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!

Telephone coincidences

I phoned a Bob Sherwood, almost a colleague, at the Castlewellan Forest office during working hours. Someone else answered the phone and it took some time for Bob to answer. We talked for a while about forestry business and then, when I was about to hang up he asked how I knew to find him at this number. I laughed and said "But that's your office number." There was a bit of a silence before he admitted he was in a pub in Dundrum. From memory I knew a friend's number in Belfast. I phoned him. His wife answered the phone. I asked, " Can I speak to David. She said, "But he's dead!" I said, "Oh dear, I'm afraid I must have got the wrong number. I was phoning someone called David Magill." She said, "This is David Magill's number, but he died last week." I said, "He can't have done, I spoke to him only a couple of days ago." It was a different David Magill with a rather similar telephone number.

London to Ibiza

When younger I temped for a while in an office in NW London. While there I got a job as a holiday rep and our receptionist, I forget her name but also young, wished me well etc. I didn't know where in Europe I would be posted, and I lost touch, so she never knew where I went. A few months later I was bringing a coachload of holidaymakers back to the airport in Ibiza after their holiday, and I popped down to see which desk they would be checking in at. As I was going into the airport who should be coming out but the receptionist, who was just starting her holiday...we were amazed.

Lost and Found

It was a very busy summers day. I was walking through a park area and noticed a lost mobile phone down in the grass. As I picked it up I noticed a large group of teenagers sitting in the sun nearby. I was about to say has anyone lost a phone, then thought better of it as there was a chance it would be claimed by the wrong owner. I decided to try and phone an obvious close contact such as Mum or Dad to ensure the phone was returned to the rightful owner. I was able to access contacts and dialled 'Home' and was surprised to hear my good friends answer machine message. It turned out to be the mobile phone of my friends daughter. My friend and her son and daughter had lived in the same road as myself and my son and daughter. They had grown up together through early school years. We had both moved from the area and had not met up for a few weeks at that time. I used my own mobile to phone my friend's number and when she answered I asked "how are you?" She was franticly looking for her daughter's new expensive mobile phone. Imagine her shock and relief when I said that I had found it!!

Horsing Around

Our daughter was born in Kentucky on 27th February. The horse we eventually bought for her was born in Kentucky on 27th February.

Mother's friend

After my mother died, my father left the Midlands and went to live in a small village in Cornwall. He did not normally drink, but felt that the local pub would be a good place to make new friends. He had been there some months before he discovered that the pub landlady had been in the same class as my mother at school, in the Midlands.

Car break-in (x2)

One day near my then-workplace in Hillingdon my car had a side window broken in by a thief. I called the glass repair company who said someone would come to replace it from their Watford base, as they had no-one nearer that day.The next night, asleep at home in a different area of NW London, my car parked outside had yet another side window broken into, by yet another opportunistic thief. I called the glass replacement company..a repairman apparently was passing nearby, so was sent to me. We were both a bit confused when he arrived! He said, 'Didn't I repair this car's side window yesterday, but in Hillingdon..?! What are the chances of that?' Four years on, and my car has not had a window broken in again. Why those two days in a row? (different places, different thief) And why that same repairman?

Holiday friendship

My husband and I were on holiday (from the Midlands) with our young son in Spain, one February. At the hotel was a family from the North of England, with children the same age as our son. In the evening, after the children were asleep, we would sit and chat togeher in the bar. We left without exchanging addresses. Later the same year, in the summer, we were camping in the New Forest, and visited Bucklers Hard. As we were going in, the same family were just coming out - they were on a sailing holiday, and had moored in the harbour.

Birthday coincidence

My mother had four children: my eldest sister born on 13 April 1949; my second sister born on 13 April 1951; my brother born on 13 April 1953; and I was born two years later but two days "late" on 15 April 1955. My sister gave birth to my mother's only grandchild on 14 April 1983. There are many other continguous dates coincidenes in my family including my father and mother's death dates, 25 hours (and 51 years) apart on 27 March and 25 March respectively. I'd love to know the statistical chances of all of this. LTG (I have already posted this but it doesn't seem to have gone up on the site.)

Leap Years

A close member of my family seems to die in leap years. My maternal grandfather died in 1988, my maternal grandmother died in 1992, my paternal grandfather died in 1996, my paternal grandmother died in 2000 and my father died in 2004. Luckily only a pet hamster died in 2008 but we are all a bit wary about 2012........!!

Two eds better than one

My husband and I were born 4 days apart at over 400 miles apart, 44 years ago. It's a small thing and probably readily explainable, but I like it. We have identical yellow teddies. I have never seen any other teddies like them since. We both keep them in bed with us. No one can tell them apart but us.

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