Lefties celebrate their special day

By James Campbell
BBC News Online

The Anything Left-Handed shop - a boon to lefties in a right-handed world

It's Left Handers Day on Wednesday...so the six million of us in the UK who share that affliction have a cause to be proud.

We are more artistic and more talented than our right-handed colleagues...Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo were left handed.

We're not bad at sport too...Maria Navratilova, John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors are only three of the many top tennis stars who were lefties.

The world's greatest footballer Pele was left-handed, as is our own Ian Rush.

Wales has produced some great lefties in the political world - Aneurin Bevan, Jim Callaghan and Roy Jenkins, to name only three.

We also seem to have cornered the market in military prowess - Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte all favoured the left paw.

Aneurin Bevan - one of Wales' famous left-handed politicians

No-one has come up with a definitive reason why about 13% of the world's population are left-handed, but it is thought to be genetic.

It's just as well we lefties have some great role models to look up to, for on the whole history has dealt us a series of duff cards compared to the straight flushes tossed out to our right-handed fellows.

We write from left to right, an unnatural action for anyone left-handed since you have to twist your hand up around the pen in order not to smudge the ink with your hand.

The Bible condemns us as second-class citizens; I mean have you ever heard on anyone promoted to sit at the LEFT hand of God?

Anything labelled "left" is sinister, twisted and awkward. Biblically, we lefties get a raw deal.

The Greek word for left-handed is "skaios" which translates as "ill-omened" or "awkward." In French, "gauche" means "awkward" or "clumsy." In Italian, the word for left-handed "mancini" means "crooked" or "maimed,"

We left handers are more likely to get maimed by using tools made for right-handers.

Scissors, knives, potato peelers...they're all made for right-handed people. More left-handed blood has been spilt in kitchens around the world than right-handed because we don't have the left-handed tools for the job.

At least we didn't until Keith and Lauren Milsom, fed up of being a second-class citizens, took over the Anything Left shop in London's Soho. It is stocked with left-handed tools, pens, rulers all calculated to make it better for lefties.

A left-handed ruler - other left-handed rulers have included Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Napoleon

Keith said: "We started a web site two years ago and business is doubling every year. We now have over 30,000 people enrolled in our Left-Handers Club who are circulated with news of new products for left-handers."

There may be some good local business for the shop since just down the road, at Clarence House, is the home of two left-handers, Prince Charles and Prince William.

The former Royal resident, the Queen Mother, was also left-handed as was her husband King George VI and his grandmother Queen Victoria.

Maybe the Bible has given we lefties a bum deal, but at least we can boast we have a close bond with royalty!