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!

clocks / watches...displays

For many, many years I have found myself looking at watches / clocks / clocking in machines...shops...clocks in the home or at work.../....the clock in any car.....the display will read 11:11 ( I am not alone in this...my daughter experiences the same as does her good friend...it comes & goes somewhat and I can only put it down to a time one WOULD notice / remember 11:11 especially on a digital display ! However about 10 - 12 years ago when this was at it's height (and before my daughter etc experienced anything) my watch (which I usually wore day & night and had UNusually taken off overnight) appeared to have stopped dead....at....yes 11:11...I picked it up....smiling at the familiar coincidence.......put it to one side thinking to remind myself that should take it in for new battery.....it started working again! Interesting "stuff" !!

Dinosaur film nosebleed

Several years ago when I was about 10 years old (c.1976) I was watching the film When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, alone, when during one particularly violent fight between a T-Rex and Triceratops, my nose suddenly began to bleed quite badly. Several years later, I was watching the same film with my father, and when we got to the exact same dinosaur fight scene, I proceeded to tell my father what had happened the last time I watched the scene. He looked over to me and said "What? Like its' bleeding now?" My nose had once again spontaneously and badly bled. I have only ever suffered two spontaneous nosebleeds in my entire life. They were the ones. from Jane Mulhearn, Somerset.

A family root explored

This is a second coincidence that I've posted - for some reason I know many - my family, who enjoy my stories as a mild distraction think that the reason I have them is that I'm just plain nosey and ask, say, a further 2 or 3 questions that then establish some link. So here's my second story: My father is from the west of Ireland, ear to the border with Roscommon and when my children were young we began visiting. Eventually we bought a small cottage - but a good 40 miles further west, by the sea in a place called Roonagh Quay. We didn't know the area well. A friend from Manchester told us that as a child he had often visited that part of County Mayo and that now his family had a reunion, every 5 years - all camping at Old Head - a campsite near the town of Louisburgh in a really scenic part of Ireland. He then told us (this being early January 1998) that the next reunion was in August of that year - 6/7 months hence.

Transposition of Numbers.

Some years ago my family moved house. We stayed in the same area though and retained the same dialling code for our phone number. My daughter was at uni. in Leeds but was back for the summer vac. when we moved. She had given friends in Leeds her new home phone number prior to coming home for the move.<br /> After the last load had been taken to the new house, we took our helpers to a local hostelry for a "thank you " meal. As we walked into the pub the phone was ringing. We took our seats and the lady behing the bar called out to everyone there if there was an Alison Woodworth in the bar. My daughter went over and took the call which was from one of her friends in Leeds. They chatted for a while and she returned to us. We all assumed that she had been given the number of the pub by my son who was at the new house with his friends.<br /> The next day we asked my son about the incident bur he was adamant that he had NOT given out the pub phone number to anyone !

Help from the radio!

An extract from my Journal dated Saturday 24th March 2007: 'Stratford today "The Merchant of Venice". In the Swan by an American Company. Modern - smart suits, bad haircuts, Apple ibooks for the caskets. It worked very well. Shylock played by a famous person whose name just now escapes me. He was very good - very subtle - his downfall was shocking! Antonio - in love with Bassanio, but in a way hard to be sympathetic because he played it very anti-semitic. I rang Lesley sitting in the car before driving home as she had left a couple of messages. Sean left for Tenerife on Friday so that was all the calls. I spoke ......... The man on the radio has just said F.Murray Abraham, that was who played Shylock, he got an Oscar, playing Salieri in "Amadeus". ........ to Sean on Thursday night...' etc. The rather matter of fact insertion does not betray my total surprise and delight at getting this help with a name just when I needed it. Edwina

Watch that name.

I was sitting in a pub, enjoying a pint, when a total stranger stopped and stared down at me. I enquired what was wrong he said 'is that a Breitling Old Navitimer watch you are wearing' I replied 'yes', on that he rolled up his sleeve to reveal the same watch. I said 'that I collected watches' and he said the same. I informed him of several other watches I had and he replied he had them as well. Finally, I said by the way 'my name is John Davies' and he replied 'my name is John Davies'. Spooky or not. It is also strange, that not only is it a coincidence but you are drawn to talk about it and hence reveal the coincidence.

Birthdays

I was adopted and met my birth mother and father who a few years after my birth went on to marry and have a family together. I was in my 30s when I met them. I am now in my 40s There are quite a few dates that match (Real = my adopted family and birth = blood family) My birth neice shares her birthday on the anniversary of my real dad's death My real sister shares her birthday with my birth grandmother My other real sister shares her birthday with my birth sister in law My real Dad's birthday was on the same date as my birth brother and birth aunt My other birth brother shares his birthday with my real Nan My birth father's name begins with K His surname begins with S My birth mother name begins with J My maiden initials are KSJ

Chance Meeting in Australia

When I left school in 1956 I worked for a firm on the outskirts of Bristol and used to call from time to time in the lunch hours at a nearby family run confectionary shop. The family had 2 daughters who sometimes served in the shop after school and during holidays. These I got to know quite well. On a visit to Australia in 2005 I was on a coach trip from Sydney to the Blue Mountains. All on the trip except one couple were non native to Australia. At a coffee break, I got talking to the Australian couple to discover to my amazement that the wife was Linda, who used to serve me in the shop, when she was in her mid teens, and that I had not previously met since the early 1960s. She and her husband had emigrated to Perth soon after their marriage and were visiting their daughter in Sydney.

Jung another book turns up(3)

If you read the Koestler/ Priestley/ Dunne stuff (1) and (2) above or somewhere I'll conclude my contribution to the uncertainty profile. By now I was, I suppose, searching and I went to a bookshop close to where I worked. I found Dunne's book with an intro' by Priestley which seemed to round the whole episode off, except it was next to a book titled Synchroncity(?) by C Jung. Someone made the link?

We'll meet again!

My brother Horace Dale (RAF) of 83 Heathcote Road, Miles Green, Stoke on Trent, was walking down a street in Naples in 1943 when he happened to meet Jack Cross (Navy) who lived at ?? Heathcote Road. While the were chatting along came Frank Pointon (Army) - the three different services - who lived at ?? Heathcote Road. A photograph was taken and it it is a treasured memory of the amazing coincidence - the three houses are less than 25 yards from each another! I have the photograph that was taken if you wish to see it. Dennis Dale.

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