Me and my shadow: secret lives of twins uncovered
A MATURE, well-dressed woman in black velvet trousers and with red tinted hair is sipping brandy. Opposite is her mirror image. Not that Marie Adams is sitting at her dressing table mirror - rather she’s facing her twin sister Anna.
The pair do almost everything together. They both have a flair for fashion, think alike, say the same thing at the same time, have similar mannerisms and describe themselves as the best of friends. In fact, so close are they that they have never let a man come between them. The only real time they’re apart is when Marie is at work, running her store Grass Hatters in the Grassmarket, and Anna is at work in Jenners’ menswear and hat department.
With such closeness as theirs, it’s hardly surprising that many believe that twins live in a secret world of their own. Whether it’s wearing similar clothes, finishing each other’s sentences or passing their driving tests on the same day, twins seem to do more than just share and share alike.
And there’s little doubt that twins have more than just looks in common. There are 73 million pairs of twins in the world, and 8800 sets are born every year in Britain alone. Yet our fascination with their apparent telepathic bonds and eerie likenesses - be it the Cheeky Girls or the Krays - remains as strong as ever.
Which is why, for the first time on British television, a new BBC show, Twins - The Identity Test, is examining just how alike twins really are. One hundred sets of twins from all over the UK have been put through a series of tests - physical, mental and intellectual - to find out just who are the most identical twins in Britain.
Anna and Marie, in their 50s, agree that their similarities are more than just a coincidence.
"Quite often, Anna will go shopping in Glasgow and I will go to Edinburgh, only to find we return with exactly the same item. It’s really strange," says Marie.
The sisters live together in Bo’ness and are quite reflective on the reasons why they never married. Anna says: "We were always quite a daunting prospect for men because there were two of us. They often thought we were too close for comfort."
"Sometimes it was an advantage: we used to get a lot of attention in our 20s," says Marie. "Men would get very mixed up. Anna’s boyfriend would arrive at the door and kiss me passionately before I had the chance to say anything, and after discos our boyfriends would often walk the wrong twin home, not realising their mistake."
Anna adds: "But we also had twin boyfriends who we could not tell apart - we’re certain they swapped us around. Sometimes I wasn’t sure which one I was dating."
The pair were born in Simpson’s Maternity Pavilion in the 1950s during the post-war baby boom. Their Scottish father was serving in the British Army during the Greek Civil War and fell in love with their mother, Katherine, in Athens.
They retain strong links to their mother’s homeland, where they have a holiday home.
In fact, Anna almost moved to Athens permanently in the 1980s as she was engaged to be married. It seemed the sisters would be separated for the first time.
Marie says: "During that time, I would think of Anna and what she was doing. We kept in regular contact - when you are a twin, you are closer than normal siblings."
But she is quick to add that this was not the reason for Anna’s return to Scotland. "Basically, the relationship didn’t work out," says Anna. "We have always made a conscious effort to keep our relationships apart from each other. We tend not to get involved in the other sister’s male relationships. Luckily, we have never been in a position where we have had to pick a man over each other."
Unlike the Douglas twins from Dumbarton. John and Peter, who at 65 still live together, also wear the same clothes, eat the same meals and weigh exactly the same. But neither married because: "We both always liked the same girl," says John. "We didn’t want to make one another jealous. In any case, we’ve got each other.
"It’s not like we were never on the lookout, though. It’s a shame we weren’t born in America where they’ve had twin conventions longer than here. Finding a set of twins would have been perfect."
Of course, the similarities between twins prompt the question: is it genetics or just coincidence? According to the documentary producer and director, Rod Williams, the filming has yielded some fascinating results - results which he won’t reveal until the programme is aired.
"There is a scientific reason behind the programme - it is setting out to prove genetics are the key to human identity," he says. "We had a lot of money to spend on research, and even scientists who have been studying this topic for years have been astounded at our results."
Rod spent every waking hour in the company of the twins while making the groundbreaking documentary.
"It got to the stage that I began to feel like the odd one out for not having a twin. Some of the twins are like one person: they finish each other’s sentences, talk in unison and there was even an example in the programme of twins who want to be buried together when they die - their wives just have to accept it."
So close are some of the twins, that many in the programme don’t describe themselves as two different people - they are one. Rod explains: "They start off in the womb as one egg, then split. But the important thing to remember is that they begin this life as one person, and for many that’s how it stays."
Another pair of Edinburgh twins, Marsaili McGrath and her twin Chantel, believe they have a psychic link thanks to their nine months in the womb together. The 28-year-olds are not identical, but say they know instinctively when something is wrong with the other.
Marsaili recalls being in Africa when she wrote: "Chantel, where are you? Are you OK? What’s wrong?" in her diary. "I completely flipped out with worry but didn’t have a way of speaking to her, so I wrote in my diary instead," she recalls. "Then, the same week, I received a letter from Chantel saying she was having a hard time. There have been countless psychic incidents like that.
"When we were young, we used to speak to each other in our sleep in our own language and have conversations. And we have always been able to get away with murder."
Chantel, a jazz singer, adds: "You can’t be with someone for so many years without having some kind of psychic connection."
The experience of being twins is even more intense for Anna and Marie, as their cousins and their best friends are also twins.
"It’s quite remarkable," says Anna. "My father’s brother also had a set of twins who we are extremely close to, and when we’re out with our friends Irene and Maureen, quite often the drinks are free and we become a bit of a spectacle in the restaurant or the pub we are in, on the merit that we are all twins."
The sisters make the most of their twin identities, but Marie admits that having a doppelganger can be a little frustrating. "Sometimes you are looked at as a twin rather than a person. I don’t like to be addressed as ‘twin’, but other than that it’s great - Anna’s my best friend and she’s always there for me."
Anna, who says Marie is the more outgoing twin, adds: "We have never been in competition, we would far rather complement one another. We live together because it makes economic sense, but we do spend time apart in our own social circles."
The one area where they differ remarkably, though, is their taste in music. Marie says: "I have an especially soft spot for Coldplay," while Anna adds: "I prefer to stick with 1960s icons such as Scott Walker, but I like to think of us both as being up to date."
Marie chips in: "We are basically the Cheeky Girls who have come of age."
