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!

Long Distance LP

I grew up in Stafford, and then years later started working in Yorkshire and settled in Huddersfield with my new wife. We went to the open market and I was browsing the LP stand while she was looking at, oh, shoes, probably. I came across an LP entilted "Geoff Love Plays Your Top TV Themes". I was startled, as I had had just such an LP as a lad 20 years previously. I turned it over to find my name written in my childish writing on the back of the cover. I remember the hairs prickled on the back of my neck. I bought the record (again) for not much less than the first time.

separate incidents

My brother John, known as Jonah to his friends, and his girlfriend Kath had a baby girl, Joanne, in the early 1970s. They separated and Kath later got married. On 24 January 1974 at about 8.00 am, Jonah died on his way to work in a road accident. On the same day and at the same time, about 6 miles away, Kath was murdered by her husband. Joanne, then a very a young child, lost her mother and father at the same time in entirely separate incidents. Dr David T

Family piano

One evening I was talking to my mother about our old family piano, and she told me that it had been given to us by my grandmother (whose maiden name was Barber) The next morning when I woke up I had 2 words very clearly in my mind - 'piano' and '1908'. Later that day we played Scrabble and 5 of the first 7 letters that I had drawn at random to begin the game enabled me to spell the word 'piano'. That evening, I was working on some family history research on the Barber side of the family and discovered the record of a marriage that I had been looking for unsuccessfully for some time. This marriage, of a female Barber, had taken place in 1908. Neither I, nor any member of the family had previously had any idea of this.

Army Chums

In 1963 I was posted to Singapore with the Royal Signals, and met a fellow technician, called Brian. We became mates, and after a while ventured forth on a break to the Naafi leave centre in Penang, where the beer flowed freely, and a splendid time was had away from the rigours of military life. Eventually I was posted back to the UK and in 1965 on to Krefeld in Gemany. Imagine my surprise when a few months later Brian was posted to the same unit, and we continued our friendship for the following five years. In 1971 I left the Army and Brain, and totally lost touch with him; he had married one of the lady soldiers, and I was starting a new career in civvy street. By January 1984 I had a job as an engineering manager with a broadcaster, and was visiting Oban, Scotland to feature the remote transmitter maintenance team in a magazine about broadcast engineering. I stayed in a local hotel which in January I was the only resident at dinner, where the meal was so large that I had to take a walk afterwards to aid my digestion. Passing down the long drive that led to the nearby town was a young chap with a backpack, and we exchanged nods as he progressed up to the hotel.

unlikely chain of events

A few weeks ago I dropped a paracetomol caplet and it bounced onto the floor and landed on my shoe in an upright position. Also my son rolled a pound coin on our dinning room table, it landed on top of another pound coin. We often have these occurances! Since 1921 all the males in our family were born in Febuary within 7 days of each other.

holiday coincidence

in 1981 my mate Dave and myself were on a beach in corfu when we bumped into 'dinky dalton' who was in the same year at school as Dave, and my brother Paul. On return I told my brother that we had seen an old acquaintance from school in corfu. The following year my brother Paul went on holiday to Rhodes.............and in the same apartment complex bumped into 'dinky dalton' I've always wandered what the odds were on that coincidence !

Tennis Ball Bounce Back

During the early eighties, whilst having a knock about on a tennis court, a friend and I witnessed (indeed, we're responsible for) a rare shot. We were both stood on our own baselines and without looking up we each launched a looping underarm serve to the other. The balls met mid-flight, about three foot directly above the net. They rebounded and began their return journeys along almost the exact same path. We both caught our balls without moving and stood slightly dazed, pondering the chances. Glenn B

family birthday coincidences

I was born on February 28th 1939 and my wife Catherine on 26th August 1941. We got married in 1964 and our first daughter Sarah was born on 26th August 1966 to share Catherine's birthday. My second daughter Rachel was borne on 28th February 1968 and therefore shared my birthday. Christopher Horne

spiritualism real?

My mother, who lives in Kent, was having her hair done a few years ago, when the hairdresser was trying to convince her that she could contact people on "the other side". The hairdresser was adamant that someone called Jack was trying to contact someone in the salon. Jack being a very common name for men in my mother's age group, my mother thought the name had been picked to increase the chances of a customer having a dead relative called Jack, so she just politely said that she did not know any one of that name. However, when she got home she found that my Uncle Jack had died that morning. As Uncle Jack, like the rest of the family, lived in Cumberland, the hairdresser would have known nothing of him or his demise. Quite a coincidence! Janet

Irish family plus

1) On thursday last I was talking to a gentleman about some irish antiques & my mobile rang: it was an irish dealer friend 2) Some years ago I had broken up with my girlfriend but had bought a house behind Olympia in London. I was looking for the London electricity office in King Street Hammersmith but missed it. I pulled out towards the A 4 to go round again & thought ` I wonder if Belinda (the ex girl friend) will drive by?' & she did!!! 3) I stopped at Threshers in Devizes to buy a bottle of wine for my weekend hosts. The assistant was scots & I made some remark about being far south. She agreed but said said she had stopped on the way in Yorkshire at Constable Burton for work. I said that my son-in-law to be had a cottage there when he was based at Catterick Camp called Rose Cottage. She replied that that it was the same cottage she had lived in when working there More to come!

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