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!

Odds on this happening?

Teenage friendship on Tyneside. One stayed, one went to London to work. Lost touch, no contact 30 years later, the London guy went with wife and child to Aviemore for a holiday in early summer Walking in to the hotel he met his teenage friend with his wife. Amazing coincidence But 15 months later, he was walking to the top of Cairngorm and, right at the top, met the same friend again Never met since!

Lucky laptop

I was at an educational conference by the computer firm RM a few years ago. There was an incentive to stay all day as there would be a raffle of a swanky new laptop at the end of the day for anyone who was left. For the final session I was sat in a room of about 400 people in the front row. The presenter came over to me at the end with a big box of tickets and asked me to draw one out. When he referred to his list he announced that the winner was me! What are the chances of that?

My Teacher

My Teacher was telling us about all different coincidences when he read aboutthree kids in the same family with the same Birthday. He Told His associate Tutor He is Getting Tickets for the London 2012 Olympics on his wedding anniversary on 11th August and she said so is myne oh my god and it was on the exact same day

College Lady

Me and my Auntie were in town and a old lady walked up to my auntie and said hello my auntie was bewildered and the lady turned out to be the lady that she had been caught by in colleage. LOL.xx

holding hands

me and my dad were walking home from school and i started to dawdle but he thought i was still there so he went to hold my hand but it was actually a womands hand. the thing is he actually knew the lady and was greats friends with her lolxx

My Teacher

My teacher was telling us about coincidences when he was getting watched by a teacher called, Mrs elliot and then he said tht his wedding anniversy was on august the 11th and Mrs Elliot's anniversy was on august the 11th!!

bus

i had a freind from primary and i forgot about her and i got on the bus and i sat next to this girl she had the same name , jade ,she had the same bday as me and she was my freinds sister and we are know best freinds again!

Seaside Encounter

In approximately 1989 we had a family gite holiday in France and one day went to the coast and parked on the seafront. At the time we had a cream coloured Montego saloon and upon returning to our car discovered parked next to us was the same model and colour of car. Not only that but it had a British number plate with identical letters and the next number in the sequence. Can't remember now whether it was the one before or the one afterwards.

Employment coincidence

Early in my employment career I fell into a post in central London which effectively managed the UK arm of a European Youth Programme. Some 25 years and a completely unrelated spell in local government later, I ended up working for a small charity in a tiny village in S E Cornwall which tapped into the very youth programme I had once managed. A case of gamekeeper turned poacher perhaps and probably why I got the job! One of my first tasks was to meet some of my former colleagues as they disembarked from a ferry onto the beach...

Bumping into a friend in a large city

I think this is the only coincidence that's stuck with me - it was about ten years ago, and I was in London for the day, planning to do a few things before meeting up with a friend of mine in the evening to go to a gig. It turned out that my friend had also headed into London a few hours early, and we bumped into each other on (I think) Oxford Street - I saw her crossing the road and called out. This wasn't near any shops or venues that both of us were interested in, we were both just passing through the city and happened to cross paths. (Bit concerned that by publishing all the stories visibly at the bottom of this page, you're discouraging people from reporting mundane coincidences - I nearly stopped and deleted this one, after reading the more epic coincidences below.)

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