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!

Birthday coincidence

Last year I was living in a relatively small staircase in College with only a few people (I think less than 12) and two of them (one was living in the room next to mine) were born on the same day as me, though in different years.

Chance Meeting

I went to a meeting in Central London. There were two other people present. i had not met either before. Several hours later I realised I was sitting opposite one of them on the Northern line home. We spoke. He was going to High Barnet where I live and was unfamiliar with the area. He asked me if I knew a certain street about half a mile from the station. I said yes, my car was parked there, and walked with him. It turned out my car was parked outside the house he was visiting. There were about thirty houses in that street.

Two Coincidents

Today, I was looking for a chair in the internet and i found my friend name on it Nina. Normally, we dont find name like that. After an hour , I got a call from my Friend. She said do u have time to talk. I said yes. She was asking about the henna brand , guess what ? The henna brand name and her name was same `Neha`. And Also notice , I am seeing matching numbers all the like emails, time, date , and etc.

My 3 Children

All 3 of my children were born on the birthdays of their deceased great grandparents. My eldest son to my maternal great granmother, my middle son to my paternal great grandmother, and my youngest daughter to my paternal great grandfather. None of these dates were known before my children were born. None of them were born on their due dates, and my daughter was even completely unexpectedly a month early. I know it is not an unusual coincidence for one person to share a birthday with a relative, but for all 3 to have this connection I find it very strange and a little creepy!

The Song

There is this boy, who I am unfortunately no longer friends with. It has been about 3 months since this boy and I parted ways. I still keep tabs on this boy because he was my best friend and I still care to see how he is doing. As I do, I checked his newest Spotify playlist and came across a song that I ended up loving. Later, I was with my friend and played the song for her, explaining that I really like this song but cannot add it to my own playlist since its on his playlist. He may still check my playlists as well, and even though I still keep tabs on him, I didn't want him to know that. My friend and this boy do not know each other so there was no way they would communicate. Less than an hour after telling me friend about the song, I went on the boys playlist to listen to that song and he had removed it... Coincidence?

Gossip and meet

Along my google mapped route on my first night in a new city I was starting my postgraduate studies at I saw a young man who looked increasingly familiar, so I did what any uncertain person does, and called out "David" as I walked past. To which he responds and preceded a short reunion between secondary school friends (in another country), who hadn't seen each other since the last day of A-Levels (4 years ago). Months had past and whilst working away at a morning experiment in labs, I was struck with the decision to message David and try and catch up properly over dinner. I did this as soon as and David was free and we arranged to meet later. That evening he had recounted how he was sitting in the Business school that morning among peers, when he overheard someone mention my very unique name and continued to talk about me (which turned out to be my flatmate). Simultaneously, as my flatmates gossip had reminded him of me, he received my message asking to meet up. It was a coincidence that at the same moment we had thought of each other. Whilst he was prompted to, I did out of the blue.

Matt Southam.

As a school boy at boarding school in 1966 or 67 a friend of mine bought a single record to school, one amongst a number that his father, a record producer, had given him. It was called Down River by a man called David Ackles. The first time I heard it I thought it brilliant. No one else did. (We shared a record player in a common room) To everyone's annoyance I kept on playing it, saying how I thought it was really good. Eventually, the individual who owned it asked me if I actually liked it or was taking the piss by playing a crap record all the time. I replied that I thought it was great, so he gave it to me. I have never known another person who liked it and in later years anyone had even heard of it. That is until many years later. I first met my future wife ten or more years later when at university, which we both went to in our early twenties as we had taken time out to work and travel. When she later moved in with me I told her about this record that I especially liked and played it to her. She immediately named it and said how as a school girl she had really liked it and had a copy that she listened to regularly.

Avon Calling!

Many years ago, in the middle of an afternoon, I was sitting with my wife and my in laws in their den. My father in law and I often talked about investments and the stock market. We were talking about various companies and, somehow, the discussion turned to the merits of Avon Products as a possible investment. Upon hearing that, my mother in law chimed in that they had lived in their house for over 20 years and that, in all that time, no Avon lady had EVER come to their door. At that VERY MOMENT the door bell rang and I got up and walked to the front door. You guessed it....I opened the door and there, standing right in front of me was a well dressed woman and the first thing out of mouth was "AVON CALLING."

Wake Up

I was having a sleepover with my friend (who is an earlier riser than I am). So of course she tried waking me up "early". She succeeded in waking me up at exactly 9:08 am. I, however, was still really tired and groggy and so waved her off, going back to sleep. I next woke up at exactly 9:42 am. But here comes the strange part. I later checked my phone for messages and I had a few, but the ones that baffled me were from one particular friend who I just so happen to keep experiencing "coincidences" with. I saw that he sent me a message that said "Good morning sleepy head". This exact message had somehow sent through twice (which he commented on, confused), once at 9:08 am and then again at 9:42 am. I was subsequently very freaked out.

The Last Tycoon

Browsing in a large library, I started reading a collection of stories about Hollywood. One involved Irving Thalberg, who inspired Fitzgerald's "The Last Tycoon." I decided to check out the Hollywood book. To do so I had to walk to a different part of the library. Sitting at the top of a pile of books on a table behind the librarian was "The Last Tycoon."

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