Venezuelan Nephew

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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.

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In 1982, as a student, I was travelling from Venice to Athens on a train through Yugoslavia. The journey took 40 hours so all the young people shared their food and got to know each other. One Venezuelan guy was very popular because he had a guitar. I told him I was from Leeds, not expecting him to have heard of it, but he shot back, "Do you know Gabby Jones? She's my aunt." Out of three-quarters of a million people, I did! Not only that, I had to remind him what his uncle was called. The funny thing about the coincidence was how it struck the two of us so differently. I was amazed, but he wasn't surprised at all. He said he knew everyone where he comes from. (Maybe that's what life's like when you always carry your guitar.)
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Date submitted:Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:26:55 +0000Coincidence ID:4838