Cambridge Coincidences Collection

Well I Never!

Professor David Spiegelhalter of Cambridge University wants to know about your coincidences!

Chance Meeting

Hi, My Name is Mark Smyth. On 5th July 2008 I was at Twickenham for the Iron Maiden Somewhere Back In Time Tour (According to wikipedia 44,672 tickets were sold). The 4 of us attending (Myself, my mate Kevin and 2 guys we'd met at our digs) were standing and decided to pick a spot the the left of the sound stage in the centre of the pitch as this gave us an excellent view on the stage. About halfway through the gig I spotted a familiar face walking towards me through the crowd from the stage.

Second cousin dates

I have found a long lost second cousin through family tree searches, our grandmothers were sisters. His and my father had the same Birthday date, 4 July but not the same year. He is 30 years older than his father, I am 30 years older than my father, he and I are 30 years separate in age! His birthday is 21 Mar and mine 23 March.

Dublin to Glasgow

I had my stag party in 1999 in dublin. As ususally happens I was subjected to a practical joke of being made to wear HUGE underpants and a blow up sheep, and thats all! A few years later I went up to Glasgow to see Newcastle United play a friendly match against Celtic. While in one of the bars in Glasgow I got chatting to the bar staff and found out she was Irish.

Interrailing

When 18 and inter-railing around Europe we arrived at our first camp site in Avignon to find that we has no tent pegs.... On leaving the campsite to try and find a shop to buy some we walked into some friends who had left school the previous year who had a spare set of tent pegs!!!

Christmas thoughts

Had a lot to do this Xmas made myself a list and at the bottom I wrote smile Was speaking to my brother not long after I had made my list and he exclaimed he had had to make a list himself.. At the bottom of his was SMILE. Knock me over with a feather

Driving over a 4ft long object falling from the sky on the Heathrow perimeter road

If some Soothsayer predicted I would strike in my car, at speed, a 4ft long, man-made object falling from the sky on the Heathrow Airport perimeter road, I would consider it curtains time for sure. This however, is exactly what happened to me 45 minutes into the New Year. Driving from Hatton Cross tube station car park on the Heathrow South Perimeter road a large Chinese Lantern abruptly landed 20 yards in front of me resulting in me unavoidably taking it out with both offside wheels.

2nd world war pilot

In 1990 I was on holiday in Disneyland Florida waiting for a bus. An elderly man , in his 80's was standing near and we started to speak as he was fond of the English. He had been a B52 bomber pilot in the 2nd world war and stationed in England. When i asked where he was stationed , he said I would never have heard of the small village in Northamptonshire called Grafton Underwood. When I told him I lived 5 miles away from the village in Kettering and often took the dog for a walk around the now disused air field he almost broke down.

Brother's girlfriend

When I was first working in London as an 18 year old in 1974 I was invited to the opening of a new "disco" called Anthea's in Carnaby Street. It was very 70's, plush seating, waitresses on roller skates - just the thing to impress a spotty 18 year old like me ! Started to speak to a very glam waitress and commented that her accent sounded really nice - she told me she was from South Africa and her name was Eva and she had only been in the uk for a few months. I mentioned that my older brother lived in Jo'burg.

Met Wife's ex + coincidental firstborn

I was working at a Backpackers in Brighton in late 90's with a plan to go travelling to OZ and NZ late in 98 with 2 friends. I was 25 at the time. Whilst there a couple came to stay at the backpackers - Michelle & Charlie (they had been there before) . Michelle's younger sister Vicki was herself travelling at that time in Oz. Before I left in the September of '97 for Oz Michelle suggested I try and meet up with Vicki and her boyfriend etc - so wrote down a PO box number and thought no more of it, as Oz was such a massive place.

Family Births

My Father is the middle of 3 brothers, My Dads older brother has all daughters (2) My Dad had 3 sons (i'm the middle brother) My Dads Younger Brother has all Girls (2) My Older Brother has has all girls (2) I as the middle brother has all Boys (2) My Younger brother and his partner have just given birth to a baby girl My wife and i had a miscarrige 4 years ago, my mother is conviced that as middle brother we can't have girls and that the miscarridge was due to the fact that my wife was carrying a girl (unsubstantiated), I explained to her it was a coincidence but she is o

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