Mr

I have 2 coincidences to share. The first one concerns ............ Entrance to Cambridge University in the 1960s. In July/August 1962, on completion of my O Levels at Midhurst Grammar School, West Sussex, I obtained a job in a bar in a camp site in south western France. There, in early August that year, I was contacted by an English tourist and his wife who were having car problems. I put them in contact with the local agent for their make of car, it was a British Austin something I remember, the part was obtained and the repair made and they went on their way. 2 years later, on completion of my A Levels, I applied to Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, to read Modern Languages. I was successful. That same British tourist from the French camp site in 1962, turned out to be my Director of Studies at Fitzwilliam although he was on leave at the time of my interview and I was seen for interview by the Master of the College who was also a linguist. We therefore didn't actually meet until I came up in October 1965. When we met, we both realised that our paths had crossed somewhere before but neither of us could immediately work out where. The other coincidence also concerns France and might be called.... A Holiday in Provence. In 1986 I was on a family holiday near Arles in southern France and on the first Friday night of the holiday we drove to Avignon for a meal. As we walked past MacDonalds on the rue de la Republique, the door opened and out stepped our nephew Richard who was on an inter railing holiday in Europe and had that day arrived in Avignon on the way from Athens to Paris. Neither party even know that the other was even away from the UK at the time.