Happy birthdays!

THERE will be no forgetting birthdays in the home of a South African banker and his wife living in London.

That is because Frederik Hefer, 30, and his wife Kim, 29, have two sets of twins - all boys and all born on Nelson Mandela's birthday on July 18.

It has been six weeks and the couple are just catching their breath after the arrival of Devon and Logan, who were born by C-section at Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, outside London.

Speaking to the Sunday Times from London, Hefer said four years earlier, anxious about the arrival of their older twins, Tristan and Blake, the couple had headed home to South Africa for the births.

"We wanted to make sure we had enough help to see us through the first few weeks," Hefer said.

Kim's mother, Kathy, is a teacher in Fourways, north of Johannesburg.

This time round Hefer managed to hand out the older boys' bicycles for their fourth birthday before heading to the hospital to be at Kim's side for the delivery of the new babies.

"For the older boys' birthday party this year we had to hire the village hall. It's the only place that could hold their army of friends and the massive jumping castle. I shudder to think what type of place I have to get for next year," Hefer said.

The Hefers' rare feat has made it into British newspapers and they have been billed as the first "British couple" to have two sets of twins who share a birthday.

The Daily Mail reported that there were only six families in the world with two sets of twins born on the same date.

The Cambridge News quoted Keith Reed, chief executive of the Twins and Multiple Births Association, as saying it was "very unusual" to have such a situation occurring.

Hefer, who has remained a "true Stormers fan", said his calculations indicated there was about a one-in-30million chance of it happening.

Said Reed: "It's going to be hard work so they need all the support they can get, which will help to make it an incredibly rewarding and lovely experience."

None of the twins are identical, although Tristan and Blake were looking "more and more like each other", according to Hefer.

He said Kim's family had a history of twins and his sister, Karlien, had also been born on July 18.

Hefer studied financial analysis at the University of Stellenbosch and moved to London several years ago because he "wanted to see the world". He met Kim there and is now a finance manager at Deutsche Bank.

Kim, he said, had a "full-time job" at home. The couple live in Cambridgeshire because they liked the space and he commutes to work daily.

"Those 40 minutes on the train help me to catch up on much needed sleep."

Admitting there had been no time to even think about the boys' birthdays next year, Hefer said it would definitely have to be a "big bash".