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!

Christmas Day 2011 coincidence

On Christmas day at about 1.00 p.m. we were sitting down to eat our Christmas day lunch in Stockton, Cleveland, England. We were drinking a bottle of Californian Zinfandel given to us by a friend who lives with his wife in Pacifica, California. As we downed the wine, the phone range and it was my friend in California calling to wish us a happy Christmas before he and his wife had their festive celebrations.

Just prior to reading the DM article about this, I was reading about synchroncity down

My life has been filled with numerous odd synchroncities, some profoundly odd; several recent ones got me back to the library to find some books on the topic. Just prior to scanning the Daily Mail and coming across the article about this study, I had been reading The Tao of Psychology:Synchronicity and the Self which I picked up from the library earlier today. Two days ago I started composing a letter about these recent coincidences because I wanted to relate what happened to someone who researches this sort of thing but didn't know whether an unsolicited letter would be welcomed then lo and behold I find someone requesting examples of such experiences. To say I am stunned is an understatement. Tomorrow I will relate several experiences as separate posts.

A Spiegelhalter story

I first heard of Prof. Spiegelhalter when he appeared on "More or Less" some time ago. The day before, my grandfather had told me about someone called Spiegelhalter. He owned a house in Mile End Road. In about 1930, someone wanted to build a department store there. Unable to buy the house, he was forced to build the shop around it. How many people called Spiegelhalter are there in England?

Six Degrees of Separation!

In 1982 I was working in on a project in Fiji. I made friends with Tony and his wife Angela and their three children Simon, Hamish and Sarah. My eldest daughter, Catherine was living in my home in Auckland NZ. My other children Clare, Helen, Stephan and Marion were living with their mother in Ireland. I decided to get Stephan (at the time 14yrs) and Marion (8yrs) to Fiji for a holiday. They met up with Tony's three children on this holiday. Later in 1983, I returned to my home in Auckland. Tony and his family returned to their home in Christchurch NZ. I kept in touch with Tony in subsequent years. Sometime, about 1995, My second daughter, Clare, was on a backpackers holiday from Ireland in the South Island NZ. I suggested she should call and meet Tony and his family in Christchurch NZ, although she had never met them. Unfortunately she had already visited Christchurch and was on her way to Dunedin. Later, I had a phone call from her to say she was in a backpackers hostel in Dunedin and had met a young fellow called Hamish.

Telepathy!

My mum and I are always texting eachother at exactly the same time! exactly!

Miss

Mum had a friend while nursing who ended up having a daughter who was born on the same day and same year as me, in the same city. Since we could write we have stayed in contact... we both have two older brothers, play the piano and saxophone, play tennis, basketball and dance, have a pet rabbit each and both go to churches called St Barnabas! uncanny or what!

Life and death

According to our family bible I was born at 7.00am on February 27th 1942. My mother died at 7.00am on February 27th 2007

Table double booked.

My wife and i were organisibg a night out and i remembered her telling me about an italian Resturaunt in West Wickham called Toppolinos which she had been a to with some friends and allways had good food so we agreed to a meal on sturday night . We organsed the child care and i found the number and made a reservatiion Saturday night 9pm table for two Mr S Clarke .... Saturday evening we arrived at the resturaunt and was welcomed at the door asking our name and taking our coats .. the table was not ready so we had a drink as we was waiting for the table another couple came in and i recognised the Male as working at London Bridge Station where i also work i only knew him as Steve we was just about to exchange welcomes when the owners wife came over and explained on the previous wednesday night she recieved two phonecalls only minutes apart asking for a table for 2 9PM Mr S.Clarke she thought it was the same mr Clarke ringing twice unusual but has happened before She had only booked one table. So not only did i know steve to say hello to i know knew we shared the same surname and had the same good taste in Resturaunts.

Holiday coincidence

Me and my wife won a trip on a clipper ship sailing from Calcavecia Italy for five days. We hit it off with another couple (Jeremy and Caroline)and spent all our time with them. When the cruise was over we kept in touch for about a year. We went to Hull to see them and they visited Derby to see us. After that the friendship fizzled out and neither couple kept in touch. About three years later, me and my wife were in Mexico on holiday for two weeks near Xmas. About four days into the holiday, we were in a night club and it was about one in the morning, on my way to the toilets and who should be walking towards me but Caroline. It turned out that she and Jeremy were booked into the sister hotel next door to ours. We spent the rest of the holiday with them. Ps I can supply dates & photos if needed.

A gift from heaven

Last November my family and I , who live in Italy, lost our five year old Basset hound. Unfortunately, our little dog went through two weeks of tests and operations and when we finally decided that we had no other choice but to put her to sleep it was absolutely heartbreaking. While , maggie, was being treated we didn't even take into consideration the cost of the treatment we just wanted our dog to be better so when we finally got the various bills from the vets and the crematorium we didn't know how we were going to pay for it all. Both my husband and I are freelance so we don't have a regular income. Well, a week after maggie's death one of the schools I work for phoned me up to tell me that they were still holding a cheque for some work that I had done last year. The amount was the exact amount we needed to pay the vet and the crematorium. Incredible . Then in December last year we had planned to go to the uk for Xmas but money still being a bit tight we didn't know how we'd be able to afford to go.

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