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!

Early childhood

As a small child in the 1940's my brother and I were looked after by a girl called Thirza. My Grand mother who was our main carer, lived in a village in North Notts. called Lound. For whatever reason ( I know not ) Thirza stopped looking after us. Some 50 odd years later I was competing In an archery tournament near Lound and decided to stay in a hotel about 2 miles from Lound. Before dinner I went down to a deserted bar for an aperitif and started chatting to the young lady behind the bar. In the course of our conversation she asked me what I was doing in the area. I told her about the archery the next day, and that I'd spent that day looking around Lound and the places that I remembered from my early childhood. She then said that her Mothers best friend was called Thirza who had had a job in Lound during the war looking after two little boys - and had left Lound when the electricity was connected to the village. Because Thirza is such an unusual name I left my phone number with the girl behind the bar. 10 days later I got a telephone call from the very same Thirza. Mike

Another country coincidence

Visited husband's family who lived in Buffalo, NY State, in October 1967. We travelled on the Greyhound bus to New York for a weekend stay to look round the big city, with my brother-in-law David and his wife Dot. We passed a NY policeman on the street, who was just standing there observing the people dashing here and there, and upon impulse I turned round and took a photo of him, showing him and quite a bit of the background. I thought no more about this. When I returned to work from holiday, I was showing the photos to the girls in the office when one of them fell really quiet and asked me if I knew a lady in the photo who was about to walk past the policeman. I explained that it was a random photo, taken on an impulse, and what was the problem? She said that the lady in the photo had been her French teacher at her grammar school in St Helens; she had married an American man and gone to live in New York I was flabbergasted and asked if she was joking or messing about, but she stoutly denied that she was and said every word was true.

my Triumph

Back in the late '80's i had a triumph 2000 motor car, It was my pride and joy . I worked in a restaurant and after finishing one night walked to the car park to find it had been stolen! The next day, Reading the stars in the newspaper i was informed i would share a triumph with someone! Either the astrologist was VERY good or it was a big coincidence. A week later after a night out to celebrate my birthday looking out of the taxi window i spotted my car at the bottom of the road i lived in(it was taken from my workplace three miles away),It had more fuel in it than when it was taken and apart from a flat tyre was in the same condition as when it was taken!

Am I psychic?

I was deleting unnecessary phone numbers from our phone's memory and informed my wife that I was deleting the number of our local Indian takeaway as she already had it on her mobile. About thirty minutes later as we watched the local news on Granada Reports, it was announced that there had been a bad fire at the flat above the takeaway, The Village Tandouri, and that unfortunately someone had died. This happened only last week!!!

Raandom appearance of someone being talked about

A group of colleagues and I were outside a west London pub during the summer and for no specific reason we began discussing which actor we felt was the best James Bond. One of the group suggested Timothy Dalton and within 5 minutes he walked into the pub past us... To say our jaws hit the floor was an understatement! By way of explanation it turned out that the pub used to be his regular when he was filming and whenever he revisits the area he tends to drop by. None of us knew that and none of us had seen him there previously.

Two chance meetings on the same day

I am a British national living in Japan. On the same day, both my wife and I had chance encounters with friends travelling outside their home countries. I was in a ramen bar in Shibuya, Tokyo, when my cousin from England walked in and, without realising I was there, sat down next to me. Although I knew he travels to Japan from time-to-time, I did not know he was in the country and had not contacted him recently. I eat in Shibuya perhaps once in a fortnight. He, perhaps a couple of times a year. Shibuya is a district of over 200,000 people, with a population density over 13,000 per square kilometer, and restaurant options to match. The chance of meeting a fellow Tokyo resident in Shibuya is low, let alone a family member from another country. On the same day, my wife who was on a business trip in Seattle, discovered that she happened to be staying in the same hotel as a friend from Italy, who happened to be travelling in the US for a conference.

Christmas present coincidence

It was Christmas 2001 and my sister lived in London and I lived in Tenby (south west Wales). She had done all her Christmas shopping in London and myself in Tenby. Lo and behold we'd bought eachother exactly the same top! Of all the clothes in all the shops in the world!!

One Man, Two Women - Same Birthdays

My ex wife and I had the same birthday. I then divorced and met a new partner on a dating website without knowing anything about her including her birthday. It turned out to be the same as well. So one man, two women, same birthdays! In addition my new partner's mother went to school with my auntie!

Mrs Christine noakes

Hi, both my son & daughter who are 2 years apart in age, were given the same due date of the 31st of august 1993 & 1995 They were born in different hospitals but the midwives who delivered them were both called Rosalind, they were born @ 11.15 pm & 6.15 am & they are both left handed. my husband & I are right handed! Another coincidence we took our family on holiday to Australia 11 years ago my husband & I had both previously been to Australia in our 20's and shared a house with others our age. On our return to Perth 10 or so years after our initial vist on a night out in Freemantle @ a kebab shop after a boozy nite we met up with one of our old flat mates having had no contact since leaving Australia previously!

Dr D Walker

We are on the top of Table mountain. Someone behind us says "Ann" my wife's name. For obvious reasons we ignore it. But "Ann" is repeated and we turn to see it is being uttered by our NEXT DOOR Neighbour from Pinner. Neither of us had the slightest idea that the other was going to South Africa. Beat that!! Dennis Walker

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