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!

Australian connection

Around 2002/03 we went to Australia for Christmas to meet up with my brother and his then-fiancee (Ian and Victoria) who were mid-way through a year-long trip around the world. Australia seemed like a good place for them to stop for Christmas as an old school friend of my brother’s had married an Australian girl (Tom and Mrs Tom) and was living in Sydney, so it meant they would be with friends for the festive break. We arrived the day before Christmas Eve and it was decided we, along with Tom and Mrs Tom, would all have dinner together on Christmas Eve. Also invited where Mrs Tom’s parents who lived locally. That evening at dinner, being of similar ages, my parents and her parents got chatting. After much conversion they found out that Mrs Tom’s aunt on her father’s side had moved to the UK some years earlier and, it turned out, lived in the same small village a couple of miles outside of Winchester (called Easton, population of about 700) as my aunt on my father’s side. At the next available opportunity we called my aunt (Pam) and apparently this other lady lived across the road literally from my aunt and they were friends.

Bumping into my Ex

A walk around Lathkill Dale in Derbyshire is about 10 hours. There is a point where a path crosses going into the Dale and coming out. I drove 90 miles, stopping off on the way which I normally don't do, sat on a bridge eating lunch which again I don't normally do, to walk for the 10 hours. At the intersection I bumped into my ex girlfriend with her new boyfriend reading the same OS book of Derbyshire walks. The passing at the intersection would have only been about 30 seconds. We never did that walk when we were together.

Too many links.

In 2005, age 13, I went on a package holiday with my mum to Turkey. Whilst there I met a large group of people my age including one boy called David. After the holiday I kept in contact with some people I met out there although I rarely spoke to David. My mum and I enjoyed the holiday so much we decided to return the following year. Unbeknown to us so did David and his family. 'What a coincidence' we thought. Even more of a coincidence that the year after that both our families returned to the same resort at the same time again without each other knowing. I fell out of contact with David and thought nothing more of it. Until in 2010 I went to Greece for a holiday to a new resort with a new company with my dad and heard someone call my name whilst by the pool. It was David! As he'd never met my dad or brother who i was with and hadn't seen me for 3 years, plus being in a different country and at a different resort with a different holiday company I thought it was amazing that we happened to be on the same holiday as each other again. But there was more... It happened that Davi and his family were on holiday with another family too.

Phone numbers

Many years ago my sister's home phone number was 22266. Her birthday is 22.2.66. I have lived in homes in Gloucester and Cambridge, and both times had phone numbers ending in 7333.

Font

About 20 years ago I developed a computer font which looks pretty much like real handwriting. This is the only font I've created and eventually it made its way onto the internet and a few people have used it. A few years ago, a printer in Sussex made some greetings cards using illustrations done by my grandmother in the 1960's and 1970's when she was a professional illustrator. For the captions on the cards, and without knowing the connection, they used my font - they were very surprised when I told them!

Holiday coincidence

My friend and I (both born on 20/01/1952 coincidentally) went on holiday to Skiathos May 2011. It was the first week of the summer season and the weather wasnt great. One evening we decided to go to the taverna we went to the night previously because it was a short walk and the weather was awful. The owner recognised us from the previous night and as the taverna was full asked us if we minded sharing a table with a woman on her own if it was ok with her. She agreed so we sat with her. anyway like you do we exchanged pleasantries. I asked her where she lived and she said Crawley but originally came from Chislehurst. I looked surprised as I came from there as well. I told her the name of the of the street where I grew up and she told me the road she grew up on and that she lived in one of the cottages. I then replied that I knew her sister Lesley!!!! I dont know who was more surprised, me or her. This is the connection: I have a brother Shane married to Karen Karen has a brother Gary who is married to Lesley and Lesley is the sister of the lady in Skiathos, (Denise) Denise then phoned Lesley and we had a chat. How spooky is that?

Old School Friend Same date of birth

Some 40 years after I had left school (around 1998), I was on holiday in Bournemouth and whilst in the lounge there got into conversation with several couples. We were saying where our home towns were. One lady from a couple said that they now lived in Nottingham but used to live in Alrewas - a small village near Lichfield but didn't expect anyone would have heard of it. I remarked that I had gone to school in Lichfield with a girl who lived in Alrewas. I said her father had kept the postoffice there. She remarked that she had worked in the postoffice and the girl I had gone to school with had been her bridesmaid. I haddn't seen or heard anything about the girl since leaving school. Secondly, my husband worked for a large company and in the late 60s/70s there was apparently an article in The Times stating that you only had to meet 16 many people to find two with the same birthday - day and month of year. A man from another department came into my husband's office and said I am just starting a survey to see if this pans out.

Seeing the same person at 4 different locations within 1 hour

I was once in the London Underground in mid winter and a girl caught my attention because she was only wearing a vest in the freezing weather. Once outside, I again saw her ahead of me crossing the road. A few minutes later I arrived at my destination only to see her press the buzzer to gain access to the building. I let the door close behind her and pressed the buzzer in turn. I went up the stairs and went towards my client's office. The girl was sitting at a desk in the open plan area!

Travelled round Africa in a truck which years later was bought by a work collegue in the UK

In the early '70s I travelled overland to Australia and worked in a mining camp at Mount Newman in the Gibson desert in Western Australia. After six months, having made quite a lot of money - the contract was for 10 hours a day, seven days a week for six months (there wasn't much else to do but work or spend your money on in the Gibson desert) I left to visit various Australian friends I'd made on the overland journey and at the camp, plus I also wanted to see a bit more of the country. However after several months I decided to have a look at Africa and boarded a Tanzanian cargo vessel (Scots captain of course) called the "SS Ujamaa" - Swahili for "Freedom" - sailing from Perth to Mombassa. There were five other passengers on board including two New Zealanders who had also shipped their Dodge truck in which they intended travelling round the world.

Injured Little Bird

I was on a split shift in work one day when a colleague called me out into the courtyard of our work. She had found a small bird lying on the ground under a tree with what appeared to be an injured wing. It was attempting to fly but was unable. I phoned my brothers girlfriend to ask for some advice (she is a vet nurse) and if I should ring the RSPCA. She explained that there would be nothing that they could really do and that we should leave it alone and it's mother would tend to it and eventually it's wing would heal and it would be fine. I then returned into the kitchen in work, and playing on the radio as I entered was the song Broken Wings by Mr Mister - which contains the lyric ' Take these broken wings, and learn to fly again, learn to live so free'.

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