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Famous Left Handed People - I didn’t know they were left handed!

How many famous left handed people do you know? Most left-handers have at some stage in their life, been on the receiving end of a uncomplimentary comment on the subject of their favoured hand. This could have been during their school days, in the work place, or simply down the local pub. It‘s a fair bet though, that the instigator of these remarks might not have been so smug had they taken into account the thousands of famous left-handers, who throughout history have excelled in many varied fields. To produce a comprehensive list would be almost impossible, but below are just a small percentage, who make any southpaw proud to be left handed:-

Possibly some of the most famous left handed people come from the world of sport. Greats like: Babe Ruth; Larry Bird; Pele; Sir Bobby Charlton; Ferenc Puskas; Sir Garfield Sobers; Dennis Compton; Arnold Palmer; Rod Laver; Mark Spitz and “marvellous” Marvin Hagler were/are all proud “lefties”. To be added to this dazzling list are more famous left handed people from more recent times, such as: John McEnroe; Jimmy Connors; Ivan Lendl; Martina Navratilova; Diego Maradona; Marco Van Basten; Jimmy White; Brian Lara and Alan Border.

There are countless numbers of famous left handed people in the world of show business, with legends like: Cary Grant; WC Fields; Steve McQueen; Peter Ustinov; Charlie Chaplin and Fred Astaire, plus present day actors such as Robert Redford; Tom Cruise; Robert De Niro; Sylvester Stalone; Bruce Willis and Jim Carrey, all favouring the left hand. Not to leave the ladies out, famous actresses include many of the greats: Judy Garland; Greta Garbo; Betty Grable; Marilyn Monroe, they were all “lefties”, as are current screen stars like: Julia Roberts; Angelina Jolie; Nicole Kidman; Emma Thompson and Demi Moore.

From the music industry, famous left handed people are well represented in the shape of: Bob Dylan; Jimmi Hendrix; Sir Paul McCartney; Sting; David Bowie; Phil Collins; George Michael; Marshall Mathers - Eminem; Annie Lennox; Celine Dion; Mark Knopfler; Paul Simon and Ringo Starr.

Some more famous left handed people from miscellaneous backgrounds include: Mr Micosoft himself - Bill Gates; J Edgar Hoover - the former Director of the FBI; Mark Twain, HG Wells and Lewis Carroll from the world of literature; and Prince’s Charles and William. First man on the moon: Neil Armstrong and his co-astronaut: Buzz Aldrin; fashion designer: Jean-Paul Gaultier and The Simpsons cartoon creator: Matt Groening are all left handed, as are/were American Presidents: JF Kennedy; Gerald Ford; Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

Just to show that not all famous left handed people are, or were known for the all the right reasons, there have been a few bad apples in the shape of Billy the Kid; Jack the Ripper and The Boston Strangler.

Finally some of the most famous left handed people from yesteryear, are without doubt some of the greatest and influential individuals who have ever lived. The likes of Horatio Nelson; Leonardo Da Vinci; Michelangelo; Pablo Picasso; Julius Caesar; Wolfgang Amedeus Mozart; Ludwig Van Beethoven; Winston Churchill; Napoleon Bonaparte - and Josephine; Queen Victoria; Alexander the Great; Joan of Arc; Marie Curie and last but certainly not least, Albert Einstein. They all had one predominant feature in common with each other - they were all left handed! It is worth noting that Einstein learned to speak late, had problems in almost every subject in school and was frequently labelled as being backwards! So there is certainly no need for any left-hander to have an inferiority complex!

http://www.left-at-the-start.com/famous.html