What have Napoleon, Michelangelo, Winston Churchill, the Everly bothers, Mark Twain, Rod Laver, Judy Garland, Leonardo da Vinci and Julia Roberts in common? Why they’re all left-handed, of course. Though only about 10% of the population is left-handed, left-handers, also known as molly-dookers and southpaws, are over-represented in just about every field of human excellence. If you’re a doubter, look at this list. Left-handers are right-brain dominant, which somehow this makes them excel, not just in physical activities but in artistic and intellectual ones too. An alternative, or maybe complementary, theory is that in a world where default scissors, chainsaws, guitars, cameras, can-openers etc etc are made for right-handers, lefties have to work harder to assert themselves. Who knows the real answer(s). Last week Barack Obama became President of the USA [POTUS]. The photo tells you his handedness. Fascinatingly, of the last 14 POTUSs, 50% have been either left-handed or ambidextrous, including five of the last seven (71%). Oh, yes, Senator McCain’s left-handed too. This American trend, however, isn’t replicated elsewhere – only two British post-war prime ministers were left-handed (Churchill and Callaghan), and no Canadian PM since at least 1980 has been. Australia? All I know is that John Howard bats left-handed at cricket. Finally I have a theory that lefties tend to use Apple computers. Anyone seen any figures on that one?
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