King Alfred

[rsvp]

Have tried to search on line but no luck - does anyone know if Alfred the Great was left handed please?

[bhg481]

The statue of him in Winchester has him holding his sword in his right hand. I'm not sure that that is hard evidence that he is right-handed.

[Jackdaw33]

Don't know if left-handed but cack-handed when it came to cakes.

[elliemay1]

He doesn't come up on any list that I have googled. Alexander the Great was left-handed if that's of any interest!

[rsvp]

thanks bhg481 - was interested because this evening's episode of The Last Kingdom showed him writing left handed.
Very droll jackdaw33 - thank you for that observation.

[rsvp]

Thank you Ellie May - it is of interest (although why I'm not too sure) - maybe because I'm a leftie - I also had no luck googling it.

[frugalfred]

Brilliant, jackdaw! Gave me a belly laugh!

[woofgang]

He might have been shifty....seen as a great advantage by the saxons



(go on.....google it!)

[Jackdaw33]

Perhaps just the actor playing him was left -handed .

[rsvp]

Jackdaw33 -it was just a silly thought really when I noticed the actor using his left hand when writing - I wondered if if were due to fact or if he just happened to be a leftie - good research if it was the former though.
Woofgand will indeed give it a google - thank you - through the ages we left handers have been called all sorts of things - sinister is the first one that springs to mind followed by gauche. I like to think we are just a bit special!

[bhg481]

sinister, of course, is Latin for left (sinistra = left hand) and gauch is French for left.

[rsvp]

Yes bhg481 - sinister and awkward - my brother enjoyed reminding me of that when we were growing up - and as for cutting bread, well everyone winces when I get hold of a knife but it works for me.

[Mosaic]

Very little is known about Alfred as a physical person, but the actor who plays him is probably a southpaw.

[rsvp]

Thank you Mosaic

[Peter Pedant]

I dont think it was recorded

I am not sure who the first left handed monarch was ....

George VI was - a bit twntieth century

[Peter Pedant]

but dont worry folks - you can tell the proportion who were left handed in a population by looking at the wool/cotton that was hand spun

lefties spun s spun and the rest of us z spun ( what the thread looks like under a handglass )

8% in all societies I think

[tonyav]

Edward the third apparently, pp.

http://www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/being-lh/famous/history.html#royalty

[rsvp]

My understanding is that records of left handed royalty only go back to 13 something so I guess I'll never know - thanks for the answer though PP

[Prudie]

Although while looking for you I see on google they seem to know both Commodus and Tiberius were left handed.

[DTCwordfan]

a high percentage of leaders are left handed - Cameron, Brown, Blair, Bush (theShrub), OBambam, Reagan, Clinton, just to begin with - Napoleon too and how the States ended up driving on the wrong side of the road........as Napoleon took his troops over to the other side, the States, as their puppets at the time, following.

[DTCwordfan]

and that great golfer nicknamed 'Leftie,' one Phil Mickleson is right-handed - he mirrored his Dad when learning the game, aged 3.....