The adorable foursome!
It Is possible, but extremely rare. the odds of conceiving identical quads are one in 64 million.
Monozygotic (identical) twins develop from a single egg fertilised by a single sperm, which splits after it starts to develop, so the babies share all of their genes. Dizygotic (fraternal) twins are created by two eggs fertilised at the same time. they share half of their genes, which is the same for any siblings.
Quads can be fraternal (multizygotic), identical or a combination of both. It’s possible for the fertilised egg to split more than once, producing monozygotic triplets or quadruplets. there are thought to be only 70 sets of identical quads in the world, with a third conceived naturally.
there are two sets of identical quads in Britain. the Carles quads from Bedfordshire, Jessica, Holly, Georgie and Ellie, were born on March 23, 2006.
the family featured in the 2011 TV documentary Can You tell them Apart? It revealed the girls are monochorionic, which means monozygotic embryos that shared the same placenta.
to tell them apart when they were babies, their mother Julie had to write their names on their feet. In the documentary, it was fascinating to see how their different personalities were developing.
Identical quads Alfie, sam, Jake and William thompson were born in Carlisle, Cumbria, in 2018.
Maureen Thomas, Lichfield, Staffs.
QUESTION Why were roads in Battersea, South London, named after Afghan cities?
A RESIDENTIAL pocket in Battersea contains roads named Afghan, Cabul, Candahar and Khyber.
For some inexplicable reason, estate agents have designated it little India. residents once more accurately dubbed it the north-West Frontier. the roads were named to commemorate the second Afghan War, 1878 to 1881. In the 19th century, the Empire was celebrated in the capital.
the arrival of British forces in Ethiopia in 1868 was recorded with Abyssinia road, Battersea. the campaign’s major battle was marked by Magdala Avenue, Archway, north london, and a street of that name in Isleworth, Middlesex.
In south Croydon, surrey, Magdala road adjoins napier road, commemorating expedition leader robert napier.
Berber road in Clapham, south london, refers to General Gordon’s failed expedition to evacuate besieged Khartoum in sudan. there are Khartoum roads in tooting, south london; Ilford, and Plaistow, both in East london.
the Boer War is remembered, through tugela river, natal, in tugela road, selhurst, surrey, and tugela street, Catford, south-East london.
Colenso road, Clapton, East london, refers to the battle in which the British were routed by the Boers in 1899.
Another street with that name in Ilford is linked to ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking Avenues.
there are Pretoria roads in tooting, Ilford (near natal road), romford, Chingford and Canning town, where it adjoins ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking roads. Simon May, London E12.
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