Left-Handers Day: Amazing facts about lefties

BBC News

3 days ago

If you're left-handed, then 13th of August is a special one for you.It's International Left-handers Day 2025!It's a time to celebrate left-handed people and to raise awareness of some of the experiences many of them face in a world designed largely with right-handed people in mind.Research suggests that between ten and twelve percent of the world's population is left-handed.Even though being left-handed might mean struggling with right-handed scissors from time-to-time, there are plenty of reasons being a lefty is pretty cool!
Famous left-handers
There are a number of famous stars who are lefties.Singer Justin Bieber is left-handed, although the very first guitar he picked up was actually a right-handed one. He attempted to play the instrument backwards, although this proved to be a struggle! - Famous singer Dolly Parton also played the guitar like this!Justin's mum ended up buying him a left-handed guitar which he used to learn how to play.Other celebrities who are left-handed include sporting superstars like tennis champ Rafa Nadal and footballing legend Lionel Messi, singers like Sir Paul McCartney and Lady Gaga, and actresses like Jennifer Lawrence and presenter Oprah Winfrey.The creator of The Simpsons - Matt Groening - is also left-handed, and that's one of the reasons why many characters in the show, like Bart, are left-handed.
Left-hand leaders
Though left-handers make up a small percentage of the world's population, many have had very important jobs.Several past US presidents have been left-handed, including Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.Former UK prime minister David Cameron is left-handed, same as famous wartime prime minister Winston Churchill.Future King of the United Kingdom, Prince William is also left-handed.William's great-grandfather George VI was naturally left-handed too, but his father George V forced him to write with his right hand.
Left-handedness in culture and history
Just like Prince William's great-grandfather George VI, it wasn't uncommon in the past for left-handers to be forced to use their right hand to do things.In the UK, left-handed people were historically forced to use their right hands for tasks where they would naturally use their left hand. This still happens in some countries now.This also led to some people becoming ambidextrous - which means they can use either their right or left hands to do things equally well.In some parts of the world, the left hand is considered unclean to use. Traditionally in places like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal and the Middle East, it's thought of as rude behaviour to eat, pick up or hand over things with your left hand.There are also examples of language traditionally giving left-handers a bad rap.In French, "gauche" can mean "left" or "clumsy". In English the word 'left' comes from the Anglo-Saxon word 'lyft', meaning 'weak', whereas "Right" means "to be right". In Latin the word "sinister" comes from the Latin word for left.
Left-handed people were once considered to be unlucky and even evil in the past. In the Middle Ages in Britain, lefties were associated with the devil in Christianity, and were often accused of the crime of witchcraft, for which one of the punishments was being burned at the stake!Thankfully, left-handers don't have to worry about that these days.Historians have also found evidence that there were left-handed Neanderthals - an extinct species of early human - around 500,000 years ago.Back then cave-men and women ate a diet of raw meat a lot of the time, which is pretty tough on the teeth.Archaeologists think Neanderthals would bite the meat and use a sharp piece of stone as a tool to cut the meat near to their mouth.Occasionally the stone would slip, and from looking at the direction of the scratches on their teeth, the researchers found that around ten percent of Neanderthals seemed to have held the stone tool with their left hand.So lefties have been around for more than 500,000 years!Some studies have suggested that more people are left-handed these days than in the past, but part of the reason for that could be because it is more widely accepted and embraced now, whereas previously it was seen as a bad thing so people didn't want to admit to being left-handed.
How do you become left-handed in the first place?
The exact reason why people have different hand preferences is unknown.Some people believe that left- and right-handedness is linked to the genes we get from our parents or grandparents. However, scientists do not know which bits of DNA control it.A study by a Northern Irish psychologist named Peter Hepper looked at hundreds of scans of babies sucking their thumbs in their mother's womb before being born.He discovered that around 90% of the babies sucked their right thumb and 12-years later, almost all of those same babies were right-handed.Whereas three-quarters of the babies who sucked their left thumb, went on to became left-handed.In general, it's common for babies to use one hand one day and a different hand the next, but from about two-years-old toddlers start to prefer using one hand more than the other.
Why is being left-handed so rare?
Experts don't know exactly why more people aren't left-handed, but one suggestion is something known as 'social cooperation'.Over thousands of years, communities of people who shared tools and living spaces learnt that by using the same hand, it made it quicker and easier for most people when it came to achieving a goal or task together. That meant that over time, more people learnt to use their right-hand to complete tasks as a group.
The left and right sides of the brain
Did you know that our brains are cross-wired? This means that the right side of our brain, controls the left side of the body and the left side controls the right.A group of researchers from the University of Oxford studied the brains of left-handed people to see if they work differently than right-handed people.In the study they found that the two sides of the brain were better connected in lefties and more co-ordinated, particularly in the areas that involve using language.Chris McManus, from University College London, author of the book Right Hand, Left Hand says:"If you are left-handed you might find yourself with a slightly unusual way your brain is organised and suddenly that gives you skills that other people don't have."It's often claimed that left-handed people are more likely to be creative and good at art or music. However there is not enough scientific evidence to prove this so far.
Are there any 'left-handed' animals?
Humans are one of the few animals to show a preference between the left and right hand.Most creatures, even apes, our closest cousins in the animal kingdom show a 50-50 split when it comes to which hand, foot or paw they use the most.However, left-handed animals include kangaroos, which tend to favour their left paw for things like grooming and eating. Also, studies have shown that 90% of parrots use their left foot to pick things up.Are you left-handed? Do you think it's given you any advantages or disadvantages? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!