Britain’s youngest mother gave birth at 13 without her family knowing, and, even more surprisingly, the baby’s father… see more

British tabloids had existed in the 18th Century, they would have gone utterly barmy over the family of Russian peasant Feodor Vassilyev.

Why? His first wife – whose name is lost to history – holds the widely cited world record for bearing the most children. According to a local monastery’s report to the government in Moscow, between 1725 and 1765 Mrs Vassilyev popped out 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets, over 27 separate labours. The grand total: 69 children.

You can only imagine how a present-day newspaper editor would react to such fecundity, especially given the tabloid clamour in recent years over octuplet