"We don't know anything other than being triplets."
Peter, Mike and David Tolich were born six-and-a-half weeks premature at the former National Women's Hospital in Auckland, but despite a rough beginning all three survived - a rarity in those days.
The Tolich triplets in the New Zealand Herald the week after they were born on December 24 1950, held by the doctors who delivered them. Photo/ Supplied
As such, they were often featured in newspapers and glossy magazines as children.
They were featured in the Herald the week of their birth, each held by a doctor from the team who delivered them.
They were pictured again five years later starting school.
From left to right: Peter, Mike and David Tolich leave the house in February 1955. Photo/ NZ Herald archive
"There was a pattern that every year, especially when we were younger, we would be rounded up and have our photos taken," Tolich said.
David Tolich, the youngest ("third cab off the rank") was something of a surprise for the triplets' mother, who had been told she was having twins.
"The doctors said 'my God, there's another pair of feet. That was me," David said.
He and Peter were born breached; Mike was the only one of the three born the right way around.
The trio were extremely close as boys, speaking to one another in a made-up language other people couldn't understand.
Despite that closeness, sharing their birthday so near to Christmas was sometimes a source of tension.
"It was terrible, it was terrible, because we were so close [to Christmas]," Mike lamented, before David cut him off.
"It was actually quite good because you had two days, one then the other, so if you didn't like what you got for your birthday you got something else for Christmas - you got two shots," David said.
