastle chose to drink in the pub that my husband's youngest brother used to work in and had regular chats with him before he knew my (then) husband to be.When my brother finally met my husband he realised he knew his brother..My brother bought a house in Newcastle which belonged to the son of my future in-laws next door neighbour. He had to complain about the drainage system and had to go to my in-laws next door neighbours in order to contact the previous owners.When my brother came to sell the house himself he ended up selling it to the son of my father in-law's best friend. All this was completely independent of me and my husband who still live in Leicester.It also turns out that my mother-in-law spent a short period of her life in Preston and went to school with my mother.

Maz

A friend who I met when we were in our thirties was born in the same month and year as me although two days days apart. We both had sons born the same month and year two days apart. We both were born to Irish mothers and more spookily, when we were children we'd both seen ghosts and had actually terrified ourselves by reading the same book, 'The Most Haunted House in England, Borley Manor', over and over again. My sons both had their children on the same day, 1st July, but two years apart. Twice in the last two years on my way home from work I've had the feeling I was going to win the premium bonds and both times I had (only £50 though!)

neighbour abroad

When walking down the street in Sorrento on a family holiday many years ago we were amazed when we saw a man across the street - it was a neighbour from our home town in Lancashire. He lived within 20 yds of our house. We had been touring around Italy - he had just gone on a weeks holiday to Sorrento.

Spanish superstition

In my biography "Across the Shallow Waters" I relate two remarkable coincidences which occured during retirement in Spain. Having been evacuated from Bristol to Yorkshire during WWII I was once to find myself playing football for my Wakefield college against a team of Dutch schoolboys, refugees from the German occupation of their country. They were brilliantly coordinated and proved more than a match for us running out winners by 4-1. In Spain, fifty years later, I was to present a golf trophy to an elderly albeit energetic Dutchman, Yelle Housmann. Over dinner I learned of Yelle's war-time record, of his capture and imprisonment by the Nazis, and his subsequent escape to Russia where he was interned and put to forced labour. On relating to him my own boyhood experiences against his young compatriots,Yelle, to my astonishment, responded that he was very aware of the match, despite the fact that at the time he was in captivity thousands of miles away in the USSR. Yelle confirmed the score and was able to name some of the Dutch players.

Birthdays

My birthday is on 19 February 1949 and my brother's birthday is on 27 June 1950. My mother is the eldest of 3 sisters. My Grandfather migrated to Australia 10 years prior to my Grandmother and mother. My mother and Grandmother arrived in Australia in 1938. Both my aunties were both born in Australia for obvious reasons. My parents married 0n 1948 My eldest aunty is born on 14 February 1939 being 10 years difference between us. The youngest aunty is born around the 20 June 1940 being 10 years diffrence between her and and my younger brother. This also means there is the same 16 months difference between my bother and me and my aunties as well.

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