No-one has come up with a definitive reason for WHY some people are left-handed, but about 13% of the population around the world are, and it is thought to be genetic – it definitely runs in families. Researchers have recently located a gene they believe “makes it possible to have a left-handed child ” so if you have that gene, one or more of your children may be left-handed and will pass it on through the generations!
The way the brain works is incredibly complex, but this simplified explanation will give you some understanding of where our left-hand dominance comes from. The brain is “cross-wired” so that the left hemisphere controls the right handed side of the body and vice-versa and hand dominance is connected with brain dominance on the opposite side – which is why we say that only left-handers are in their right minds! 
The left hemisphere (RIGHT HAND CONTROL) controls Speech, Language, Writing, Logic, Mathematics, Science, this is the LINEAR THINKING MODE.
The right hemisphere (LEFT HAND CONTROL) controls Music, Art, Creativity, Perception, Emotions, Genius, this is the HOLISTIC THINKING MODE
Left-Handers Day History
August 13 is designated International Lefthanders Day by Lefthanders International. It was first observed 13 August 1976. As its name suggests, it is meant to promote awareness of the inconveniences facing left-handers in a predominantly right-handed world. It celebrates their uniqueness and difference. These events have contributed more than anything else to the general awareness of the difficulties and frustrations left-handers experience in everyday life, and have successfully led to improved product design and greater consideration of our needs by the right-handed majority – although there is still a long way to go!!
Fascinating Facts about Left Handed
Most left-handers draw figures facing to the right.
There is a high tendency in twins for one to be left-handed
Stuttering and dyslexia occur more often in left-handers (particularly if they are forced to change their writing hand as a child, like King of England George VI).
Left-handers adjust more readily to seeing underwater.
Left-handers excel particularly in tennis, baseball, swimming and fencing
Left-handers usually reach puberty 4 to 5 months after right-handers
4 of the 5 original designers of the Macintosh computer were left-handed
1 in 4 Apollo astronauts were left-handed – 250% more than the normal level.
4 out of last five American presidents are left handed, namely Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama
Left-handers are generally more intelligent, better looking, imaginative and multi-talented than right handers – based on discussions among members of the Left-Handers Club!
Left-handers were severely discriminated against during the 18th and 19th centuries and it was often “beaten out” of people. As discrimination was reduced in the 20th century, the number of natural left-handers who stayed left-handed increased
Causes of left-handedness
•Hand orientation is developed in unborn children, most commonly determined by observing which hand is predominantly licked or held close to the mouth.
•In 2007, researchers discovered LRRTM1, the first gene linked to increased odds of being left-handed.
•Long-term impairment of the right hand: People with long-term impairment of the right hand are more likely to become left-handed, even after their right hand heals. Such long-term impairment is defined as eight months or more.
•Testosterone: Exposure to higher rates of testosterone before birth can lead to a left-handed child.
Left-handedness and intelligence
In his book Right-Hand, Left-Hand, Chris McManus of University College London argues that the proportion of left-handers is rising and left-handed people as a group have historically produced an above-average quota of high achievers. He says that left-handers’ brains are structured differently in a way that widens their range of abilities, and the genes that determine left-handedness also govern development of the language centers of the brain.
McManus also says that the increase in the 20th century of people identifying as left-handed could produce a corresponding intellectual advance and a leap in the number of mathematical, sporting, or artistic geniuses.
In 2006, researchers at Lafayette College and Johns Hopkins University in a study found that left-handed men are 15 percent richer than right-handed men for those who attended college, and 26 percent richer if they graduated. The wage difference is still unexplainable and does not appear to apply to women.
List of famous left-handed people
Rulers
•Tiberius
•Alexander the Great
•Charlemagne
•Julius Caesar
•Napoleon Bonaparte
•Queen Victoria of England
•Prince Charles, of England
•Prince William of Wales
•Fidel Castro
U.S. President’s• Ronald Reagan Converted to right-handedness in childhood
•George H.W. Bush
•Bill Clinton
•Barack Obama
Miscellaneous
•Bill Gates, Founder Microsoft 
•Benjamin Netanyahu, politician
•Henry Ford, automobile manufacturer
•David Rockefeller, banker
•Dwight F. Davis, founder of the Davis Cup in tennis
•Helen Keller, advocate for the blind
•Edwin Buzz Aldrin, astronaut
•Hendry Ford, Business Man
•Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts (ambidextrous)
•John F. Kennedy, Jr, lawyer/publisher
•Matt Groening cartoonist; ‘Simpsons’
•Henry Ford, automobile manufacturer
•James Baldwin, novelist
Criminals•Osama bin Laden
•John Dillinger, bank robber
•Boston Strangler (Albert Henry DiSalvo), serial killer
•Jack-the-Ripper (?), serial killer
Artists
•Pablo Picasso
•Michelangelo
•Raphael
•Leonardo da Vinci
Actors
•Julia Roberts
•Emma Thompson
•Charlie Chaplin
•Amitabh Bachchan
•Angelina Jolie
•Slyvester Stallone
haran5533
