Leopard Terminal (and iTerm) Ignores Control Key Combos

Question

I am very used to using Ctrl + A, Ctrl + E, Ctrl + L, etc. as shortcuts to operations (beginning of line, e

Answer 1

My leopard works out of the box with ctrl+A etc...

I think you've somehow got the ctrl key mismapped. You're not using the command, or alt key, right?