If you could invite four people from history to dinner, who'd be your guests and why?

Answer 1

Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Jonathan Swift, and George Bernard Shaw. Imagine the conversations: the wit, the stories, the insights, and the insults! It would be an Algonquin round table of the gods.

I'd also invite Oscar Wilde and Dorothy Parker, but Wilde probably wouldn't show because Shaw was there, and Parker would probably come drunk and pass out early.

Answer 2

Adolf Hitler was an appalling person morally, but actually he could be rather good social company. A very elderly friend of my mother who died recently met him for tea in 1932 (she wrote it was a moment she was not proud of) and left a memoir. For some reason, Hitler had a thing about English women (particularly the socialite Unity Mitford), so perhaps I would invite Boudicca as his table companion in the hope that she would get him to turn his attention on England's enemies instead of persecuting the Jews.

I would invite Josephine Baker, the Moulin Rouge dancer, because by all accounts she was incredibly erotic and by contrast I would ask Queen Christina of Sweden, who apart from being an effective ruler of Sweden corresponded on philosophy with people like Descartes and who would bring culture to the conversation.

I'm a man, so if there are going to be five of us it's going to be two men and three women!

Incidentally, the person I would on no account invite is Stalin, who had more people killed than Hitler, who was personally a most ill-mannered person, and whose mad rages could endanger anybody having dinner with him.

Answer 3

Well, to start with--this IS dinner so lets invite Julia Child to come and be the guest host, she can whip up something grand and then join us at the table. That leaves room for three more. I would want a storyteller, but there are so many to choose from. I would settle for Mary Shelley as she can really spin a yarn (Frankenstein is a classic story!). That would give us two women (her and Julia) at the table as well and that would be a nice gender balance to go with two males. So here I would want to find some diversity as well and I would go for W.E.B DuBois, a great mind and historical figure, who I am sure would be great to have at the table. One more slot to fill and I would go for a saint, as in Thomas More, another great mind, author of Utopia and contemporary of Henry VIII, until Henry didn't like what he had to say (and not say)! That would be a very interesting dinner in deed and thanks to Julia we'd have a full 8 courses to sit thru and enjoy!

So, here it is:

1) Julia Child (French Chef)
2) Mary Shelley (Frankenstein author)
3) W.E.B. DuBois (NAACP founder, Harvard Ph'd etc, etc)
4) St. Thomas More (Utopia author, martyr)

Answer 4

See whether you can get hold of a copy of Hendrik van Loon's 'Lives', first published in 1937 and still available from www.amazon.com. The book consists of a number of chapters each of which has a famous person from the past coming to dinner, describing the meal speically prepared for the guest by Van Loon, an outline of the guest's life, and then an account of the dinner-party. Written, I think, for adolescents, it is still an enchanting read for adults.

Answer 5

I'd invite Julius Caesar as he could regale me with the epic tales of his life which was nearly as far fetched as an adventure story, Leonardo da Vinci as I study his work in great detail so I feel I know him already. It would be like having a very clever old friend around. Napoleon Bonaparte so that he and Julius could discuss mllitary tactics. Finally, Lonrenzo di Medici (il magnifico) so that we could discuss intrigue in Renaissance Florence and he could chat to Leonardo while I got dessert. Being a Medici and a bit of a law unto himself, he may well try to sneak in Bottecelli or Lipi etc. and who am I to refuse?

Answer 6

That's a great question..

- Jesus Christ. I'd have so many questions I doubt I'd have time to eat.

- Adolph Hitler. Just so I could actually say I stared into the eyes of pure evil. And see if I could understand what led him to become the 20th century's greatest mass murderer.

- Malcom X. Just because I find the transformation he experienced his life to be very compelling. I find his perspectives to be interesting.

- Thomas Jefferson. As a framer of the Constitution, I'd love to know what the REAL intentions of the Bill of Rights were...

Answer 7

Earl of Shaftesbury for the excellent work he made towards alleviating conditions of the poor, especially the homeless children.
King Richard 3rd - to give him a hug and tell him I believe he did not kill the twins in the Tower.
Paul the Apostle - to see what kind of man could write the beautiful Corinthians 13 verses on love, and yet still not understand the equality of women.
William Blake, we could talk to the man who wrote such excellent poems and did such thoughtfull paintings

Answer 8

Dinner started at 6pm June 6,2006,Winston Churchill came much earlier as usual,smell from his cigar made everybody chocked ,at 6.58pm.Adolf Hitler came into the restaurant with a wheel chair,a wheel chair?What ?He was pushing President Roosevelt in and three of them shock hand and even hug each other,they talked about Internet ,yahoo answer,MP3,play stations ,but the most attractive for them is,they were laughing,what made them laugh?
I see ,You-tube,they seemed very interested on You-tube-broadcast yourself,but they all agreed that You-tube,should name You-tube-Broadcast someone else.
After half an hour,little Adolf was losing his patience" where is that little tiny Mussolini"?"he never changed".Door opened ,our BIG leader Benito came into the dinning room,and started to complaint the menu is not Italian menu,"I don't like French food !"
" but this is Normandy,France"an outsider yelled.They wonder who was that tall guy,"this is Charles ! The man of destiny,Charles De Gaulle,you remember me?"" I think I should be invited,""shut up " yelled Hitler."Yes,get out of here,you are only a small potato.you only know how to suck Fat man Winston"the voice from outside.
"hey,what about me ?'Was I the man who beat Germany and Japan all by myself,I cheated on that stupid German,and I declared war to Japan just before they surrendered,and I put the whole Japan Manchuria Army in somewhere and transferred everything to Chairman Mao"" I 'm coming in !""Hello Winston,Frank,my husband and I should be invited" what a beautiful lovely voice." Hello,Mandam Chang,of course my dear Mei-Lin ,you are welcome!"The door has been opened,Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill's eyes wide open," stop ! IF they can go in,why not me I'm the Emperor,the GOD Emperor Hirohito."
"Excuse me ! we only invited four of you,the others are not welcome ." Why ? why?
Thousands of peoples rushed into the Restaurant,nobody listened,totally out of control.The last word I heard was " kill them all ,my S.S. guard !

Answer 9

Gahndi, Martin Luther King, John Lennon, Alfred Nobel. Maybe between the four of them they could find a way to get peace in the world.

Answer 10

Thomas Paine, Karl Marx, John Locke, and Jean Jacques Rousseau. Assuming we could get everyone to speak the same language, we'd have a pretty interesting debate.

Answer 11

John and Jacqueline Kennedy,Eunice Shriver,and Jean Kennedy Smith. My other choices are Robert and Ethel Kennedy,Patricia Kennedy Lawford,Joe Jr and Sr. and Rose and Rosemary Kennedy,Kathleen Kennedy,basically the whole family,The first 4 are my main choices.And Diana Ross,Mr.and Mrs.FDR.