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Coincidence

What is coincidence and why do we attach meaning to it? Jo Fidgen hears World Service listeners’ gripping coincidence stories.

What is coincidence and why do we attach meaning to it? Jo Fidgen hears World Service listeners’ gripping coincidence stories.

Some of them are almost unbelievable. But are we simply failing to understand randomness, and the law of truly big numbers?

Produced by Charlotte Pritchard

(Photo of a young woman with her hands over face. Credit: Getty Images)

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18 minutes

Last on

Mon 7 Jul 201408:32GMT
BBC World Service Online

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Contributors

Ian Greenhalgh, Reverend of Clapham, North Yorkshire, England

Dr Magda Osman, Psychologist at Queen Mary, University of London and author of "Future-minded: The psychology of agency and control"

Professor David Hand, statistician at Imperial College London and author of “The Improbability Principle: Why Incredibly Unlikely Things Keep Happening”

Sue and Algy Jonusys – from Australia

Lena Påhlsson - from Sweden

Fong Liu – Chinese singer and storyteller based in Glasgow, Scotland

Estelle – from France

Broadcasts

  • Fri 4 Jul 201418:32GMT
    BBC World Service Online
  • Sat 5 Jul 201413:32GMT
    BBC World Service Online
  • Sat 5 Jul 201422:32GMT
    BBC World Service Online
  • Mon 7 Jul 201401:32GMT
    BBC World Service Online
  • Mon 7 Jul 201408:32GMT
    BBC World Service Online

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