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!

Queen Mother's Fishbone

Some years ago my husband told me early one morning about a strange dream he'd had. In it he was at a banquet during which the Queen Mother had got a fishbone stuck in her throat. We then switched on the radio to hear the news, and heard the announcer describe the very event he had dreamt of. We had no television , and had not listened to the news the previous evening, so there was no way we could have previously heard about this event, which in any case, was not made public until that morning.

Specific number recurrence

I was fascinated by your study which you talked about on the Today Programme this morning...ergo the following coincidences may be of interest to you; For some time now the number 13 and its multiples have appeared time and time again in my life e.g. I will be driving along and when I check the car's mileage on the mileometer or the time on the clock, there will be a 13 or a multiple of the number 13 every time on the screens i.e. 1.52pm or 113 miles or 10.52 am etc. It even happens when I awake in the middle of the night for no particular reason...then when I glance at the clock to check the time it invariably reads with the number 13 or a multiple of it...I find it kind of spooky and fascinating at the same time. Have you heard of such occurrences before? Many thanks for taking the time to read this e-mail. Tom

'It was for me!'

In 1991 we moved to a large house set in three acres in the middle of the Scottish hills, miles from anywhere. My husband Francis, a lifetime member of the Morris Register (for Morris cars), had volunteered to host the annual Scottish holiday, a Whisky and Castle Tour. We were going to have twenty-three vintage cars, assorted tents and campers in the grounds, and a dozen people living in the house along with our family, for about a week. And a great, though soggy time was had by all - it was a very rainy July. On the first day, a few cars and tents had already turned up and were being taken care of by my husband, children and a few friends. As I was getting the house and food ready - I had offered dinner for everyone the first evening - I remembered that I hadn't made an orthodontist appointment for my daughter. I was to have rung Aberdeen Royal Infirmary days before. So I picked up the phone and dialled the number which was eventually answered by a gruff "Hello." "Ah, that's not the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, is it?" I asked.

Raffle Clean Up

About 10 years ago the company I worked for had a christmas party held at the Daresbury Hotel in Warrington. There were about 70 couples present at the dinner dance and when we were seated ther was an envelopr with 8 different coloured raffle tickets inside. 1 envelope per employee for 8 raffle draws. When the draws were made to my astonishment i actually won 5 out of the 8 prizes. The boos from my fellow workers could be heard across the room as i picked up the 4th and 5th prize. The host who was the boss then preceeded to anounce another prize donated by the hotel manager, dinner for 2 to the value of £50. All the employees were given a number against there name totalling 70 numbers. The hotel manager was asked to pick a number from 1 to 70, the number he picked was against my name. class absolute class. Still talk about that weird night to today.

Meeting people part 2

I have already posted a story of five travel-related coincidences and have remembered another. About 30 years ago I was flying back, after a weekend break visitng friends, from Paris to Heathrow, and my plane was on the last leg of a long-distance flight from India. At baggage claim I recognised a girl, S, my sister's best friend, who had been travelling with my sister in India for a few weeks. S had been sat two rows behind me on the plane. I did not know of S's travel arrangements. My sister was to fly back a couple of days later.

3 way coincidences

One Saturday I went on a mushroom and fungi hunt something I had always wanted to do. The following Monday I began a further education course. during coffee I sat down with two of the other students. We were all strangers to each other. I told them about my fungi hunt. Suzy who was involved with equine therapy picked up the conversation and mentioned that the writer of the Horse Whisperer book had recently been taken seriously ill after eating mushrooms.. Nothing remarkable save for the horsey link .. Until the third person sitting at the table said ..the writer was a member of her family

Shared Birthdays

My two brothers and one sister were all born on 18th September, in 1944, 1946 and 1950 respectively. I was due on 18th September too, but was born prematurely, at the end of August 1959.

Wait times

Standing in one spot, how long on average before you see someone you know? Can't say I've got averages but I've had one or two outliers - eg on top of the Empire State building (2 minutes), in the queue at Tad's Steak House in San Francisco (5 minutes).

New friend

In 1956 I served in the RAF at Seletar in Singapore, on base for one year. My home at that time was in Essex. In 2002 I moved to my current home in East Sussex and joined the local U3A where I met someone who became a close friend and shared several interests with myself. In casual conversation one day we found that we had both been at the same station at the same time, but as far as we know we did not meet at that time. I later worked for Marconi in Chelmsford where I was involved with the design of a mobile radar installation. It transpired that the same friend had worked in another capacity and another company evaluating the same equipment.

clay pipe

My sister, who has lived in Australia for 50 years was staying with my brother in St Neots. They visited Ely, and wishing to buy a clay pipe for her young grandson who is a collector, she examined one in an antique shop. Thinking that it was a little too expensive she decided to look in other shops, but not finding one more suitable she returned to the first shop and made her purchase. Whilst in the car returning to my brother's she looked more closely at the pipe, which was in the shape of a man with a bushy beard, and read the inscription. "Je suis le vrai Jacob", plus the name "Gambier." That happens to be our family name, and of course my sister's maiden name. Further research shows that the firm Gambier were makers of pipes in Paris until early in the 20th century.

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