Your ideal historical dinner party?

[Flicka]

There might be a similar thread already, but I couldn't find it and I figured it'd be a fun topic so here goes.


You're hosting a dinner party and you can invite four people from any time in history. Only rule is they have to be dead in 2013, and we're assuming language isn't an issue. Which would you choose?

My pick would be Winston Churchill; John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough; John Wilkes; and Sir Alexander Burnes.

I bet they would supply really good dinner conversation, and at least 3 of them would flatter me immensely because they were complete sycophants. Winston, on the other hand, would be so excited to meet the Duke he probably wouldn't even notice me. But if I couldn't get at least a few dirty jokes out of Wilkes I'd be severely disappointed. Part of me wants a young Marlborough because he was just so dishy, but I think an older one would make for more interesting conversation. And yes, I do think Sir Alexander was a bit of looker too!

What about you?

 

[AmateisGal]

Oh my goodness.

Let's see...

Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, and George Washington.

Now THAT is a dinner conversation I'd love to witness!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Frances Perkins, Walter Reuther, and Malcolm X.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Wow, that's a tough one. Lot's a folks from which to choose. Being particularly American-centric, and in no particular order:

Christopher Columbus: Just someone I'd like to meet.
Benjamin Franklin: Not only was he a brilliant scientist and social/political thinker, by all accounts he was a rip-roarin' good time at a dinner party.
Ernest Hemingway: I would just listen.
Babe Ruth: Just a larger than life character.

 

[Foxer55]

- Eddie Rickenbacker
- Baron von Richthoven
- Douglas Bader
- Adolph Galland

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

[video=youtube;H2DeBG7pAXU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2DeBG7pAXU[/video]

 

[CharleneC]

Adolf Hitler, so I could find out more about him. Probably one of the most important historical figures of the last century.

 

[vitanola]

Well, a dinner party should preferably have six at the table, so:

Albert Shaw
Louis Dembitz Brandeis
Ida M. Tarbell
Tom Johnson


Jane Addams
Rex Tugwell
Donald Nelson

Well I see that I've invited a few too many. Guess I'll have to put the extra leaves into the table and borrow a few folding chairs from the undertaker...

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well, a dinner party should preferably have six at the table..

Then I'll add Walter Winchell and Fred Rogers to my invitation list.

 

[lolly_loisides]

I've decided to be completely parochial, here is my Australian dinner party list Coral Browne, Jack Lang, Benjamin Fuller, Oodgeroo Noonuccal

 

[LyraMae]

I realize my list is fairly contemporary. I have a hard time imagining dinner with people who died before video was invented. It's a bizarrely specific failing of mine.

Phil Hartman - Finally, some good has come of tragedy. His untimely demise means I can invite him to dinner!
Jack Layton - I never got the chance to talk to him when he was alive, so I might as well give it a shot now.
The Queen Mum - Someone to giggle under the table with after a few gin and tonics too many.
Fred Rogers - How often do you get to have dinner with a saint? Also, I think he and Jack would get along famously.

 

[Edward]

Jinkies, this is a tough one. I have several different groups I've thought of over the years, because you have to think of the mix of people ansd how well they'd work together... Today, though, I think maybe....

Christ, Marx (Karl), Francis Sheehy-Skeffington*, Lord Griffiths of Bury-Port, Oscar Wilde.... I'm tempted for my sixth to be a young Elvis because I think it would be hilarious watching dear Oscar try to flirt with him, but I don't think he'd quite fit with the group.... Dorothy Parker, let's drop her in there...

TBH, I'd need at least a month of solid dining to catch everyone from history I'd like to spend time with. (Though I do have the enormous pleasure of dining with Les Griffith from time to time, a good friend).




*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Sheehy-Skeffington

 

[Two Types]

Oliver Cromwell and King Charles would make a good combination.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I'd definitely want Eric Morecambe as an after-dinner speaker.

[video=youtube;X3lWSpmfNN8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3lWSpmfNN8[/video]

 

[Justin B]

I chose to pick five. A dinner table seats six, one of them is me soooo....

Here are mine:

Theodore Roosevelt
Oscar Wilde
Benjamin Franklin
Aristotle
Jacques Cousteau

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Clara Bow -- I need dirty jokes and someone on my very own low-brow level!
Jean Harlow -- I'm sure she'd giggle, too.
Elizabeth Bathory -- Most interesting mass murderer. She'd probably try to bathe in Clara and Jean's blood, though. I'd have to watch her.
Oscar Wilde -- To insult everyone involved, me included.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Thomas Edison*
Nikola Tesla*
Walt Disney
Winsor McCay

*though I'd have to seat them on opposite ends of the table.

Others would include:

Harley Earl -- industrial designer who invented tailfins.
Max Fleischer (or any of the Fleischer brothers)
Henry Ford
Carlos Gardel
Jane Green
Johnny Gruelle
Walter Knott
Friedrich Nietzsche
David Sarnoff
Erich von Stroheim

 

[LyraMae]

Thomas Edison*
Nikola Tesla*
Walt Disney
Winsor McCay

*though I'd have to seat them on opposite ends of the table.

Delicious, V.C. Brunswick.

 

[Gregg Axley]

Ford would have you form a line...
Harley Earl, nice one VC!

I'm a movie guy, so here's my list.

Groucho Marx
Edward G Robinson
Humphrey Bogart
Stan Laurel
Oliver Hardy
Elvis Presley

Yeah the last one looks like he doesn't go, but he does.
I live in TN and was 8yrs old when he died.
There is also a family connection to him, and having a chance to talk to him would be a highlight of the evening.
As long as I don't invite Robert Goulet at the same time.

 

[Edward]

Oliver Cromwell and King Charles would make a good combination.

I find the English Civil War a deeply troubling and confusing period of history. Chiefly because I'd want to see both sides lose.