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!

"A tale of two pianos" (with apologies to Mr Dickens)

30 or so years ago I ran a business retailing new and second hand pianos and a chap came in one Saturday afternoon wishing to trade his old piano in for a new one. Next day on my way to his home on the edge of Nottingham I nipped into a local newsagent, bought the current Exchange and Mart and noticed - quite separately - an old Bechstein upright for sale in a suburb on the other side of Nottingham. So, I called there first and found that the Bechstein - a legacy - had recently been delivered from the home of a recently deceased gentleman who lived down in Southern England, moving there about 50 years previously, and before his move, he and his piano, had previously lived in the very same house as the other chap I was off to visit. .

Holiday wedding ring

We were married on September 4th.1965. In September 1966 we were on holiday in Benidorm and whilst swimming off the beach I caught a glimpse of something very small and shiny on the sea floor. It looked like a tiny shell so I swam down and retrieved it. To my amazement it was a wedding ring identical in style to mine and inscribed with exactly the same date as my wedding but a different girl's name. We took the ring to the local police station but often wonder what happened to it!

out of contact friend

I lived in Chile for a few years in my early thirties and had a short relationship with a man there. We split up, I moved back to the UK and we lost touch completely ( it was in the days before Internet, Facebook etc) After about 5 years without any contact I started to think about this person again. One morning a postcard arrived from a relative in Chile, showing the Presidential Palace and the public gardens and square in front. very clearly in the front of the postcard was my ex carrying his briefcase and appearing to smile into the camera and directly at me!!! a few years later i took the postcard when I went to Chile and showed it to him, we both marveled at the coincidence. regards Trish

BEVERLEY

I was born in Aug. 1944 so remember nothing about the war. One night in early 80s I was about to go to bed when I thought 'in the war they used to fill the kettle up before going to bed in case the mains were bombed in the night' so I filled the kettle. In the morning, on the doormat, was a card from the water company apologising for having to turn the water off.

Puppy predictions

My dog had 8 puppies. We advertised them for sale in the local paper. Each time someone phoned to come and get one my daughter predicted which puppy they would choose with 100% accuracy

Dr Stuart H R

30 or so years ago I ran a business retailing new and second hand pianos and a chap came in one Saturday afternoon wishing to trade his old piano in for a new one. Next day on my way to his home on the edge of Nottingham I nipped into a local newsagent, bought the current Exchange and Mart and noticed - quite separately - an old Bechstein upright for sale in a suburb on the other side of Nottingham. So, I called there first and found that the Bechstein had recently been delivered from the home of a recently deceased gentleman who lived down in Southern England, moving there about 50 years previously, and before his move, he and his piano, had previously lived in the very same house as the other chap I was off to visit.

Shared dates - mother and husband

I am writing for my computer illerate mother: "My mother was born 19 September. My husband was also born 19 September (different years). Then many, many years later my mother died 28 September, and so did my husband, on 28 September (different years). Very strange coincidence indeed.

Birthdays

My birthday is July 7th and my father's is June 7th. My sister's birthday is June 30th and my mother's is May 30th

Radio 4 telepathy

I recently visited an archaeological site in Cornwall. AIthough I've been a keen amateur archaeologist for many years I had never heard of the site before I researched the trip: it is not particularly well-known. I walked back to the car, switched the radio on and immediately heard a discussion about the exact site. It wasn't even an archaeology programme, but a general 'questions answered' type of programme, focusing on the etymology of the site's name. I'm well-used to minor coincidences but this was very odd indeed!

Supermarket Surprise

I had a big bucket of old change and my husband and I thought we'd take it to our local supermarket and empty it into one of those change machines, get a voucher and put the money towards our weekly shop. The bucket of change yielded a voucher for £123.47 (we'd been collecting it for a while) so we were quite happy. We walked round the shop, chatting away, filling our trolley but not paying any attention to how much we were putting into the trolley. When we got to the checkout, the cashier scanned all of our items and we packed them into bags and loaded them back into the trolley. Then she said "That will be £123.47 please". I thought to myself that that figure sounded familiar, then I looked at my voucher from the change machine and realised that bizarrely it was exactly the same amount. We were both very surprised and slightly confused. It seemed a bit unreal. But I guess it was just a coincidence.

Pages