This Is A Left Hand Quiz

Answer: George Ruth

George Herman "Babe" Ruth, Jr. grew up in Baltimore and developed his love for baseball at the St Mary's Industrial School for Boys. He started his baseball career as a star left-handed pitcher for the Red Sox but wanted to play every day so he moved to the outfield.

He soon became the best home run hitter in the league. When he finally retired in 1935 he had hit a record 714 home runs - a record that stood until Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run in 1974. He also was given the nickname "The Bambino".

Answer: Helen Keller

Helen Keller was born in 1880 and contracted an illness that took her sight and hearing. She struggled until 8 years of age before her family was able to get the help of Anne Sullivan who finally was able to communicate with her. The breakthrough happened while Anne had cold water washing over Helen's left hand while Anne spelled the word w-a-t-e-r in her right hand.

When Helen realized the hand spelling was the symbol for the water she immediately wanted to know what the name was for everything she could feel around her.

She was a fast learner with a curious mind. Anne attended college with Helen and helped interpret both lectures and books. Helen even learned how to speak clearly enough that others could understand her and she could put her fingers to the other person's lips and be able to understand what they were saying.

Helen Keller was an active humanitarian for her long life.

Answer: Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix grew up poor in an unhappy and unstable home. His father bought him a guitar when he was 16 but since it was designed to be played right-handed Jimi flipped it and played it upside down. Hendrix was self-taught and never learned how to read music.

He quickly developed his own style, and, in particular, he loved incorporating feedback into his music which was typically avoided by musicians up to that point. Once he absolutely amazed the audience at the Monterey Pop Festival, he became famous very quickly and was in high demand.

Many are familiar with his rendition of the "Star-Spangled Banner" which he performed at Woodstock. Sadly, Jimi Hendrix's life was cut short due to drug-induced asphyxiation at the age of 27. He is frequently placed at the top of the best guitarist of all-time lists.

Answer: Jimmy Connors

Jimmy Connors' mother and grandmother loved playing tennis, and it wasn't long before they had young Jimmy hooked too. He quickly became skilled at the game and won the Junior Orange Bowl twice. 1974 was his year as he won 15 titles including 3 grand slams.

However, he was denied the chance to participate in the French Open due to a controversial contract issue with the French Tennis Federation. While Connors was brilliant on the court and gave every point his very best no matter what, he also was considered to have a rude and rebellious attitude.

In particular, he was known to lash out at line judges and even crowds when calls didn't go his way. Jimmy played his last professional match in 1996 with a final record of 1274 wins and 282 loses. Two years later he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Answer: James Cameron

Some directors are known for making a large number of films, but James Cameron is known more for the quality of his films. He is also known as an uncompromising perfectionist and, as a result, a difficult director to work for. Cameron especially loves expanding the boundaries of technology.

His blockbuster film "Avatar" was completely filmed with motion capture and 3D stereoscopic techniques making it a truly immersive experience to watch. Cameron also has a love and fascination for the deep ocean.

He was the first person in history to take a solo exploration of Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean. On this amazing journey he even discovered a new species of worm.

Answer: Celine Dion

At the age of 12 Celine Dion recorded her first song "Ce n'etait qu'un reve" which peaked at number 8 on the local Quebec charts in 1981. Her manager, and then future husband, Rene Angelil, was one of her biggest fans from the start and did everything possible to make her a success.

When the Pope visited Montreal in 1984, she sang for him in front of 60,000 people. At the end of the 1980s, she started to learn English and released her first album in English in 1990. She has continued to release albums in both English and French. Celine Dion can actually speak and perform in five languages including French, English, Spanish, German and Japanese!

Answer: MC Escher

MC Escher was ahead of his time. He was relatively unknown until he was featured in Scientific American in 1966. Growing up, he was a sickly youth and was not a good academic student, including math. However, he excelled artistically. He drew inspiration from nature and architecture. Early on in his life, Escher became interested in tessellations which frequently show up in his work.

A tessellation is when closed shapes cover the plane surface, like tiles, so there are no gaps. Escher masterfully does this with his "Sky and Water" woodcut which alternates black birds with white fish.

In the middle of the picture the birds and fish blend together so it appears like the black birds are flying in a white sky while the white fish are swimming in a black sea.

His "Lizards" woodcut has lizards with hexagonal symmetry where they fit together like a jigsaw. MC Escher lived until March of 1972, a mere six years after he started to become famous.

Answer: Angelina Jolie

Jolie is actually Angelina's middle name, but, being the daughter of the famous Jon Voight, she wished to find success as her own woman rather than Jon's daughter. So, she left Voight off for her stage name and has even had it removed from her legal name. During her acting career, Angelina has mainly played roles of the strong, intelligent, and powerful woman which also just happens to be beautiful.

The film industry has rewarded her well for her work, and she has used that power to focus on multiple humanitarian efforts.

While tabloids love to smear her romantic relationships over the years, her efforts to make the world a better place is admirable. She has donated over a million dollars to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and has been named a Goodwill Ambassador.

She not only donates her wealth to the cause, but she also has participated dozens of times alongside fellow workers in the field.

Answer: Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro grew up the son of a wealthy sugar cane farmer in Cuba. As a child, he preferred physical activities to academics, but his developing idealism with socialism led him to study law. Castro attempted to overthrow Fulgencio Batista in 1953 but failed and spent a year in jail for his efforts. Apparently, a year was not enough to convince him that overthrowing the government was a bad idea.

His next attempt in 1959 was successful. In his initial years as Prime Minister of Cuba, Castro made sweeping changes to the country.

He broke up the large estates and gave the property to the poor. He had a massive movement to open schools and improve infrastructure. His social programs were very popular with the working class and the peasantry but the wealth redistribution led to a mass exodus of much of the educated professional class. Also, the expense of his projects and the decrease in trade with the US lead to economic hard times. Frequently during Castro's time in power, the economy was tied closely to the global price for sugar, the main Cuban crop.

While Castro did have moments of brilliance as a leader, he also was violent and divisive. His consolidation of the power in Cuba left no room for dissenting views which lead to brutal suppression.

Answer: Edson "Pele" Nascimento

Pele grew up very poor and the son of a footballer. He was a member of the FIFA World Cup Champion Brazil team in 1958, 1962 and 1970 - the first of which was when he was only 18 years old. In his youth, he idolized a local player named Bile, but when he said Bile's name it came out sounding like "Pele".

Despite his best efforts in his youth to change it, the nickname stuck. As a teen, he would play indoor soccer with an adult league to which he attributed his quick thinking, ball-handling skills on the pitch.

In his playing career, he was legendary for his athleticism and his ability to score. His ability to do a bicycle kick in competitive play in which his back is to the goal and his foot strikes the ball at head level is pretty spectacular to watch.

He was considered by opponents to be a great sportsman, and after his playing years, he worked to make football less corrupt in the Brazillian leagues.