Will the real Daryl R. Peebles please stand up?
Back in 2005 a minister of religion in the United States was told of an internet story that praised his work with homeless teens. Hoping to track down the report, the minister Googled his name – Darryl R. Peebles. But instead of finding a story on his outreach work, the minister was surprised with a list of stories about a Tasmanian entertainer who sang rude songs in pubs.
“Daryl R. Peebles is an unusual name,” said Tassie Daryl. “But here were these two men, on either sides of the world, who had exactly the same name and were the same age. In fact when we started to correspond, we discovered we had a lot more in common than just our name.”
It turns out that Daryl and Darryl share more than 40 similar or identical characteristics (for instance their partners are also the same age, and they both have three children – two of which were born in the same year and share the same initials). The odds of this level of coincidence, calculated one Professor of Mathematics, are around 750 (followed by 32 zeroes) to one!
Daryl met Darryl in person during a trip to the US in 2006.
“The local media got hold of the story,” said Tassie Daryl, “and then the national media started running it. We ended up doing 35 international radio and television interviews within 24 hours.”
The two Daryl R Peebles have since been interviewed by people of the calibre of Jay Leno (the Tonight Show) and on Australian television including Sunrise (with Kochie and Mel) and the ABC. A podcast of the ABC's Saturday AM interview with Mark Simpkin can be found by clicking on the button below. (With thanks to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.)
Back in 2005 a minister of religion in the United States was told of an internet story that praised his work with homeless teens. Hoping to track down the report, the minister Googled his name – Darryl R. Peebles. But instead of finding a story on his outreach work, the minister was surprised with a list of stories about a Tasmanian entertainer who sang rude songs in pubs.
“Daryl R. Peebles is an unusual name,” said Tassie Daryl. “But here were these two men, on either sides of the world, who had exactly the same name and were the same age. In fact when we started to correspond, we discovered we had a lot more in common than just our name.”
It turns out that Daryl and Darryl share more than 40 similar or identical characteristics (for instance their partners are also the same age, and they both have three children – two of which were born in the same year and share the same initials). The odds of this level of coincidence, calculated one Professor of Mathematics, are around 750 (followed by 32 zeroes) to one!
Daryl met Darryl in person during a trip to the US in 2006.
“The local media got hold of the story,” said Tassie Daryl, “and then the national media started running it. We ended up doing 35 international radio and television interviews within 24 hours.”
The two Daryl R Peebles have since been interviewed by people of the calibre of Jay Leno (the Tonight Show) and on Australian television including Sunrise (with Kochie and Mel) and the ABC. A podcast of the ABC's Saturday AM interview with Mark Simpkin can be found by clicking on the button below. (With thanks to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.)
