In their homeland they're known as In-Jan, and there's a monument to them near their birthplace, but few Thais these days know much about the conjoined brothers who became world-famous a century and a half ago as Chang and Eng Bunker, the Siamese Twins.

It's such a remarkable story that it's worth retelling on any continent. They met the crowned heads of Europe, were gentlemen farmers in America and even owned African slaves, they chopped down trees wielding two axes at once, they amused Mark Twain and worried Herman Melville, they were very nearly recruited into the Confederate Army, they worked for PT Barnum but stood up for their rights, and together they somehow fostered 21 children.

This illustrated, 24-piece post travels with the brothers Bunker from Siam to America and back, with visits to Britain, France, Germany and Russia. Eng is the quiet, studious one on the left. Chang, slightly shorter, likes to have fun, but don't offer him a drink.

Further reading: Amy and Irving Wallace's 1978 biography "The Two: The Story of the Original Siamese Twins" has been uniformly praised. Darin Strauss' bestselling "Chang and Eng: A Novel" from 2000 is being turned into a screenplay by Gary Oldman, who also plans to direct the film version.

Online are a wordy but colourful reminiscence by Judge Jesse Franklin Graves, who knew the twins, at the Surrey County Historical Society website; engaging accounts from American Heritage, Wilkesboro's historians and Blue Ridge Country.com; and some musings by Mark Twain.