Three's still great company as triplets turn 70

"I was always the quiet one. Quiet as a mouse," says Bob Jeffrey, sitting in the corner as he flicks through a pile of old photographs laid out on the dining room table.

"Yeah . . . something like that. Always squeaking about," his brother Jimmy mumbles under his breath with a smirk.

"Well, I have always been the shortest one," says his other brother John, piping up over the noise. "No question about that. But I am also known as the cheekiest."

It has been like this for 70 years - laughs and jokes, banter and smiles, even through the hard times.

When it comes to being close, these history-making triplets are as tight as they come, and it has been that way ever since they made their entrance - the first set of triplets to do so - at the city's new Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion back on July 18, 1941.

The brothers have gathered in Jimmy's first-floor flat on the Pleasance, not far from where the siblings were raised at 5 Forbes Street, talking about their lives together ahead of their milestone birthday party tonight at the Hibs Supporters Club on Sunnyside, where more than 100 friends and family will join them in their celebration.

The men have never strayed far from the neighbourhood, Bob living around the corner from Jimmy, and John just slightly further down the road near The Meadows. The neighbourhood has always been their stomping ground - their former Boys' Brigade hut was next to where Jimmy's flat is now - and hardly a day goes by when they don't see each other, even after all these years.

Their mum Helen was 43 when she gave birth to her beautiful boys at Simpsons. A mere 4ft in height, she told a reporter shortly after the birth that she was confident the boys would be "nae bather at a'" as she looked forward to taking them home to meet their many relatives, including their grandmother and aunties, who would offer much-needed help as they grew up.

Their father John, a former slater, was just 26 - 17 years younger than Helen - and was serving in England in the Pioneer Corps during the war when the triplets were born. He was granted leave to head straight up to Edinburgh after a matron at the hospital sent him a telegram to break the good news, and was said to be "proud at punch" at the arrival of his boys, who weighed between 4lb 2oz and 4lb 10oz.

It was John who had arrived first, followed a minute later by Jimmy (James), and then another minute later by Bob (Robert), who was named after Professor Johnson, who led the delivery.

"I think our mum knew beforehand that she was having triplets," says John, also known as the "clever one", a former civil servant who also served many years as a cooper with the North British Distillery.

"Apparently she would put us all in the same pram together."

"Yeah . . . and who do you think was the one who was always shoved at the bottom?" says Jimmy, a former kilt presser, who worked for J and S Lawson in Pilrig Street.

"It was me. Those two lay next to each other at the top, and I was along the bottom. They probably kicked me."

Mr and Mrs Jeffrey had to wait over a month before they could show off their three bundles of joy in public. Owing to their low weights, the boys were kept in hospital until they were big enough to be allowed home.

It was there, to mark their arrival as the first triplets at the new Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion that they hit the headlines, their picture appearing in the Evening News on August 13, 1941, alongside the last set of triplets to be born at the old Simpson Maternity Pavilion, eight-year-old Margaret, Kenneth and Ronald Sinclair from Canonmills.

"Can't we take them home now - one each?" Margaret was reported to have asked her mum at the time.

It was around then that Mr and Mrs Jeffrey also received congratulatory word from the King - a letter that their sons still have to this day - giving them a 3 bounty, along with "His Majesty's good wishes for the future welfare of the children".

"We've kept all of these things," says John. "I even have the original cards from the hospital with our names and weights on them."

The boys say they are as close now as they always have been, phoning every day to check one another is fine, as well as meeting up in person each week to catch up or travel together to see other relatives across the Lothians.

Although Bob never married, John and Jimmy did, going on to have children and grandchildren - including a set of twins - and now great-grand children.

James and John have rarely been apart throughout their lives, having been schooled together at Preston Street Primary and then at James Clark's. Owing to a visual impairment, which he has had since birth, Bob was educated separately at a special school in Lauriston, before moving on to Prestonfield School.

"I was never that bothered about being separated from the other two," the former brush maker says. "I saw them every night at home after all.

"We always got on. Of course we had arguments - we're the same as anyone else. It wasn't easy in those days, but our parents were really good to us.

"We always got a birthday cake - one cake with a candle each - but never really any birthday presents. We had a good, happy childhood though."

"As long as we got an apple, an orange and thruppence at Christmas we were happy," says James. "I think we were quite good kids really - and very good friends."

As they prepare for tonight's birthday party, discussing what each one is going to wear, keen musician Jimmy reveals he will be joining a live band on stage to play his beloved accordion - an instrument both he and Bob have mastered over the years - for guests.

"It was never something I could join in with," says John. "I'm only 5ft, so all you could see was a head poking above, my chin resting on the accordion. As I say, I've always been the short one."

• The Jeffrey triplets are keen to make contact with Kenneth, Margaret and Ronald Sinclair, pictured right holding them as one-month-old infants. If you can help, contact 0131-620 8748 or e-mail [email protected]