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.

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Well I Never!

Professor David Spiegelhalter of Cambridge University wants to know about your coincidences!

Coincidence that may have saved my life

My name is Geoff. In 1981 I was working in Nigeria. One weekend I went with a group of friends to a beach about 40 miles west of Lagos. It was in the middle of nowhere and totally deserted apart from our group. There were no buildings of any sort there. We were having fun standing in the water and letting the waves - up to ten feet high - break over us. One wave didn't break over me. It lifted me off my feet and carried me up the beach before depositing me on my feet again - but the force of the water had lifted my arm out of its socket and my shoulder was dislocated. I had dislocated it a couple of years before and I had needed a general anaesthetic in order for the hospital to reset my arm. In the middle of nowhere in Nigeria I was in deep trouble. Also, Lagos hospitals were closed at weekends. My friends decided that they would have to drive me back to Lagos and look for a doctor. Every step I took was agony as they walked me along the beach to where a path led to where our car was parked. On the way we noticed one other couple on the beach who hadn't been there when we arrived. We had to pass them and the guy asked if he could help.

Same birthday

When arriving at Uni I was surprised to find that 3 of my closest friends from a group of about 12 pf us had the same birthday as me! 23rd October! Bizaare! We decided that god evidently wanted some Christian girls at Durham university in oct 2006 so had created us all at the same time with that in mind! :0) not only this but 3 more Durham friends (though not as close) were also born on the same day! Lots of partying!

Chance meeting in New Zealand

Three years ago my husband and I were walking on a fairly remote beach in New Zealand. We came across only one other couple and inevitably fell into conversation. They were "locals" and they asked where we were from. When we said Essex UK, they said they only knew one place in Essex, and to our astonishment named the relatively small seaside town (which is not well known) in which we live. They had visited as they had a good friend who lived there. To our further amazement they named the friend, who is an artist, and whom we knew slightly as my husband had bought a painting from him some time previously.

Chance meeting

A friend from Santa Barbara was having dinner with friends in London they mentioned that they were off to New York on a Hoover free flight. He told them that we were also doing that trip and they should ring us. As we had never met only heard about each other through mutual friends they decided not to contact us. Weeks later while seeing the N.Y. sites we noticed a film set outside the Plaza Hotel we stopped to look, being curious we asked the people in front what was being filmed. They told us and then asked if if they detected a Wesh accent we said yes, the next question was did we know R&R (mutual friends) we replied yes, "you must be Ruth & Carol we are G&G" Our surprise and astonishment got as much attention from the crowd as the filming. We had no idea that they were in N.Y. We got on really well and met up a few times that week, now many years later we still cannot believe what happened.

Huw Edwards

My wife and I, whilst in Sydney, Australia a few years ago, decided to visit The Barrier Reef. I managed to get flights to Cairns. Being Welsh and naturally a romantic, I tried to book a passage to an Inner reef on a sailing boat and sail back romantically in the moonlight! Unfortunately, they were booked up so we had to travel on a motorized catamaran. We decided to go snorkelling and as it was very hot I suggested that my wife wore a golf shirt of mine for protection. I obtained the snorkelling gear and went back to fit it all on. We then walked to the platform to enter the water. As we were proceeding I heard a voice shouting in Welsh " Mae'n uffern di beth rwyt ti'n gwnaed yma?" which translated means "What the Hell are you doing here?" The questioner, a Mr. Roy Jones, was standing on a gantry above us, and was a retired retail pharmacist friend of mine whose shop was about 2 miles from where we lived but which he'd sold about four years earlier. I had not seen him since the sale of his shop.

Our Parents Married Day

Both my parents and my wife's parents were married on the same day, and I don't just mean the same date - it was exactly the same day. Although one set of parents were married in the morning and the other in the afternoon.

Phone coindence

My sister and I phoned each other at the same time. We both heard two ring tones. We both explained 'Oh - what's that?' We both laughed and went on to explain that I phoned her/she phoned me.

same problem, same school

In 1995 my youngest son was born with a birth defect called TOF (Tracheo Oesophageal Fistula) which affects 1 child in about 3000-4000 births. For my local hospital this would equate to about 2 in a year. Imagine my surprise when he first went to infant school and a little girl in his class had exactly the same problem. She was born in the same hospital during the same school intake year. I found it amazing that they had both ended up in the same school let alone the same class.

I don,t belive it.

In 2009 my husband and I went on a coach tour of the east coast of America and citys of Canada. On the tour we met many people from all over the world, one couple we met were Barry and Margaret from Queensland Australia and we became quite friendly as we seemed to share the same sence of humour. Another couple whose names escape me , they were from New Zealand and they became the most avoidable people on the tour for reasons I won't go into. After a wonderfull holiday we exchanged address with Barry and Margaret, they told us that in a couple of years they would be doing a tour of europe and coming to Yorkshire and would like to meet up. So as you do in these instances put it down to one of those holiday things. We kept in contact by email over the next few years, but in June of last year they indeed came to England and said they were staying a few days in York and would love to see us.

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!

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