A Gruesome Break

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.

For many years I have been a GCSE examination marker and back in the day, we were sent hundreds of actual exam papers. It is a substantial undertaking and needs decent time management and perseverance. I generally marked about 5 papers, took a very short break and went back to it. I completed marking the last of a small batch and turned on the TV, switched on Ceefax (quite some time ago!) and read the tragic story of the death of a young actor from the children’s series, Byker Grove, by the name of Duncan Ford. I went back to my marking and the last paper I had completed was for a student called Duncan Ford and the frank mark on the batch of exam scripts was a school in Newcastle, where Byker Grove is set. There would be several students with the same name taking that exam, that year and I’ve always hoped that it was a different one that I marked.
Total votes: 105
Date submitted:Wed, 06 Apr 2022 15:33:10 +0000Coincidence ID:12724