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!

American Cab

Three years ago I caught a taxi early in the morning to New Street train station. It was a new taxi model, and in the few minutes of the ride I was daydreaming about the older British black cabs. As we drew into the station my mind drifted further onto thinking about the old fashioned yellow Checker cabs from the 1950's and 60's in New York. I then walked into the station concourse where was parked a yellow Checker cab, which was advertising a new American range for Campbells! I couldn't have seen the Checker cab from the street, and as it was the first day of the advertising campaign there had been no prior publicitiy. To my knowledge there haven't been any similar advertising campaigns in the concourse either before or since.

mutual friend

My brother is six years my senior. Just married, my then husband and myself went to live in Bahrain for two years - related to his job. I knew a couple of people in his company, having previously worked for the same business. We lived on compounds then, and would on occasion be invited to workmates' compounds for bbqs etc. One particular BBQ/Darts match was in full swing. Music playing - I was singing along to the music and the neighbour of the workmate said "I wouldn't have thought this was your era, you are too young." I told the neighbour I knew the music as it was my brother's era and therefore familiar to me, and we established that he and my brother were the same age. Conversation continued, and we amazingly discovered that we both came from Welling in Kent, and that he had attended Bexley Grammar School - where my brother and cousin (the same age) had been educated. Finally he asked their names - and believe it or not he knew both my brother and cousin - being in the same year at the School. I have never forgotten this set of coincidences. Regards. Leena

Brittany Coincidence 1and 2 of 4

At a small family campsite at Beg-Meil,Brittany,in 1987 there was mutual recognition between myself and a young woman who was in the same aisle of tents. She was a supply teacher to the school where I'd recently become deputy head. I bought a tape of a S.American group I saw playing pan pipe music in the town nearest our Beg-Meil campsite.The day before term started I was listening to the tape in school when another teacher said,"That's Micamac,isn't it?" I said "How did you know the group's name?" She said,"I saw them in the same town and I saw you there.I called out to you,but you must have been out of earshot."

passed away

My parents lived in Leicester all of there lives and were married for 57 years. both died on February 10th and were buried on February 14th. Mum in 1997 and Dad 4 years later in 2001

Six man bike

In 1976 my brother designed and built a 6 man bike for an Essex round Table group for fund raising activities. In 1988 he moved to the South Coast where he still lives. Thirty six years later In January 2011, myself, my daughters and fiances stayed with my brother over the weekend. My brother showed us the drawings, photos and plans for the bike 'How I wish i knew what became of that bike. I know it was ridden to Hamburg and used for all sorts of fund raising activities in this country.' were his last words on the subject that evening. Two days later one of the fiances visited his local pub In Biggleswade, Bedfordshire where the landlord asked him if he would like to help with fund raising activities involving a six man bike. Yes it was the same Bike !!!! A reunion of all involved in 1976 took place in July 2011.

OLD FRIEND PART 1

I commenced my career with Woolworths & in 1959 they sent me out to Barbados.Shortly after arriving I met a girl,Madeline & we became good friends. However in 1968 she left the Island with her girl friend for North America. From that date we have had no contact in any form & I had no idea what part of N.A. she had gone to. On tuesday last week I came across a small photo of her dated 1962 on the reverse. Understandably this brought back many happy memories. On friday my wife told me that there was an "overseas" call for me. It was Madeline calling from Toronto where she is happily married.A 43 year gap ! She told me that she was sitting in her lounge & had decided to track me down via the WEB . PART 2.PECULIAR EVENTS. Later I was to meet a Trinidadian girl-now my wife.Shortly after meeting her & when she had returned home I decided to call her. As I finished dialing her phone was picked up-it had not rung her end.Her response was "I knew you were going to call so I went to the phone". We have now been married 37 years & I am fully aware that ,peculiar events do occure between some people & that distance is no deterent.

Chance Meeting

At Wimbledon tennis this year my wife and I met a couple over a cup of tea during a rain break. We had never met before and chatted for about half an hour before going our separate ways. About a week later we were driving to Bristol (from our home in Reigate) to visit our daughter. We stopped at the services at Newbury for a coffee. I visited the mens toilets and found myself standing next to the very same man that we had met at Wimbledon. We said hello and it turned out that he was on his way from Oxford to Chichester. What are the chances of this happening? I doubt we'll ever meet again.

The universe continuously provides

I can't list all the times I have experienced coincidence, and often something in a positive, useful or good way: you lose something, but find something similar or equally useful. Or something difficult occurs, and the next thing you know it turns out to be a blessing. Consider this: When I resigned my job as exec director of a small charity in 2001, two weeks later I had to fly home to the USA as my mother had a heart attack, sadly she passed away, and it meant I had to spend a great deal of time helping my brother to sort through her estate. My resignation was a blessing in disguise - at a difficult time it freed me from one stressor that would have been very difficult to deal with.

friends

Five years ago on a Nile cruise we shared a table with a couple from Cornwall, we live in Hertfordshire. We got on well, exchanged addresses and details and for the first time ever we followed up, and have met quite frequently since at each others homes and we are going on holiday together next month. During one of our visits to our amazement we found out that our friends new our son in law, and that both their children had been to school with him in Cornwall. We later found out that their son went to the same school as I did in Hertford and I had played rugby with his headmaster.

Family Tree

I live in Kent & I had been doing my family tree & a distant cousin told me that the family had farmed in Norfolk for many generations during the 1800's. she said that a lot of them were buried in the graveyard at Mattishall, Norfolk. I decided to have a weekend up there to visit the graveyard and also the records centre, in Norwich. we got to the main church of Mattishall and the graveyard was in the surroundings of a small chapel at Mattishall Burgh. this chapel is hardly used now, so not a lot of people go there, it is quite isolated. i took photo's of the gravestones, & wondered if any of the Tooley family still lived in the area. On returning to the car park, there was only one other car there, i saw a woman & decided to ask her if any families with the name Tooley still lived in the area, i wanted to know as I had come up from Kent & was doing the family tree. I went up to her & she happened to be the organist at the main church in Mattishall, she had lost her keys the day before, and that is why she was there this day. I asked if she knew if any people with the Name Tooley still lived in the area.

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