Twincredible
UK leads way on Academy’s gong shortlist
A COUPLE are celebrating after welcoming twins – born on different days with different star signs.
As we told yesterday, Jess and Chris Chelin’s elder son Eric was born on January 19 at 11.52pm, while Albert was born the following day at 12.02am.
And last week figures revealed birth rates of twins have risen by a third since the 1980s, due to factors such as mothers giving birth later in life and IVF.
But how much do you know about twins? NADINE LINGE sees double with 10 top facts. 1 Twins occur either when two
separate eggs become fertilised in the womb or when a single egg splits into two embryos. If one egg splits into two, the siblings will be identical. If it’s two eggs, they do not have identical genes and are known as fraternal twins.
Identical twins do not have
2
identical fingerprints. Small variations as they develop in the womb result in them developing similar but different prints.
It is possible for twins to have
3
different dads if two eggs are released and the mother has sex with two men who fertilise one each. This happened to American mum Mia Washington in 2009 when her sons Justin and Jordan were born seven minutes apart – but a visit to a DNA lab revealed they were actually half-brothers.
There is a “hyper-ovulation”
4
twin gene which makes it more likely a woman will release
multiple eggs. Twins may skip a generation because a man cannot carry the gene but could pass it on to his daughter. But there is no known gene linked to identical twins so this is not hereditary.
5 Women could boost their
chances of twins by eating eggs and cheese, according to one report which found a protein linked to ovulation was 13 times higher in women who eat dairy products. Twins are also more common in older or obese women.
6 Some pairs of siblings really
do chat in their own language with researchers estimating 40% speak idioglossia – a lingo of gibberish which twins create.
7 Twins are more likely to be
left-handed. Studies have shown while about 10% of the population are lefties, that number is higher among twins.
8 The longest gap between the birth of twins is 90 days. Molly
West was born three months premature on January
1, 1996, in Baltimore, US, and her brother followed on March 30.
Doctors stopped mum Lesa’s contractions to carry David as long as possible. The first recorded case of conjoined
9 twins were Chang and Eng who were born in Thailand in 1811 and joined at the chest. They moved to America and married two sisters, fathering 22 children between them and dying within hours of each other in 1874. While there are several sets of
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famous siblings – including Jedward, The Proclaimers and Mary-kate and Ashley Olsen – other stars have lesserknown twins. They include Scarlett Johansson, whose brother Hunter works in politics, and Ashton Kutcher, whose twin Michael was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a child.
CAREY Mulligan, Olivia Colman, Sacha Baron Cohen and Sir Anthony Hopkins are among a string of British stars who have been nominated for Oscars.
Daniel Kaluuya earned his second nod in three years for his performance as Black Panther leader Fred Hampton in the film Judas And The Black Messiah.
He is up for the best supporting actor prize alongside Borat comic Baron Cohen for his turn as social activist Abbie Hoffman in The Trial Of The Chicago 7.
Star Wars ace Riz Ahmed scored a best actor nod for his role in Sound Of Metal, alongside Gary Oldman for his performance as Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman J Mankiewicz in Mank. Sir Anthony Hopkins is nominated for his turn in drama The Father, about a man slipping into dementia.
Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman, who died of cancer aged 43 last August, is the front runner in the category for his performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
Mulligan is nominated for the best actress prize for her role as a grieving woman seeking revenge in Promising Young Woman, alongside The Crown star Vanessa Kirby for her turn in Pieces Of A Woman. The Crown’s Olivia Colman also scored an Oscar nod for her supporting role in The Father.
And funnyman Baron Cohen has also earned a screenplay nod for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. The nominations were announced by Nick Jonas and wife Priyanka Chopra live from London.
Two female filmmakers are nominated in the directing category – Chloe Zhao for Nomadland and Emerald Fennell for Promising Young Woman.
In the past 92 ceremonies, only five women directors have been nominated, and last year there were none.
The Academy Awards, which were delayed by the pandemic, will take place on April 25.
MOVING: Hopkins
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BRIT jihadi bride Shamima Begum has posed for snaps in Western clothes, make-up and shades as she continues her battle to return to the UK.
The 21-year-old has ditched the black hijab she wore in Syria after she fled London aged 15 to join Islamic State. She is refusing to talk to journalists on “legal advice” and is said to have wept after losing the latest round of her court fight to return to her homeland. Last month the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Government’s refusal to allow her to come back to the UK to contest the revocation of her citizenship. Begum has been in a Syrian refugee camp for two years while her lawyers
fight the decision to strip her of her passport. She lost three children from her marriage to Dutch terrorist Yago Riedijk, 29, who is in another camp.
Begum’s citizenship was revoked on national security grounds after she was found pregnant in Syria in 2019.
PRITI Patel begged Reclaim These Streets protesters to stay home during lockdown to stop “more lives being lost”.
The Home Secretary told the Commons the “horrific” murder of Sarah Everard had “rightly prompted debate” around the safety of women.
She accepted some footage of police breaking up a candlelit vigil in memory of the 33-year-old marketing executive at the weekend was “upsetting” and has ordered an independent probe.
But she said the need to obey strict anti-covid laws to halt the spread of a virus that has killed more than 125,500 people currently outweighed the public’s right to protest.
She told MPS yesterday: “I continue to urge everyone – for as long as the
■ regulations are in place – not to participate in large gatherings or attend protests. The right to protest is the cornerstone of our democracy.
“But the Government’s duty remains to prevent more lives being lost.’’
Ms Patel has claimed controversial new curbs on protests are required following a “significant change in protest tactics”.
But she was urged by MPS to drop “embarrassing” proposals from the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which would give officers in England and Wales greater powers. Demonstrators yesterday blocked London’s Westminster Bridge as part of ongoing protests against violence towards women. The bandstand on Clapham Common, near the spot where Sarah was last seen, has been covered in a sea of flowers, hand-written candles in her memory.
Meanwhile, police investigating the death have been combing a supermarket car park in Sandwich, Kent. Specialist divers have also been searching a stretch of water.
Large portions of the town remained cordoned off yesterday afternoon.
Sarah’s body was found in a wood in Ashford, Kent, on Wednesday.
Met Police officer Wayne Couzens, 48, appeared in court on Saturday charged with her kidnap and murder, and has been remanded in custody.
Last night a Met Police officer involved in the operation was removed from duties for allegedly sharing an “inappropriate graphic” with colleagues. tributes and