Which 7 guests?

[Nearly Sane]

Following on from me asking on the Ask The Next Poster a Question thread about which 7 guests from history would you invite to which the admirable Trentvoyager replied as follows:

'Nehru - because his political mind has always fascinated me

Charles Dickens - because I admire his writing and want to ask how he came up with so many ideas and characters

Vera Brittain - because of her views on Pacifism

Queen Elizabeth the First - to see how we view people through the prism of history  gets distorted

Shostakovich - much the same reason as for Dickens but in terms of music

Carravagio - as I like his paintings

 & Bette Davis - because you need a bit of grit in the oyster'

I'll do my own.


Josephine Baker - artist, trailblazer, spy

Richard Feynmann - polymath, genius

Cleopatra - because I would love to know about thetime

Mary, Queen of Scots, - again for what she could tell me

Oscar Wilde - for the banter

Ada Lovelace - fascinating all round.

Jodie Foster - I find her fascinating

[Anchorman]

 Oh, 'eck.... So many. OK, Egypt first: Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti - Joint kings and religious conundrums Macbeth..the REAL one - and how he lasted so long and had such a competant missus. James Douglas, terrorist and patriot during the 'Wars of Independence' David Lindsay of the Mount - fifteenth century Scots Makar, courtier and satirist. Poet/author/farmer James Hogg, the 'Ettrick Shepherd' Terry Pratchett Scots Missionary Mary Slessor and.... Frankie Howard.

[Gordon]

Who to choose, who to choose - well.

Tom Waits - my musical hero.

Livia - to ask just how many she bumped off (I'd of course refuse to eat or drink anything she passed to me).

Kenneth Williams - just in case the conversation dries up, though shutting him up might be problematic.

James Cagney - to ask him if Rocky really did die 'yellow' (though we all know he didn't).

Hedda Hopper - 30's/40's Hollywood has always fascinated me, and a little gossip might help the evening along.

P G Wodehouse - I think he'd be fascinating to spend an evening with.

Joe Pass - in the hope I'd get a guitar lesson from the best jazz guitarist ever.

 



 

[Steve H]

George Orwell, my first literary hero;
Gandhi, my joint first political hero, with...
Martin Luther King;
Elizabeth Gaskell, novelist;
Barbara Castle, legendary left-wing Labour MP;
John Keats;
John Milton.

[Sebastian Toe]

Jesus of Nazareth
Mohammed
Joseph Smith
Buddha
Confucius

Topic of conversation:

Convince me.

Arbiter: The 3rd Earl of Harrow
Bouncer: Atilla the Hun

[Roses]

Jesus, it would be interesting to see what that man was really like.

The Minstrel Blondel, who was an ancestor of mine.

Joan of Arc,  an interesting woman.

Queen Victoria, was she having it off with her servant John Brown?

Agatha Christie, I enjoyed her books.

Ramsay MacDonald, the first Labour PM

My maternal grandfather who died two years before I was born, he has an interesting claim to fame.

[The Accountant, OBE, KC]

I think I would enjoy a dinner conversation with:
 
Sinnathamby Rajaratnam - politician, journalist and one of the co-founders of the People's Action Party (Singapore) against British rule  but Rajaratnam seems more interesting than Lee Kuan Yew to talk to over dinner and held a lot of different Ministerial positions during the time Singapore became a success story

Christopher Hitchens - entertaining and I enjoy his wealth of knowledge and perspective on so many different topics

Muhammad Ali - his energy, humour, anecdotes, boxing, his perspective on the Civil Rights movement

Nelson Mandela - resolve in the face of so many set-backs and would get some history lessons

Queen Elizabeth I - would pick her brains about her long reign, strategy and achievements

Marie Curie - discussion of science

Aisha - Prophet Mohammed's wife, political activist, prominent in the 1st Muslim civil war, apparently witty and intelligent - so would find her perspective on events in 7th century Arabia interesting.