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We were the three Earls of Harewood who saw active service in the ninetieth and twentieth centuries and the coincidence is at least odd.”
What are the odds?
The odds of such a fascinating coincidence happening are long. For the statisticians among us, the chances of all three Earls being wounded in each war on the 18 June is 1 in 1.472 million.
You’re 49 times more likely to get struck by lightning.
Notes:
Odds calculated that the three Earls would be injured on the same date by:
Firstly, using the total number of people that fought in each war vs the total number of people who were injured/killed in each war – the odds that any solider would be injured or killed in each war were calculated.
Secondly, the likelihood of this injury occurring on the 18th June within each war was calculated.
Finally, the two sets of odds were combined to produce the 1 in 1.472 million chance of three people being injured on the same date in a war.
NB: The likeliness that people from the same family would be injured could not be easily calculated without significant research.
Lightening: according to The Improbability Principle by David Hand, the odds of being killed by lighting in 1 in 300,000.