Bill and John Bowdler, from Birmingham, are Britain's oldest identical twins, having been inseparable since their birth on March 21, 1944. Now 82, they have lived together, worn matching outfits, and even held the same two jobs for decades. The lifelong bachelors attribute their remarkable health to their unbreakable bond.
A Lifetime of Togetherness
After leaving school in 1960, both brothers joined the same wholesale distribution firm in Birmingham. When the business collapsed, they switched careers together and retrained as postmen. They retired on the same day in 2009. John picks out their matching outfits most days, a tradition started by their mother Agnes. He said: "We're that alike we can't even tell ourselves apart in old photographs. We dress in the same clothes. I'm normally up first so I go and pick something out and then Bill will go and match that."
One Difference: Brown Sauce
While they consume identical meals daily, John points out the sole difference between them: his aversion to brown sauce, whereas Bill douses everything in it. Bill said: "It's odd because we're not a family of twins. The only other twins in our family were a pair of girls from the 1870s, and that's it."
Shared Medical Experiences
The pair even needed cataract operations on the same eye at the same time, carried out in the same surgery. Bill explained: "We've both had the right eye done. John had his done in April, mine in May. John is having his left eye done in July then mine in September. We went to Specsavers and they saw the cataract. We both went to Specsavers together and that's when they found it, at the same time." Professor Sai Kolli, consultant at Newmedica Birmingham, said: "They're the first twins we've had as patients here, and it must be such a rare occurrence to have them both have the same procedure on the same eyes."
Unbreakable Bond
The longest time the pair have spent apart was when John spent a fortnight in hospital recovering from appendicitis, followed by a further 12 weeks away from work. They do their weekly shop together, enjoy trips to the bingo, cheer on Aston Villa, and jet off on holiday side by side. John said: "We've always been inseparable, from birth although I was born 20 minutes earlier than Bill so I was on my own for a little bit. We do literally everything together and I couldn't imagine it any other way." Reflecting on their bond, John added: "We're 82 but we feel 70. There's people on our estate, our former school mates, and they're hobbling around or in wheelchairs. We're definitely one of the oldest sets of identical twins in the world. We have each other so we can keep each other fit. We just keep active. It keeps us ticking and alive."
