It’s Leap Day today – the 29^th February 2012. Today is the day women can go against tradition and ask a man to marry her… If he refuses, he is supposed to pay a penance!

So why do we have a Leap Year every four years? It’s actually a corrective measure to make sure the seasons don’t drift from the dates we give them, because the earth doesn’t orbit around the sun in precisely 365 days. All calendars like Coptic, Chinese, Hebrew or Hindu also make adjustments in various ways.

It’s known that people born on February 29 don’t get many real birthdays but the Henriksen family from Norway get fewer than most! All three of Mrs. Henriksen’s children of were born on a Leap Day; Heidi in 1960, Olav in 1964 and Lief-Martin in 1968. How’s that for bizarre?

Another twist of fate occurred to a UK family when three successive generations were all born on 29 February; Peter Anthony in 1940, his son Peter Eric in 1964 and Peter Eric’s daughter Bethany in 1996.

If today is your leap birthday – here’s wishing you a wonderful day! If there are any ladies that have taken the leap and proposed on a Leap Day, we want to hear about it – so please share your stories with us below!