I’m currently reading a book on Lenin (Lenin: A Biography by Robert Service) and at one point the author states that Lenin’s headmaster at school was Fedor Kerenski who by an extraordinary coincidence was the father of Alexander Kerenski, the leader of the 1917 Provisional Government which Lenin and his Bolsheviks overthrew!
Any other strange historical coincidences like that out there?
I’ve always been fascinated by the fact that aviator Charles Lindbergh would have been known to the world as Charles Manson had his grandfather Ole Manson (sometimes spelled ‘Mansson’) not changed his name to Ole Lindbergh shortly before emigrating from Sweden to the US.
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the 2nd & 3rd POTUS, both died on the same day: July 4th 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence signing. (Not really so coincidental as you’d think, since both men probably willed themselves to stay alive until they reached that milestone.)
The Northridge Earthquake and the Kobe, Japan earthquake both took place on the same day (Jan. 17th), exactly one year apart.
Not quite as “historical”, but in The Wizard of Oz, the Wizard’s wardrobe was bought from thrift stores, to give the old and weathered look. The coat he wore turned out to have been previously owned by L. Frank Baum, the author of the Oz books.