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!

Shared background

I moved to Yorkshire in 1975 and joined a tennis club. I soon found myself playing with a Scotsman, George, from Glasgow. I told him that my Mother had come from Glasgow but as she died in 1945 I knew little about her except that I had a book "The old Curiosity Shop" which had her name and address written in childish handwriting in it. George told me he had lived in Giffnock and when I looked at the address it was 17 Florence Drive, G. Much to our utter amazement George told me that he was born at 17, Florence Drive Gk! That is the most amazing coincidence you must agree!

Mrs sophie h

This is a coincidence that I find pretty uncanny. My husband and i have the same birth numbers, so I am born 9th Jan, so 9/1 and my husband 1st Sept 1/9 our son was born at 1.09am and our 2nd child was born at 9.10am. The odds of us all having 9 and 1 in our birth is pretty random. Look forward to hearing your comments. Thanks!

coincidence of Cambridge coincidences

On of the questions in the Cambridge entrance exam I sat in 1974 was on "coincidence" and I wrote an essay about setting up an organisation for the study of coincidence. I don't suppose Prof Spiegelhalter has been dredging through historic exam papers looking for inspiration! I went on to postulate that the institute discovered that it was all being controlled by aliens. Now it really would be a coincidence if that bit happened too. Incidentally I passed the exam.

Our House

We bought our house in 1983 from the late Mrs G-T. In the attic was a suitcase with shipping line stickers for Mr G-T and a neighbour told us it was her son in the Merchant Navy. My in-laws visited us (they are Australian) and realising son and family were settled in the UK returned home to sell the family house and live at their beach place down the coast. They changed their mind sometime later and went up to Sydney house hunting which meant booking into a hotel. While waiting at reception they got chatting to an English girl who lived in Canberra and told them of their visits. She asked -Where abouts? Which Village? Which Road? Which house? - and said DON'T MOVE. Up the stairs two at a time she went and returned with her husband who was Mike G-T. We had indeed bought the house from his mother's estate and learned that the family had moved in here in 1946 on returning from India when he was a small child. Some years later I was delighted when they turned up for a visit and a tour of the house which even today is much the same.

Bill and Bill

Two families of four, living within one street of one another, and friends. William, Gladys, Alan, Janet. William, Gladys, Alan, Janet.

Anniversary births/meeting work colleague

My brother, my parent's 3rd child, was born on their wedding anniversary(9th); my third child, a girl, was born on my wedding anniversary (10th). A friend and I enjoy visiting National Trust properties, but often end up running round as we arrive late in the day en route from another visit. This time we managed a look round the outside and a cup of tea under the trees of the cafe. As we gratefully drank the tea, a voice asked my friend if he had been in Africa during the fifties; my friend had worked in Africa for most of his life and had indeed been there during the fifties. The gentleman posing the question had been working in the same area as my friend and they had played football together, but had not seen, nor I suspect thought about each other since those days.

Simple birthdays

My ex-wife has two sisters; they're twins, and their birthday is 9 April. I have one sister, whose birthday is also 9 April. I have three daughters, who have an easy task remembering family birthdays: one date, one gender. Apart from me (the father in the story), there has been a continuous trail of eight daughters, with no sons on either side of the family... I've long said that women are the future....

Ms Miranda K

I met my husband at the wedding of two of my oldest friends. Since then, my friend gave birth to her daughter on my birthday and I gave birth to my son on my friend's birthday - what are the chances of that?!

Libby G

Listen to this - I think it is quite an amazing co-incidence! Years ago I lived and worked in Namibia - or South West Africa as it was called then. Two of us spent a wonderful weekend camping in the Namib Desert. Namib means "vast" and it is all of that. Distances between places are huge and in those days I think the population in the whole huge country was something like one million people. Traffic on the main roads was minimal and in the desert virtually non-existent. It is a photographer's paradise - miles of gently sloping and shifting sand dunes, bizarre vegetation and generally spectacular scenery. Anyway, on the way out of the desert but still miles from civilisation - we came to a grid on a blind rise and smashed into another vehicle coming the other way. It really seemed unreal that in that vast space and in that split second in time our paths should meet! Fortunately both vehicles seemed to have sustained equal but minor damage. So we took out our cool boxes and shared a beer with the folks from the other car before we went on our way.

Roderick M

1) In 1983 I attended a one-week seminar in Donaueschingen. The seminar was held in French, but attracted teachers of languages in the main from various European countries, including Germany, where I once lived and worked. When on the course, I met Alfons G, from Germany, who also was a teacher of modern languages. He gave me his address and said I was welcome to stay at their house in Germany. A year later I was in East Berlin for three days, walking in the centre, when I saw a familiar head. I went up to this person. It was Alfons G. 2) In 1989 I spent a week hiking on Rothesay and bought a book on local hikes written by a geography teacher from Dumfries called W. Dumfries Academy, where he had taught, was also where an uncle of mine had taught at the same time. In addition, I had been at St. Andrews University in the 1970s where I lived at St. Salvator's Hall as did Ian Walton, son of the said teacher. Ian, by the way, went to lecture in maths at UCLA. Returning from the holiday on Rothesay along Sauchiehall Street, I immediately recognised and spoke to Ian W, who had just returned from LA for his summer vacation and whom I had not seen since 1970 at St. Andrews. 3.

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