The leap year triplets celebrating ‘sixth’ birthday
Savannah, India and Alicia Phillips are rarely seen in the same room these days
- Published
Triplet sisters are celebrating their sixth birthday - despite being 24 years old.
Savannah, India and Alicia Phillips, from Wolverhampton, are Leaplings - people born on 29 February.
There is about a one in 1,461 chance of being born on the date.
It makes every four years special for the trio, who otherwise choose to celebrate on varying days.
Savannah is based in Oxford
As Savannah and India Phillips were speaking to BBC Radio WM, Alicia was spending her 24th birthday in the Bahamas.
And the three sisters are rarely spotted in the same room.
Savannah is based in Oxford, India splits her time between Wolverhampton and Florida and Alicia lives in New York.
India splits her time between Wolverhampton and Florida
India said she often celebrated her birthday on 28 February while Savannah said she went with whichever day was closest to the weekend.
"I always want my birthday a day earlier," India said. "Any excuse."
But Savannah added: "As you get older you'd rather delay your birthday by a day, right?"
Alicia (right) was enjoying spending her 24th birthday on holiday
What is a leap year and why do we have them?
It takes the Earth 365 days, five hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds to orbit the sun. This extra five hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds needs to be taken into account, otherwise the seasons would gradually shift and summer could eventually end up starting in January
Leap years occur in the calendar every four years to help make this adjustment, but the maths still doesn't quite work out, so every 100 years, we skip a leap year, unless the year is divisible by 400. The next leap year to be skipped will be 2100
The phrase "leap year" is used because every date on the calendar jumps forward. So if your birthday was on a Monday last year, it would leap over the next day and be on Wednesday this year.
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- Published29 February
- Published28 February 2020