Tyler Winklevoss takes a seat in the Austin, Texas hotel where we’re meeting. “I’m feeling the time difference,” he says. They have flown in from New York. It is one hour behind.

He is in town with his twin, Cameron, for the annual SXSW festival of film, tech and music. Brunette, wearing a matching combination of blazer and jeans and both towering at 6'5'', their appearance would be uncanny if it weren't for Cameron's slighter frame.

They know The Telegraph well, having spent a year at Oxford University where they both took a seat in the blue boat during the annual rowing clash against Cambridge. They settled for student digs even though a year prior, they had taken $20m in cash and $45m in Facebook shares in settlement with fellow Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, whom they accused of stealing their idea for Facebook.

The case led to the release of Mr Zuckerberg’s emails, including one where he described users as “dumb f----” for sharing their personal information with him, and inspired the 2010 film The Social Network.

The battling Harvard classmates’ lives have taken different trajectories. Mr Zuckerberg, a quiet coding type, lives with wife Priscilla Chan and their two children in a century-old white wood home in California. In comparison the brothers, dubbed “testosterone twins” by the tabloids, own a lavish bachelor’s pad in New York’s trendy Soho and have been seen on red carpets with models, including Irina Shayk, on their arms.