UK’s ‘oldest identical twins’ have worn matching clothes for 82 years, live together as bachelors and even had the same job (before retiring together)
The UK’s ‘oldest identical twins’ have revealed they’ve lived together, worn matching clothes and even had the same jobs for 82 years.
Bill and John Bowdler, from Birmingham, also go on holiday together and credit their brotherly bond for their thriving health.
The lifelong bachelors have been inseparable since they were born on March 21, 1944, and still do everything together – even working the same two jobs.
They left school in 1960 and both joined the same wholesale distribution business in Birmingham.
When that went bust they changed careers together, retraining as postmen, a job they did for more than 17 years working adjacent areas.
Now in retirement, John picks their matching outfits most days – a tradition that started with their mother Agnes.
They even needed a cataract operation on the same eye at the same time.
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.
The UK’s ‘oldest identical twins’ have revealed they’ve lived together, worn matching clothes and even had the same jobs for 82 years
‘We do literally everything together and I couldn’t imagine it any other way. 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. It all started with our mother dressing us both up the same.
‘We finish our sentences which just naturally happens. We find it happens all the time. And neither of us has ever married. We’ve got a really close relationship anyway, we didn’t have the time to bother with the opposite sex.
‘Our aunt and uncle lived next door, too. So we were quite busy caring for them and our parents. We should’ve been carers.’
John continued: ‘When we were kids we were paper boys with the local newsagent and we found out that one of the customers was a manager of the wholesaler distributor.
‘They were wanting a junior to start. Both of us went up and they set us on as they liked that we were twins. We stayed there 31 years.
‘The firm went into liquidation and they ceased trading. We were unemployed for 14 weeks.
‘We ten pin bowl and one of the players in the league was a postman, and he said to apply for the post during the summer period.
Bill and John Bowdler (pictured in 1945), from Birmingham, also go on holiday together and credit their brotherly bond for their thriving health
The lifelong bachelors have been inseparable since they were born on March 21, 1944, and still do everything together – even working the same two jobs
The twins (pictured in Las Vegas in 2006) left school in 1960 and both joined the same wholesale distribution business in Birmingham
Now in retirement, John picks their matching outfits most days – a tradition that started with their mother Agnes
‘We ended up staying there 17 years. We enjoyed it, we were on adjacent routes so we’d see each other.’
Bill said: ‘We retired in 2009 on the same day, so we really haven’t been apart.
‘When you start they put you on different walks, but we ended up on adjacent walks. People used to see us both and get confused at how we were in two places at once.’
The longest time the twins have spent apart was when John spent two weeks recovering from appendicitis in hospital and then another 12 weeks off work.
They shop together, go to the bingo, watch their beloved Aston Villa and even go on holiday with each other.
While they may eat the same meals everyday, John reveals the only difference the pair have is that he can’t stand brown sauce, while Bill smothers it on everything.
Bill added: ‘We go on holiday together. We shop together. People will often mix us up, which can be quite a funny thing.
‘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.
John and Bill photographed in 1954, wearing identical clothing
The twins pictured in 1950 with their brother Alan and sister Janet
They shop together, go to the bingo, watch their beloved Aston Villa and even go on holiday with each other
The twins pictured at their retirement aged 65 in 2009 after working as postmen for 17 years
‘For us, being together is like habit now. We can’t break it. John gets up first so he decides what we wear and we like it like that.’
The twins surprised opticians during their regular eye test when it was discovered that both of them needed a cataract operation – in the same eye.
The pair had their operation at Newmedica in Birmingham just a month apart.
Bill said: ‘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.
‘We were wearing glasses anyway, but since the right eye had been done we had to book the left in. It could only happen to us that we both needed it doing.’
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.’
On why their relationship benefits them, 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.’
