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!

old friend

My Name:Albert Grant Friend 's Name: Phil Andrews Location:Nanjing Road East,Shanghai,China Event:My 1st visit to China on Arsenal F.C pre-season Asia Tour Thurs 14 July 2011 - Hotel I pre-booked was unavailable so went to different hotel with a mate. Fri 15 July 2011 - we got a taxi to the the metro station, which was near the original hotel and were just entering the station when I heard someone shout "Albert!", which intrigued me! I turned round and saw Phil! He was an Arsenal fan who used to drink with us and go to games,7 years ago! and was now working in Ordos,Mongolia and was in Shanghai,also on his way to watch the Arsenal match on Sat 16 July!

matching words

I often read a book while my wife is watching television. It frequently happens that a word or phrase just spoken on television is the one i have just read at exactly the same time. I would expect this to happen with very commonly used words or where I am reading a newspaper and the news is on TV. However, it often happens with uncommon or obscure words or phrases, and what makes it seem strange is that the word is spoken at precisely the same moment that I am reading it. It happens so frequently that I now expect it and it's no longer remarkable. I haven't heard other people talk about this, but wonder how common it really is.

Christmas thoughts

Had a lot to do this Xmas made myself a list and at the bottom I wrote smile Was speaking to my brother not long after I had made my list and he exclaimed he had had to make a list himself.. At the bottom of his was SMILE. Knock me over with a feather

Book shop

I wanted a copy of guinness book of hit singles, went into the hospice bookshop,they didn,t have a copy. But while the ladies were helping me look, someone came in and donated a box of books, and on the top was ...guinness book of hit singles!

Driving over a 4ft long object falling from the sky on the Heathrow perimeter road

If some Soothsayer predicted I would strike in my car, at speed, a 4ft long, man-made object falling from the sky on the Heathrow Airport perimeter road, I would consider it curtains time for sure. This however, is exactly what happened to me 45 minutes into the New Year. Driving from Hatton Cross tube station car park on the Heathrow South Perimeter road a large Chinese Lantern abruptly landed 20 yards in front of me resulting in me unavoidably taking it out with both offside wheels. ……… Mine the only car on the stretch at the time. Thinking about this, even considering New Years night (and ironic location) I could not conceive the probability of this event occurring! Any views? I consider this has completely obliterated any chance of me winning the lottery??

2nd world war pilot

In 1990 I was on holiday in Disneyland Florida waiting for a bus. An elderly man , in his 80's was standing near and we started to speak as he was fond of the English. He had been a B52 bomber pilot in the 2nd world war and stationed in England. When i asked where he was stationed , he said I would never have heard of the small village in Northamptonshire called Grafton Underwood. When I told him I lived 5 miles away from the village in Kettering and often took the dog for a walk around the now disused air field he almost broke down. He had travelled 800 miles to Disney world and i had travelled thousands to there and here we were.......coincidence or what ?

Chance Meeting

Hi, My Name is Mark Smyth. On 5th July 2008 I was at Twickenham for the Iron Maiden Somewhere Back In Time Tour (According to wikipedia 44,672 tickets were sold). The 4 of us attending (Myself, my mate Kevin and 2 guys we'd met at our digs) were standing and decided to pick a spot the the left of the sound stage in the centre of the pitch as this gave us an excellent view on the stage. About halfway through the gig I spotted a familiar face walking towards me through the crowd from the stage. As he got closer I shouted him over. His name is Paul Crossley and we had served together both at home and abroad in the Army for many years. I had not seen him since he left in approximatley 1992/1993. He and I used to travel home together as I am from Bury and he is from Burnley. We both grabbed a pint together had a quick catch up and then went our separate ways. I have not seen him since. Paul told me that he was at the gig with his girlfriend and had actually thought that if he bumped into anyone that day it was likely to be me. I hope you find this interesting, Thanks Mark

Second cousin dates

I have found a long lost second cousin through family tree searches, our grandmothers were sisters. His and my father had the same Birthday date, 4 July but not the same year. He is 30 years older than his father, I am 30 years older than my father, he and I are 30 years separate in age! His birthday is 21 Mar and mine 23 March.

Freaky name guessing

I was staying outside Hereford on my brother's stag do a year ago and got chatting to some women as you do. The subject came round to middle names, as mine is quite strange and I was tasked with guessing hers. Straight away I said 'Michael', which you would not associate with an English female middle name. Anyway, she then pulled out her driving licence with her middle name stated as 'Michael' On Christmas Eve I went out for a few drinks with some friends in my local Wetherspoon's in Newton Abbot in the afternoon. We had a group of 6 of us and the booth only fitted 4. An elderly couple needed to get past us to gain access to the booth in the corner. I said to my friends 'what do you reckon their names are? She looks like a Pam and he looks like a Philip. Actually, more like a Brian (and apologised to my friend in the group called Phil)' I then waved to the gentleman in the corner and said 'alright Brian?' He then came over and apologised and said 'I am terribly sorry, but I don't know your name.' I asked if his name was Brian and he said it was.

Dublin to Glasgow

I had my stag party in 1999 in dublin. As ususally happens I was subjected to a practical joke of being made to wear HUGE underpants and a blow up sheep, and thats all! A few years later I went up to Glasgow to see Newcastle United play a friendly match against Celtic. While in one of the bars in Glasgow I got chatting to the bar staff and found out she was Irish. "Where in Ireland are you from?" I asked, "Dublin" was her reply. "Oh, I had my stag do in Dublin a few years back" I said. "You weren't the one with the big underpants and a blow up sheep were you", she said laughing. I was stunned!!!!

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