Cambridge Coincidences Collection

Well I Never!

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

Brooklyn! Brooklyn Tech! 1964!

Sitting restaurant in Sedona, AZ -- overheard conversation between people at next table and waiter about New York City bridges. I'm from NY so I joined in. After a while -- "Hey, where are you from?". Brooklyn. "Hey, me too -- where'd you go to high school?". Brooklyn Tech. "Hey, me too -- what year did you graduate?" 1964. "Hey, me too". So we were classmates -- but in a graduating class of 1200, hadn't known each other. Still, what are the odds -- 50+ years later and a continent away, there we are.

He waited 50 years for someone to read his dissertation

Sitting at a conference lunch table, chatting. Gent opposite mentions he wrote a dissertation on an obscure long-gone New York City newspaper. Which one, I asked. "PM, he said". Hey, my father worked for PM before WW II -- I'd like to read it. So now he's looking for it. There were probably 200 people in the room spread out over 25 tables. And there we were at same table, opposite, chatting.

Leon Trotsky double-header

Leon Trotsky came up in conversation over lunch (hardly an every-day/week/month/year occurrence) and the next day his house in Mexico appears in Washington Post travel section.

Unlikely meetings

I have met people I know in unlikely places on multiple occasiones. I will list them below: 1. While travelling alone in Mexico, I was sitting at a sidewalk cafe in Merida when I heard someone call out my name. It was a man who had stayed for a short time at my former home in Madison Wi several years previously. Neither of us lived in Madison any more. 2. A former boyfriend of mine, was visitng Chicago. He was standing in line to buy ice cream at struck up a conversation with the woman in line in front of him.

"Personal" Coincidences

I. [John Doe] Williams, Haley Joel Osment, and the D.C. Sniper Shootings Haley Joel Osment, the main child actor in the 1999 movie The Sixth Sense, and the late [John Doe] Williams of my hometown share the same birthday with me. Mr. Williams was once a Sunday-school teacher of mine in my hometown. I also remember his congratulating me with a “Nice Game” or something like that after one of my outdoor soccer games when I was in high school. Mr. Williams passed away around the time of the D.C. Sniper shootings, which shootings, among other issues, significantly impacted my life. II.

My favourite band

So first of all, I absolutely love music ,I listen to music all of the time and have many favourite singers and bands but when it comes to my all-time favourite band, it will definitely be "cigarettes after sex".I fell in love with this band as soon as my roommate introduced me to their music and it has been now over three years of being a big fan.One more thing that I do a lot in my time is watching YouTube videos .

It's an airport. No, it's an Italian dessert.

A friend texted me that he was about to take off from San Francisco Airport -- airport code SFO. I replied: SFO -- what a coincidence, I had (really) sfogliatella for lunch dessert. OK, this is hardly a supernatural event -- just interesting/funny that I had that dessert (which before that day I'd barely heard of and could surely not spell!) starting with his airport code.

Four Women and a Date

I have loved four women in my life. Of those four I have married two. All four women share the same birthday -- September 21st.

Death of our beloved family dog and a phone call

Our family dog, an English Springer Spaniel named 'Chico' had died sometime during the night before I was to move my parents to a new house. The morning of the move I discovered Chico dead. Dreading telling my parents I went to the house and waited for my father to finish a phone call. After he hung-up I told him the news. Looking surprised he told me that he had just received a wrong-number call from, you got it, Chico California.

State line

I was listening to the song "Eyes Without a Face" by Billy Idol in my car while on a trip. The song has the line "hanging out by the state line turning holy water into whine" and I crossed a state line (Ohio-Michigan) precisely as the words "state line" played in the song.

Pages