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!

Old friend

I am walking down the street when I see someone that looks like somebody I know but it isn't them. A few minutes later I see the person that I was was thinking about!. I has happened on some many occasions that I would like an explanation!

Duck for Dinner

In my shopping trolley, last week, amongst other meats, I had put some duck breasts for dinner.They sat in the fridge until last night when we decided to have them for supper. Imagine my surprise when I received an email from my brother, this morning, who has just gone to live in Thailand and having started to acclimatize to the heat and the way of living, had been to the market and bought duck for his dinner last night!

Birthday coincidence

in 2004 i ran a uk conference magazine aimed at the trade in the conference and incentive sector-Executive Venturer. I was invited by the Brazilian Tourist board-Embratur- to come to brazil along with a group of Uk buyers responsible for organising meetings and conferences on behalf of clients. While i was there we stayed at AMAZON TOWERS HOTEL -about 45 minutes by boat from Manaus. Executive Venturer ran an article on Brazil with a feature on said hotel. I had the privilege of being invited to the private house of the President and Chief Executive of The Amazon Towers Group. During the time i ran the magazine i did a fair bit of overseas travel as my company was involved on various trade shows-IMEX-FRANKFURT and EIBTM-BARCELONA but on this particular trip my group had covered most of brazil but never did i think that i would meet such an important person who was born on exactly the SAME DATE AND MONTH AS ME-quite a coincidence.

heart attack

In February 2004 I fell ill and was hospitalised for tests. In transpired that I had endocarditis and one of my heart valves needed replacing. On 1st April 2004 I had a replacement Mitral Valve heart operation. My parents had booked a holiday to Benidorm for late March/ early April and as I was not in a life-threatening condition they decided to to continue with there plans. My father had high cholesterol and regulated this by his diet. He was persuaded to change his routine by taking medication to correct his high cholesterol ( I believe this was in the previous 6 months ) He had NEVER had a heart attack/angina prior to any of this. On 1st April 2004, nearing the end of his 2 week holiday, he awoke during the night feeling a little unwell. Whilst standing by the side of the bed and talking to my mother, he had a massive heart attack and died. Was it a coincidence that he died on the same day that I had by-pass surgery on my heart? Was it a coincidence that soon after starting to take medication to regulate his cholesterol level he had a massive heart attack? Who knows!!!

mr stanley a

in 2007 we booked a family holiday to new york for 4 nights in november. a neighbour of ours who resides less than 70 yards away also booked to go but one day after we flew out . we joked about bumping into one another in the big apple but after 2days the thought of seeing someone we knew had completely been blown away by the sights etc. on the 3rd day we caught a bus to a place called ' woodbury common' .its about a one hour drive out of new york. woodbury common is a massive retail outlet area the size of a small town. its shop after shop of end of line goods etc [ it compares to the complex at bicester in the uk], there are buses to and from there every hour from new york all day long . the six of us split up and went our own way for the day , The day passed by and was pretty uneventful but i remember there was an amazing sunset. as i stood and wathed the setting sun pretty much on my own and in an isolated area i heard a voice say is that you stan !!! it was the neighbour. so no not only had we tavelled 2,700 miles across the atlantic,we also had travelled 40 odd miles out of new york, and there we were standinG on the same slab!!!

Is that my cousin?

I see my extended family one a year at christmas if I'm lucky. I hadn't seen my cousin Gemma for two years. We live 40 miles apart. Me and my partner went for a drive out to the country one day and stopped in Bridgenorth. As we parked up I said I didn't really want to stay, my partner convinced me to have a walk around as we were there. We were in a heated discussion and sat in the car for twenty minutes before getting out. It was a bank holiday and we parked on a back street car park. We got out of the car and had not got a clue which way the town was. My partner started to walk left but I said lets try right. As we rounded the deserted street corner my cousin and her partner were walking towards us. If we had gone the other way/ Got out of the car earlier or left when I wanted to I would not have seen them.

Foot & Mouth Artists

As a young child of about 11, I had a very bad dream in which I had lost my hands. I was learning to paint using a brush in my mouth, but the whole experience was proving very traumatic as I could not come to terms with having no hands. Next morning as I was having breakfast, the postman arrived with something for me... It was from my mother who I had not lived with since I was about 6 years old - It was a calendar and every picture had been painted by a foot and mouth artist. It was a spine tingling moment!

Love comes late

I met a girl at college and we became good friends. She introduced me on three occasions to her best friend. 8 years later I met my partner in the gym and we fell for each other instantly. I met his sister a few weeks later. It was my college friends best mate. Maybe I should have made more of an effort with her at he time and I might have met my partner sooner??

airport coincidence

arriving back from holiday(from italy) i inadvertantly picked up the wrong suitcase,only realising once through customs,i waited for the people with my case to come through, a couple of dear old ladies who were confused but understanding! (i,d seen the ....son part of my name on the red label,the case i,d picked up was identical to mine the red tag was the same and the surname ended ....son. the following year (approx 13 months) i was once again waiting for my bags (having arrived back from italy) same airport and was about to pick up my suitcase when i realised the surname was different needless to say the owner was the same two old ladies! who looked at me ,not sure they realised it was the same person who had picked up their suitcase by mistake a year earlier.

Adder in dream seen the next day

It was a hot June weekend in 1999 and I was staying with a friend in the Ashdown Forest, East Sussex. On the Friday night I dreamed I was walking along a sandy track and suddenly came across a snake that was blocking my path. It was a long snake, curled into an 'S' shape, moving from right to left, with its tail just hanging off the edge of the path into the grass. On the Saturday morning I woke up early and went for a jog before breakfast. It was an amazing clear morning with the promise of a hot day to follow. Halfway round my jog, I found myself turning onto a sandy track towards home. After a couple of minutes I came across an Adder, similar in size to the snake in my dream, curled into an 'S' shape with its tail-end still in the grass at the edge of the track. As in my dream a few hours earlier it was moving from right to left. The location is half a mile North-East of Chelwood Gate and on Google Earth the track is at 51 degrees 3'13.77 N and 0 degrees 2'3.04 E. I was 35 at the time and had only ever seen a snake in the wild on one other occasion.

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