On Twinship
Something Different
Happy New Year!
Today is a first for this newsletter:
The first post not by me.
Instead it’s over to my far-more-literate twin sister, and the longtime Unplugging editor, Polly, on twinship. Enjoy!
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On Twinship
What do Gisele Bundchen, Kofi Annan and Hector Hughes have in common?
They all have a twin sister. The Brazilian supermodel and the former UN secretary-general appear in the Wikipedia article “List of twins” under the devastating heading “Notable people with a non-famous twin”. I’m not sure my ego would survive it if Hector were to be added to that category. As we move into the second half of the 20s my sights are set on the much shorter list of “Twins notable in each of their own separate fields”.
We turned thirty last year, which has prompted me to spend some time reflecting on the question that everybody always asks us: what is it like to be a twin?
Our experience bears very little resemblance to the interdependent relationship usually associated with twins. We can’t communicate telepathically (even verbal communication is sometimes a struggle), we don’t look at all similar and most of our mutual acquaintances would tell you that we have almost nothing in common.
For example, Hector is committed to his daily meditation practice; as far as I’m concerned, sitting in silence with my own thoughts is a strong contender for Room 101. He’s an optimist whose school report once observed that he “made Pollyanna look like a pessimist”; I’m a cynic and something of a misanthrope.
One thing that we do share is a marked tendency for self-deprecation. Perhaps that’s a defence mechanism developed as a result of growing up alongside someone who, by virtue of being our diametric opposite, threw every failing into sharp relief. Or perhaps we’re just English.
All that being said, the differences between us are not quite so fundamental as they once seemed. As teenagers, we set out on totally divergent paths - Hector is dyslexic but excelled at maths whereas I love to read but had a turbulent relationship with anything involving numbers. I am fairly sure that the number of books he read in early adulthood could be counted on less than two hands, so his decision several years ago to reinvent himself as a voracious reader was met with astonishment (our parents and sister) and scepticism (me). Regular readers of this newsletter will be aware that he stuck with it and now routinely tackles sprawling, highbrow novels with complicated plots.
His transformation inspired me to look at my own talents through a different lens. If my twin, once a renowned wreckhead, could reinvent himself as an aficionado of Russian literature, a spiritualist, and a low-tech guru, what could I do? With Hectoresque optimism, I decided to retrain as a scientist and discovered that I can in fact understand maths.
Our brains are very similar - we are, after all, twins; the difference lies not in how they work but in how we choose to use them. I often see my brother do things that I know he would once have thought impossible, which galvanises me to do the same.
I do still draw the line at meditation.
About Polly
Post University, Polly lasted five months in an office job before deciding that it wasn't for her and moving to a remote island off the coast of Mozambique. She spent several years immersed in the natural world as a horseback safari guide and in 2021 moved back to the UK to do a masters' in conservation science and policy.
She currently works as an analyst at Langland Conservation, providing intelligence support to frontline conservation projects across the world with a focus on counter wildlife crime initiatives. She's running a number of ongoing investigations into big cat trafficking and has produced geospatial threat analyses for some of the most remote and wild protected areas in Africa.
In 2025, she’s running a project bringing the latest tech to empower indigenous people in the Amazon to protect the land they live on. Closer to home, she’ll be collaborating with Unplugged on nature recovery initiatives at several of their new and existing sites - watch this space…
Loved getting the guest post and hearing from Hector's other half, nice to meet you Polly!