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!

CA tag

While riding in the backseat of my grandparents' car (heading north on Santa Anita Ave in Monrovia, CA) with them in the front and Mom in the back with me, I asked my grandpa why he hadn't gotten my grandma a personalized plate (as that's very popular in CA). He told me no combinations of grandma's name were available from the DMV and I told of having the same experience with the plate I wanted to get - D Link. Just as that conversation ended a car pulled up next to us with the license plate D Link. It was on a gold Nissan 280z with 1984 Olympic commemorative plates. My grandma, in her surprise, rolled down her window and yelled at the man, "You have my grandson's license plate!" I don't remember exactly what brief conversation ensued other than he told us he'd had it for a long time. Considering how many license plates have been issued in California along with the timing of this, synchronicity is the apparent explanation. I think even Jung would concur

Whist

When playing whist (diminishing contract) as a child, I was dealt a hand of four cards. I asked my grandfather what to lead if all cards were equally good: I'd been dealt all four aces!

Reunited on a bus

Twenty years ago I was holidaying in Lebanon with a friend. We sat on a tour bus and two young women in front of us heard us talking English and turned round to talk to us. They were French. In conversation one of them mentioned that she had practiced her English with an old lady in the flats where her grandmother lived throughout her childhood. I asked where that was and was surprised when she said 'La Napoule'. I exclaimed that I had visited my elderly auntie there every summer in my childhood. Who was my auntie... the English old lady living across the landing from the young woman's grandmother! And, yes, the young woman and I had played with each other as children when I holidayed there, but had not recognised each other 15 or so years later.

Birthday

John Lennon was born on my mother's birthday (9th October) and killed on my birthday (8th December)

Vacation coincidence

Two summers ago my husband and I were going on a tour of Germany and at the end of the summer we were taking our family to Siesta Key, which is right outside of Sarasota, Florida. I had made the arrangements right before we left for the tour and had searched things to do in Sarasota several times. While touring Germany we went into a restaurant which had a huge patio area in the middle. We walked around looking for a table, which people were sharing, and sat at one with this single guy who looked very German with his blonde hair and light eyes. Not knowing if he spoke English, we gestured to sit and he nodded a yes. We then said hello and he responded in English so we started a conversation. He was in the military and from the United States. He was so happy to talk to us since he had not been back home for quite a few years. Of course the next question was “what part of the US are you from?” ...Sarasota, Florida!

Word of God!

Last night I was listening to an internet radio show that a friend makes. He had technical problems so instead of his usual mix of chat and tracks from multiple genres he put on a playlist of ska and reggae. One track was ‘Let your yeah be yeah’ performed by The Pioneers. The title is a biblical reference. I asked my wife, whether it was a reference to Ecclesiastes like The Byrds’ song ‘Turn, turn, turn’ which is an almost direct quote from the opening lines of Ecclesiastes 3. Actually it is not, the phrase is New Testament, but it had prompted comparison with Ecclesiastes. About 15 minutes later I was reading the last section of my current book, an account of the physics of time ‘The Order of Time’ by Carlo Rovelli. On page 171 it says, “We for whom, as Ecclesiastes has it, there is a time to be born and a time to die.” directly quoting Ecclesiastes 3.2. I recently posted another coincidence /user-submitted-coincidences/shirty-golfer But is that really a coincidence?

STRANGE MEDICAL COINCIDENCE

One of my aunts runs a Rare Breeds farm in Gloucestershire. Some years ago she was gored by one of her long horn cattle for no obvious reason (nothing like this had happened before) and suffered serious abdominal injuries. She was air lifted to hospital where the surgeon who treated her was Spanish and announced that he knew what to do, because he worked in Seville and often treated Bull Fighters who's been gored. The chances of finding a Spanish Bull Fight surgeon in a small UK hospital, for just such an injury must be very small. (She recover but had to take things easy for some years).

Family dying same day, different years

My Mom passed away April 28, 1992 My Dad passed away April 28, 1997 and his Mom, my Grandmother followed him three years later and passed On April 28, 2000. This date has become one that I dread.

Eerily bizarre unlikely place meet... twice !

I am from a small town in a small country in Central America, which many people get surprised and often tell me you are the first one for you country Ive ever met ! So imagine me running to catch a metro in Barcelona, Spain when suddenly I saw a friend with his family in the same metro station!! it was so awkward and I was in a hurry that we just said Hi waooo crazy meeting you here exactly same metro station in Barcelona hahahahhaa and I left, but later I was thinking waooo that was a crazy coincidence we should maybe asked each other to go for a drink or eat something, but well it was so fast that not time to react. But imagine few years later, without seen each other ( me leaving in a different country and with not contact at all for long time ).... Then I got some days off in my job and last minute plan I decided to travel for the first time to Egypt to visit the piramids, last minute book hotel, tickets, etc.... How crazy awkward is that after finally get to my room, refreshed and ready to go out, walking to the hotel restaurant the same friend we met in the metro in Spain is in the exact Hotel than me, in Cairo, Egypt !!! Crazy coincidence!!

Starbucks Run In - ESP?

I looking to return to the workforce after a very long "maternity leave". Today was the first day in some time that I was able to find a babysitter so that I could get out of the house to prep for an interview. I usually go to the Starbucks down the street from my house to work, but I decided last minute to stop into a consignment shop that was a few doors down from a Starbucks further away. While waiting for my coffee, I had this strange feeling that I was going to bump into my former colleague in that very Starbucks. I knew who he'd be there with. I hadn't talked to him since going out on leave. There are five+ Starbucks between my old office and this Starbucks. I live in the burbs. But moments after I sat down at my computer, he walked in with the coworker I knew he'd be with and yelled my name. When I explained the coincidence, I begged to know WHY THIS STARBUCKS? They'd randomly decided to try an Indian restaurant nearby. Indian restaurant? For lunch? When you work for a busy marketing company? How did I KNOW they'd come in together? I thought it. And there they were.

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