JOINED AT THE HIP
Recognition for one-time stars and death of Tanzanian twins
PLAQUE FOR THE HILTONS
Conjoined twin sisters could be the first in Britain to get a blue plaque under a plan to celebrate disability. A fundraising campaign has been launched in Brighton to commemorate Violet and Daisy Hilton, joined at the hips and buttocks, who achieved worldwide fame as musicians and dancers in the Twenties and Thirties. Alf le Flohic, a local historian, is trying to raise £1,500 to fund the plaque outside 18 Riley Road, where they were born to 21-yearold unmarried barmaid Kate Skinner on 5 February 1908.
The sisters were adopted by a Brighton pub landlady (Kate’s employer) and put on show for money just weeks after their birth. They were fused at the pelvis, but shared no major organs. Their fame peaked in the US in 1927 when they were earning $4,000 (£3,000) a week, about three times the average American salary at the time. As adults they toured the world on the vaudeville and burlesque circuits, singing and dancing, and appeared in the films Freaks
LEFT: Conjoined twins Violet and Daisy Hilton photographed in 1927. BELOW: Maria and Consolata Mwakikuti, who died in June this year at the age of 21. (1932) and Chained for Life (1952). They died of Hong Kong flu in 1969. D.Telegraph, 31 May 2018.
TANZANIAN TWINS
Tanzanian conjoined twins Maria and Consolata Mwakikuti died on 2 June, at the age 21, after suffering respiratory complications. The women, who were joined from the navel downwards and shared organs like the liver and lungs, had two hearts and separate heads and arms. They were admitted to hospital in December 2017 to treat their heart disease. Their parents died while they were still infants, and they were raised by the Catholic charity Maria Consolata, which had adopted and named them. Last year, their high school graduation triggered a wave of congratulatory messages nationwide.
In an interview with the BBC they said that after they had completed their university education, they wanted to become teachers. They were against the idea of being surgically separated, and had hoped to get married to one husband one day. BBC News, 3 June 2018.