Famous Left-hander Birthday, March 1

Actor Alan Thicke

Alan Thicke, born Alan Willis Jeffery on March 1, 1947, is a Canadian actor, songwriter, and game and talk show host. He is best known for his role as Jason Seaver, the Patriarch on the TV series Growing Pains on the ABC.

Before finding success with television sitcoms, he took on Johnny Carson in the late-night talk show wars with his “Thicke of the Night.”

As a theme song composer, Thicke has had a successful career. He collaborated with his wife Gloria Loring on these projects, which included the themes to the popular sitcoms Diff’rent Strokes and The Facts of Life. He wrote a number of TV game show themes, including The Wizard of Odds (for which he also sang the vocal introduction), The Joker’s Wild, The Diamond Head Game, the original theme to Wheel of Fortune, among others.

Thicke has also been a popular songwriter. For instance, he co-wrote “Sara”, a solo hit for Bill Champlin and included on the latter’s Runaway album in 1981. He also wrote the theme song for the sitcom The Facts of Life.

Famous Left-hander Birthday, 21 April

HM Queen Elizabeth II, UK and Commonwealth Realms

Her Majestry, Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; born 21 April 1926) is the queen of 16 independent sovereign states of the Commonwealth realms, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. She holds each crown separately and equally in a shared monarchy, as well as acting as the Head of the Commonwealth, and Supreme Governor of the Church of England.  As a constitutional monarch, she is politically neutral and by convention her role is largely ceremonial.

When Elizabeth was born, the British Empire was a world power, but its influence underwent a decline, particularly after World War II, and the empire evolved into the Commonwealth of Nations. Her father, King George VI, was the last Emperor of India and the first Head of the Commonwealth.

In 1952, on her father’s death from illness, at the age of 26, Elizabeth became Head of the Commonwealth, and queen of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon. During her reign, which is now 58 years is one of the longest for a British monarch.  Between 1956 and 1992, half of her realms, including South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), became republics.

Queen Elizabeth married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in 1947. The couple have four children and eight grandchildren. Despite some discontent with the monarchy,  marred by scandals which reached its height on Princess Diana’s death in 1997,  the Queen’s personality remains high.

Photos Credit:  Wikimedia Commons

Queen Elizabeth in 2007

EII Trooping Colours

Famous Left-hander Birthday, January 8

Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence

Famous lefthander birthday, November 14

Charles, Prince of Wales

Eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of England

Famous lefthander birthday, November 13

King of England Edward III

Famous lefthander birthday, November 10

King George II of England

Famous Lefthander Birthday, August 23

King Louis XVI of France

King Louis XVI (23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the King of France from 1774 until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792. He was suspended and arrested during the Insurrection of August 10, 1792 and was tried by the National Convention and found guilty of treason. He was executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793. He was the only king of France to be executed.

Photo Credit : A.F. Callet /by Joseph Siffred Duplessis, Wiki Commons

Famous Lefhander Birthday, August 12

George VI, King of England

King George VI whose full name was Albert Frederick Arthur George (14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the U.K. and the British Dominions from December 11, 1936 until his death. He was the last Emperor of India (until 1947), the last King of Ireland (until 1949), and the first Head of the Commonwealth. As the second son of King George V, his older brother Edward was expected to inherit the throne, but became one when Edward abdicated. King George V served in the Royal Navy during World War I, and after the war took on the usual round of public engagements. He married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923 (later known as the Elizabeth Queen Mother when her daughter became Queen Elizabeth II. They had two daughter, Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret.

Famous Lefthander Birthday, August 4 – Elizabeth, Queen Mother of England

Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (Elizabeth Angela Marguerite) was born on 4 August 1900. She was the Queen Consort of King VI of the UK and the British Dominions from 1936 until her husband’s death in 1952, then she  became known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to delineate her title with that of her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II.

Before her husband ascended the throne, from 1923 to 1936, the Queen Mother was known as the Duchess of York. She was the last Queen Consort of Ireland and Empress Consort of India.

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, was born into a family of Scottish nobility when her father inherited the Earldom of Strathmore and Kinghorne in 1904. She married Albert, Duke of York, the second son of George V and Queen Mary. They have two daughters Elizabeth (eventually to become, Elizabeth II) and Margaret. The Queen Mother undertook a variety of public engagements, and became known as the “Smiling Duchess” loved and adored for her winsome smile.

In 1936, her husband became King when her brother-in-law, Edward VIII, abdicated in order to marry the American divorcée Wallis Simpson. As Queen Consort, Elizabeth accompanied her husband on diplomatic European tours in the run-up to the Second Warld War. Her indomitable spirit provided moral support to the British public, that Adolf Hitler once described her as “the most dangerous woman in Europe.” Her husband’s death deteriorated after the war and she was widowed at the age of 51 in 1952.

On the death of her mother-in-law, Queen Mary, in 1953, with her brother-in-law living abroad and her elder daughter Queen at the age of 25, the Queen Mother became the senior member of the Royal Family. She assumed a position as family matriarch and was consistently a popular member of the family. Elizabeth, the Queen mother died aged 101, on March 30, 2002, seven weeks after Princess Margaret died.