CELEBRATING your thirteenth birthday on December 13 could make even the most rational person feel a little bit edgy – but not Kirsty Maile. The Thurleston High School pupil has no qualms about the day on which her thirteenth birthday has fallen and fully intends to enjoy it.

CELEBRATING your thirteenth birthday on December 13 could make even the most rational person feel a little bit edgy – but not Kirsty Maile.

The Thurleston High School pupil has no qualms about the day on which her thirteenth birthday has fallen and fully intends to enjoy it.

She said: "It doesn't really bother me. I'll enjoy it whatever happens. My friends know about it and they're not bothered either."

Kirsty, of Stratford Road, Ipswich, joins her dad Russell in celebrating her milestone birthday on a supposedly unlucky day. Mr Maile, now 36, was born on July 13 and celebrated his thirteenth birthday Friday, July 13.

The family plans to celebrate the occasion with a meal and don't intend taking extra safety measures.

Mr Maile said: "There's no superstition in this household and it's a good job really. It's not an unlucky day for us. It just seems remarkable that her birthday should fall on the thirteenth – just like mine."

Although the birthday holds no fears for Kirsty and her family, people who suffer from triskaidekaphobia, the phobia of the number 13, would be horrified to hear about some twists of fate.

Some famous triskaidekaphobes, who certainly would have been worried, include Napoleon, Mark Twain, Richard Wagner and former US President Franklin Roosevelt.

The number 13: some facts

the Christian belief that 13 is unlucky comes from the fact that there were thirteen people at the Last Supper, with Judas being number thirteen. Historians believe Jesus was crucified on Friday 13, making that date extremely unlucky for Christians.

The US space mission, Apollo 13, seems to have been doomed from the start. It was launched on the 11/4/1970 (which, if added together, equals 85. Eight plus five equals 13) from pad 39 (three times thirteen) at the local time of 13.13. The mission was abandoned on April 13 after an explosion.

According to ancient superstition, any one with thirteen letters in their name is supposed to have the Devil's Luck. Prime Minister has thirteen letters.

People in the Middle Ages believed witch covens always had thirteen members.

An old superstition is that it is unlucky to sit thirteen to a table, with the first to rise from the table dying within a year. An organisation in France reportedly exists solely to provide last minute party guests to avoid having thirteen people at a table.

In the 1880s, a men's group that felt superstition wielded too much influence on public life held Thirteen Club Dinners.

In the 18th Century HMS Friday was launched on Friday 13 and was never heard of again.

The United States originally consisted of thirteen colonies.

A study published in the British Medical Journal in 1993 compared the ratio of traffic volume to the number of accidents on two different days, Friday 6 and Friday 13. It concluded that, though the traffic volume was less on the thirteenth, the number of hospitalisations was higher.

The Romans regarded the number thirteen as a sign of death and

destruction.