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!

I'm destined to be a Disney villain

My first name is Ursula (which is not a fun time when you were born post-Little Mermaid). I have met two other Ursulas in my life. One of them was driving the boat for a Little Mermaid ride at DisneyLand; she gave me her pin with our name on it. The other Ursula I met was while I was swimming in the ocean, snorkling over a reef. Both very obviously connect to the movie. It's like the only place I can meet Ursulas. I also have a friend named Ariel, who has lovely red hair. Additionally, my father told me that if he hadn’t named me Ursula, he would have named me Elsa. I’m destined to be a Disney villain.

Random Rugby

After a long day at work I decided that rather than stopping at my regular stop I would continue into Sheffield and watch a Friday evening game in the 6 Nations. On leaving the station I jumped in a taxi and asked the driver to take me to a pub which would be showing the match and served decent beer, which he duly did. At half time I was talking to another chap on the table and discussing other sporting interests we both explained our keen interest in rock climbing and then realised that we had climbed together some 20 years before. What makes the co-incidence more extraordinary is that my pal had only recently moved to the area, had only decided to go to the pub that evening and had also randomly chosen the pub where we met as his regular was showing some football.

Double donors (Cruciate Organs2)

As a postscript to 'Cruciate Organs' which featured the coincidence of organ donation with Babylon5's mention of the same subject, I now find Stephen Fry on QI telling a joke about motorcycle accidents to which the punchline was 'donors'. He went on to refer to the donation of bodily organs!

Cruciate Organs

Further to the litany of tv/irl coincidences. Two more happened today. I was online responding to the Humanist Uk report on the altering of organ donation to opt out,arguing that it must stay opt in,as a matter of civil liberty. At the same moment,Ambassador Mollari in Babylon5 on tv uttered the phrase " a veritable parade of internal organs" which was about as pertinent as could be. Whilst discussing this issue,and animal rights,I cropped a comment from the strand I was reading which mentioned the word 'cruciate' in regard to vegetables,a word I had never heard before in my life. Blow me down me a feather,when that evening,searching among the dearth of freeview for something to watch,I settled upon 'who wants to be a millionaire' where Chris Tarrant asked the player where in the body the 'cruciate' ligaments are. Never heard the word before,then twice in the same evening!

The Persistence of Salinas

I write about my parents, J.R. and Frieda Brick, now both deceased. After retirement, they lived in Santa Cruz, California, and enjoyed travel. In the late 1970s, they traveled with another couple to Turkey. The two couples attended a concert one evening, and were talking about their towns; the other couple was from a different place in California. During the intermission and while still seated, my father mentioned the name "Santa Cruz." Hearing this, a man in the row behind them spoke up, offering that this was a coincidence as he was from Salinas, the next city of size southward from Santa Cruz. Everyone was cordial, but no friendships were established and my parents had no further contact with the man from Salinas. In the late 1980s, my parents were again overseas with another couple. They attended a concert in Paris. During the intermission and while still seated, my father told the other couple about meeting the man from Salinas.

Found months later

Walking (not ambling) in a public park with my sister one late afternoon (sun going down), I lost a bead off my silver hair stick, I had lost the other hair stick of the pair months earlier, I don't know where. I said we should look for the bead when we loop back around the track. Well, I forgot to look and after we had passed the area where I thought I had lost it, I said as much. Within moments, I looked down and noticed a silver stick on the gravel walkway. It was the silver hair stick I had lost months earlier. I felt like I had just emerged from some kind of time/worm hole.

Peter Pan Superman

I want to relate a couple of things that happened the last time my brother called over.These are very similar instances that I have related before - synchronous instances of the TV with conversation. The first case involved a remark Mel Gibson made about the tendency of modern mixed race families to result in what he termed 'blended' offspring. I was relating Mel's remarks to my brother during the adverts of Christopher Reeve's Superman film,after I had also related previous such coincidences to him. At that moment,the TV chose to put an advert on,for kitchen appliances,one of which was a blender! My other half was mentioning that Robin Williams was a friend of Christopher Reeve,whereupon I mentioned that both had flown - Chris in Superman,and Robin in Peter Pan. Shortly after I mentioned this,the following dialogue occurred in the movie which I had never noticed before: Lois Lane: Clark . . . said that you're just a figment of somebody's imagination. Like Peter Pan. Superman: Clark, uh. Who's that? Your boyfriend? Lois Lane: Clark? Oh, Clark, no, he's nothing, he's just, uh . .

Almost twins?

Driving one evening for dinner on our first date, I told this beautiful young woman that we could celebrate my birthday at dinner. She replied that we could celebrate hers too. "Wow, what a coincidence", I said. "And where were you born?" "Boston", she replied. "Wow, me too." "At what hospital?" I asked. "The US Naval Hospital," she replied. "Wow, me too." "And my father had to bring me home-walking, in his arms-through the worst blizzard in 100 years on the day I was born, because babies were dying from a contageous disease that had infected the maternity ward." "Yep, mine too." We decided that we were lucky to be alive and then had a very nice evening.

Wha-hey Wilson

I was just reading the online METRO newspaper whilst watching London's Burning on TV. I read one story about anglers that mistook a basket-ball covered in barnacles as a human head. I posted this on facebook suggesting that maybe they'd found Tom Hanks's WILSON from his CASTAWAY film. At that moment the TV referred to 'Mr Wilson' as one character Mike Wilson was on trial on a car crash charge. Mike was subsequently found innocent. The Metro then informed me that an alcoholic drink had been made called 'Sachi' which was made from the whey left over from making Tofu. I suggested on facebook that the association with this name was perhaps a bad idea and suggested 'Wha-hey' as an alternative,taking into account what it was made from and what people are liable to say during drinking. As I did this,the characters on TV were celebrating Mike being found innocent of the charges and were doing some drinking,whereupon Mike remarked 'Wha-hey!". Perhaps Mr Wilson has access to my facebook?

Strawberry Birthmark

I’m a writer. When I was about 7 months pregnant with my son I wrote a story about a boy with a strawberry birthmark on his forehead. I have no idea where I got that detail, it just came to me as I was writing. Two months later I gave birth to my son, and he had a red birthmark right in the middle of his forehead, much like I described in my story.

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