Left-Handers

Left-Handers

• Left-Handed & Writing Skills

  I make no apologies for including the left-handed students on this website. Although these students do not come into the UK’s, Special Educational Needs Definition, their educational needs in many cases are not being met.

  The fact that these young children have to struggle so hard just to be able to write should mean that the schools have a duty to provide extra support for them – over and above their peer group.

  Many left-handed writers have trouble with handwriting. Pens may catch on a corner or on an edge, digging into the paper. The worst of these are the extra-fine, needlepoint, flexible, and italic nibs; however poorly-designed mediums and stubs can also be nasty for lefties. While broad and broad-oblique tips usually present no problem, any of them can be problematic if they are poorly-adjusted or even just a little bit sharp in the direction of writing.

  A lovely children’s book on handwriting difficulties can be found at Alli Can’t Write. Lots of information to help people with handwriting and practical strategies at the back of the book to overcome these problems.

• Left-Hand Writing Skills Books

  ‘Left-handed writing skills’ is a series of books for left-handed children with guidelines for parents and teachers. It is the first set of books ever to focus just on left-handers and has been written by Mark and Heather Stewart, who has a left-handed son of their own and have been working with lefthanders for many years.

  They have created an invaluable resource for left-handers learning how to form their letters and numbers.

  Beautifully presented, the series makes learning to write fun in gradual steps. The pages are bound from the top of each worksheet allowing for the left hand to relax and meet a level surface with no obstacles.

  The books are A4 in size (210 x 297mm) and each one includes guidance notes on writing technique and skills development plus 28 full-colour worksheets, each with guidance and tips. There is also a lined practice sheet that you can photocopy and a reference guide to the correct left-handed formation of all the letters and numbers.  Further information can be found at ‘Left-Hand Writing Skills.

• Left-handed Useful Resources

  Many people do not realise you can get a vast array of specialist equipment for lefthanders, such as:

  • Writing Pads
  • Scissors
  • Rulers
  • Calculators
  • Fountain Pens and
    in fact almost anything – to make your life easier.

  All the above items can be purchased from:

  the shops below.   The two stores are excellent and I am sure you will find anything you want from them.

  Anything Left-handed:
  Website: www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk
  or

  Lefty’s – The Left Hand Store
  Website: www.leftyslefthanded.com

• Left-Handed Famous People

  This list of people who are left-handed has been reproduced by kind permission of:
  Susanne Vleesch du Bois Fotografie en Vormgeving.

  • Acda, Thomas (comedian)
  • Aldrin, Edwin Eugene, Jr.(astronaut, the second man on the moon)
  • Alexander, Jason (actor)
  • Alexander the Great (king, conqueror, military leader)
  • Andersen, Hans Christian (author)
  • Anderson, Bill (musician)
  • Appelmans, Sabine (tennis player)
  • Aristotle (philosopher)
  • Aykroyd, Dan (actor)
  • Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel (composer)
  • Baden-Powell, Robert Stephenson Smyth Lord (soldier, founder of the Boy Scouts)
  • Balboa, Rocky (boxer)
  • Barry, Dave (actor)
  • Beethoven, Ludwig van (composer)
  • Billy the Kid(outlaw)
  • Blankenstein, John (referee)
  • Boer, Ronald de (soccer player)
  • Bonaparte, Napoleon (emperor, military commander)
  • Bouvrie, Jan des (designer)
  • Breukelen, Hans van (soccer-player)
  • Broderick, Matthew (actor)
  • Brosnan, Pierce (actor)
  • Bruce, Lenny (performer)
  • Burnett, Carol (actress)
  • Burns, George (actor)
  • Bush, George Herbert Walker(president)
  • Byrne, David (musician)
  • Carradine, Keith (actor)
  • Carroll, Lewis (author, mathematician, logician, photographer)
  • Castro, Fidel (Cuban statesman, revolutionary)
  • Chaplin, Charles Spencer(actor)
    Charles (prince of Wales)
  • Charlemagne (Karel de Grote) (king)
  • Churchill, Winston Leonard Spencer (politician)
  • Clerck, F.W. de (former South African president)
  • Clinton, William (Bill) Jefferson (president)
  • Cobain, Kurt (musician)
    Cobb, Ty (baseball player)
  • Cokes, Ray (tv-host)
  • Cole, Natalie (musician)
  • Collins, Phil (musician)
  • Connors, Jimmy (tennis-player)
  • Cruise, Tom (actor)
  • Cruyff, Johan (soccer-player)
  • Daniels, Paul (magician)
  • Davids, Edgar (soccer player)
  • Date, Kimiko (tennis player)
  • DeSalvo, Albert (the Boston Strangler)
  • Dillon, Matt (actor)
  • Dole, Robert (Bob) Joseph (presidential candidate)
  • Drescher, Fran (actress)
  • Dreyfuss, Richard (actor)
  • Driel, Toon van (cartoonist)
  • Dürer, Albrecht (painter)
  • Dyke, Dick van (actor)
  • Dylan, Bob (musician)
  • Edward III (king)
  • Egbers, Tom (journalist)
  • Einstein, Albert (scientist)
  • Elizabeth II (queen)
  • Elizabeth (Queen Mother) (queen-mother)
  • Es, Andrée van (politician)
  • Escher, M.C. (artist)
  • Everly, Don (musician)
  • Everly, Phil (musician)
    Fields, William Claude (actor, comedian)
  • Fischer, Robert (Bobby) James (chess-player)
  • Fonda, Peter (actor)
  • Forbes, Steve (publisher)
  • Ford, Gerald Rudolph (president)
  • Ford, Henry (industrialist)
  • Forget, Guy (tennis-player)
  • Franklin, Benjamin (author, scientist, diplomat, philosopher, printer)
  • Frey, Glenn (former member of Eagles)
  • Gandhi, Mohandas (Mahatma)
  • Karamchand (Indian statesman, thinker, leader)
  • Garbo, Greta (actress)
  • Garfield, James Abraham (president)
  • Garland, Judy (actress)
  • Gates, Bill (software tycoon)
  • Geldof, Bob (musician)
  • Geller, Uri (fraud)
  • George II (king)
  • George IV (king)
  • George VI (king)
  • Goebbels, Paul Joseph (nazi minister of propaganda)
  • Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (author)
  • Goldberg, Whoopy (actress)
  • Gore, Albert (Al), Jr. (vice-president)
  • Grant, Gary (actor)
  • Groening, Matt (cartoonist)
  • Hanegem, Willem van (soccer-player)
  • Hawn, Goldie (actress)
  • Hendrix, James (Jimi) Marshall (musician)
  • Henson, Jim (puppeteer)
  • Herbert, Johnny (formula 1 driver)
  • Hoffman, Thom (actor)
  • Hiatt, John (rock singer/songwriter)
  • Hill, Faith (musician)
  • Hogan, Ben (golfer)
  • Holbein, Hans (artist)
  • Hoover, Herbert Clarck (president)
  • Hudson, Rock (actor)
  • Huisman, Henny (tv-host)
  • Ivanisevic, Goran (tennis-player)
  • Jack the Ripper (criminal)
  • Joan of Arc (French heroine)
  • Julius Caesar (ruler)
  • Kaye, Danny (comedian, signer, dancer)
  • Keaton, Diane (actress)
  • Kidman, Nicole (actress)
  • King, Albert (musician)
  • Klee, Paul (painter)
  • Knopfler, Mark (musician)
  • Kolck, Mariska van (singer)
  • Korda, Petr (tennis player)
  • Landon, Michael (actor)
  • Leer, Thijs van (musician)
  • Leeuw, Paul de (talkshow-host, comedian)
  • Lennox, Annie (musician)
  • Leno, Jay (talk show host)
  • Louis XVI (king)
  • Lubbe, Huub van der (singer, songwriter)
  • MacLaine, Shirley (actress)
  • Marceau, Marc (mime)
  • Marx, Harpo (comedian)
  • Mayall, Rik (actor)
  • McCartney, Paul (musician)
  • McEnroe, John (tennis-player)
  • McNamara, Robert Strange (secretary of defence)
  • McQueen, Steve (actor)
  • Michael, George (musician)
  • Michelangelo Buonarroti (sculptor, architect, painter, poet)
  • Monroe, Marilyn (actress)
  • Moore, Gary (musician)
  • Navratilova, Martina (tennis-player)
  • Nelson, Horatio (naval commander)
  • Netanyahu, Benjamin (Israeli prime-minister)
  • Newton, Isaac (scientist)
  • Nieman, Gunda (ice skater)
  • Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm (philosopher, poet)
  • Niro, Robert De (actor)
  • North, Oliver (lieutenant colonel)
  • Oerlemans, Reinoud (actor)
  • O’Neill, Ed (actor)
  • Oosting, M. (jurist)
  • Pele (soccer-player)
  • Perkins, Anthony (actor)
  • Perot, Henry Ross (politician)
  • Perry, Luke (actor)
  • Pinchot, Bronson (actor)
  • Plant, Robert (musician)
  • Pop, Iggy (musician)
  • Porter, Cole (musician)
  • Powell, Colin Luther (military leader)
  • Preston, Robert (actor)
  • Prokofiev, Sergei Sergeyevich (composer)
  • Pryor, Richard (actor)
  • Quaid, Dennis (actor)
  • Rachmaninoff, Sergei Vasilyevich (composer, pianist, conductor)
  • Ramses II (pharaoh)
  • Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio)(painter)
  • Ravel, Maurice Joseph (composer)
  • Reagan, Ronald Wilson (president, writes right-handed)
  • Redford, Robert (actor)
  • Reeves, Keanu (actor)
  • Reve, Gerard (author)
  • Ruth, Babe (baseball player)
  • Roberts, Julia (actress)
  • Romario (soccer-player)
  • Rourke, Mickey (actor)
  • Schwarzkopf, H. Norman (army officer)
  • Schweitzer, Albert (medical missionary, theologian)
  • Seinfeld, Jerry (actor)
  • Seles, Monika (tennis-player)
  • Senna, Ayrton (formula 1 driver)
  • Simmons, Richard (fitness guru)
  • Simon, Carly (musician)
  • Simon, Paul (musician)
  • Simpson, Orenthal James (football-player, actor, suspect)
  • Slater, Christian (actor)
  • Spiner, Brent (actor)
  • Spitz, Mark (swimmer)
  • Starr, Ringo (musician)
  • Sting (musician)
  • Stipe, Michael (musician)
  • Taylor, Roger (musician)
  • Thompson, Emma (actress)
  • Tiberius (emperor)
  • Truman, Harry S (president)
  • Twain, Mark (writer, humorist)
  • Ustinov, Peter Alexander (actor,writer, producer, director)
  • VanderLijde, Arnold (boxer)
  • Victoria (queen)
  • Vinci, Leonardo da (painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, scientist)
  • Vries, Peter R. de (journalist)
  • Wauters, Koen (musician)
  • Wells, Herbert George (author, polical philosopher)
  • Wendlinger, Karl (formula 1 driver)
  • Wheaton, Wil (actor)
  • Wiersma, Harm (checkers player)
  • William (British prince)
  • Willis, Bruce (actor)
  • Winfrey, Oprah (talk-show host, actor)
  • Witschge, Richard (soccer-player)
  • Zandstra, Falco (ice-skater)

  This list has been reproduced by kind permission of:
  Susanne Vleesch du Bois Fotografie en Vormgeving.