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!

Lion King

I have always wanted to see The Lion King on Broadway/in the West End, but could never go for various reasons. After over a decade of waiting, I finally saw it a few days ago. Right after the show, I got home and turned on the tv and a cartoon that I watch all the time that and that as far as I know, has never mentioned the Lion King, was showing an episode about a boy who really wanted to see The Lion King on Broadway but could not go because nobody else was interested.

Pan Mun John

In 1984 i was working on the construction of a new pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in South korea close to the N Korean border at a place called Balan. This new business park was in a agricultural area (the middle of no where) and about a 3 hour drive north from Seoul (no highways then). One morning i had a call from the now completed reception area informing me that i had a visitor and so glad of the break i wandered down to reception to find an ex colleague who had got stranded in Seoul for a few days. In the reception of his hotel he had read an article about the new construction site for his ex company and decided to get someone to drive him (3hrs) to take a look. On getting there and seeing a completed office block he thought he would pop in to see if he could talk to someone as his current company could supply products materials we would use in that Plant. He was amazed to find that when he introduced himself as having worked for our company many years before that i was based there.

Miss N J Dalton

The numerical/symbolic coincidences are based on a string of events currently being examined by a parapsychologist - all evidence is backed up in email, facebook printouts, birth records, photos, legal documents. It has been turned into a book (true story) which has already had one contract offer which I am delaying until a top literary agent - Luigi Bonomi (they requested a full manuscript last week) have made a decision because I would rather have the support of an agent behind me. A journalist who writes for the national newspaper and magazines is also interested in the story. It is too complex to explain in a few words (hence why its a book) but the numbers and symbols show uncanny coincidences throughout, and then later formed the exact location, date, time (to the second) and actual damage to the cathedral in Christchurch, NewZealand caused by an earthquake in February 2011. The story covers every single experience listed by yourself above and more!

Mnemonic special days

We never forget special days in our family as they tend to be close to another relevant special date. My children, aged 7 and 11 now, have birthdays on consecutive days and so are unlikely to forget each others' birthdays in the future (though they may pretend to). My husband's birthday is within a week of Fathers Day every year and mine is within a week of Mothers Day. Our wedding anniversary (admittedly we DID choose our wedding date) is the day before Valentines Day. This is all very convenient as we can halve the number of celebrations by merging them!

how many words in the bible!!!!

many years ago i was doing a quizword puzzle in the mail on sunday magazine.one question was on the bible and not being a student of this but having inherited the family bible i flipped it open at a random page to find the answer staring me in the face. i do not recall the question but it concerned jail companions and i opened the book on the page relating to shadrach, meshach, and abednego, who i read were in jail together. my answer was confirmed correct in the next issue. is this coincidence, or a random event?

Browns all in a row

Imagine 6 houses in a row. My name is Brown and I live in no 2. Some years ago a Brown also lived in 3, 5 and 6 at the same time. 3 and 5 have since moved and 5 years ago a Brown moved into no1

Who needs a dating agency?

After a decade of batchelor-hood in my 20's I joined a dating agency and through them met my wife (circa 2000). The agency actually broke their normal rules of matching people locally and paired us up even though we lived 120 miles apart. I was working (and always had - from 1991) in Ipswich, having grown up in a small village in the highlands of scotland. She spent early childhood in Glasgow but was soon moved to Corby (Northhamptonshire) where she grew up and still was (from about 1974 onwards). The dating agency (old style paper-based) matched us up and, to cut a long story short, we got engaged. This of course triggered more interest from the rest of the family. What we actually discovered was that my wife's uncle, still in Glasgow, knew of me, working 600 miles away, and of my family in the Highlands. i.e. he could pin-point who I was in his knowledge of friends and acquaintances. (I on the other hand, didn't even know he, or my wife's family, existed). Here's the chain of connection. Her uncle, "G" always worked for BT as an engineer in Glasgow (70's onward?). I also worked for BT in R&D since 1991.

Mr

Imagine 6 houses in a row. My name is Brown and I live in no 2. Some years ago a Brown also lived in 3, 5 and 6 at the same time. 3 and 5 have since moved and 5 years ago a Brown moved into no1

old colleagues

On the same day I received communications from 2 guys who I had been a graduate trainee with 33 years earlier. I had only been in sporadic contact with either since, and they had not been in contact with one another.

my life

My incredible coincidence is in the mode of "unlikely chain of events." 13.75 billion years ago the universe was born. Since that time, the exactly correct sequence of events has conspired to end up with a situation whereupon I am posting this story on your website.

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