Daisy and Violet Hilton were born in an age far less sympathetic to physical abnormality than our own.

In 1908, in a house in Hartington Road, Brighton, barmaid Kate Skinner enjoyed an untroubled birth.

But, according to contemporary reports, she took one look at the babies, who were joined at the hip, and asked midwife Mary Hilton to adopt the "little monsters".

Because of complications, they could not be separated.

Mrs Hilton, noticing their obvious novelty value at a time when the freak show was still commonplace, pushed them into showbusiness.

They moved to America aged 16 and soon achieved fame. Occasionally they toured Britain, twice topping the bill at the Brighton Hippodrome.

On their death in 1969, former attendant and call-boy Albert Dunk recalled: "I can see them now sidling up Middle Street on their way to the theatre.

"A crowd would gather to watch them and invite autographs and they would oblige, always smiling and without any sense of embarrassment. They were such charming girls. We shan't see anything like the twins' act in a thousand years."

As well as dancing, Violet played the saxophone while Daisy accompanied her on the piano. Both were genuinely talented musicians.

At the age of 23 they took their promoter to court in Texas, claiming their "slavery" and exploitation had earned him $2 million. The court freed them from all contractual obligation to him.

The twins formed their own vaudeville show called The Hilton Sisters Revue and took to the road. In 1932 they starred in the film Freaks. A year later came Chained for Life, the title a reminder of the frustration they must have felt at their mutual dependence.

In the film one sister is accused of murder. Questions are raised as to what to do with the innocent sister if the other is convicted.

Soon enough their novelty wore out in fickle Hollywood and they went back to theatre, never quite gaining the same fame again but still making a living.

As adults they were 4ft 9ins tall and weighed a combined 166 pounds.

Daisy and Violet both wed, though neither marriage was successful. Daisy's, to performer Buddy Sawyer, lasted just ten days.

In the mid-Fifties they retired from showbusiness and worked in a supermarket.One worked the checkout while the other packed bags.

Daisy and Violet were part of a family with a strong history of twins. Their grandmother gave birth to four sets. The mother was a twin too.

In 1969, the Hilton sisters died suddenly from an influenza complication.

Dr James Booth, the man who had delivered them all those years earlier, once said of them: "They made the best of it and made it their living too. They seemed quite happy."

Life, however, was not financially kind to the twins and all they left was £575 and some personal effects. They were buried in North Carolina under a grave marked "Beloved Siamese Twins".

In 1997, the Broadway musical Side Show finally acknowledged their work in the golden age of variety theatre.

Despite their eventual obscurity and poverty, the remarkable shared life of the so-called "Brighton twins" was not forgotten.