# 6 Degrees of separation, vs. "historical figures" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 16, 2010, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681 "2010-05-16T21:15:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681/21 "2010-05-17T03:19:12Z")
> [@RhapsodyInBlue](#): > > In grammar school my class took a field trip to the Georgia State Capitol and I had a conversation with Governor Jimmy Carter. Good enough… That works! ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681/22 "2010-05-17T03:23:39Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I have encountered ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in person on a number of occasions. He is friends with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. This puts me somewhere close to Pol Pot. And with the entire Burmese military junta. Could you work out the actual numbers? This is also a good one… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681/23 "2010-05-17T03:26:48Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > My uncle in Glendale, who turns 90 next month and grew up in Hollywood, went to school with several future Hollywood B stars. Great!!! Name those “stars”!!! That’s a good connection! ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681/24 "2010-05-17T03:27:01Z")
I forgot to mention that I’ve had a few conversations with Congressman Joe Sestak, who is running for Senator. So that puts most of Congress in second-degree range. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681/25 "2010-05-17T03:37:02Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Could you work out the actual numbers? This is also a good one… 😃 Well, Hun Sen was originally Khmer Rouge, then turned to support the Vietnamese invasion. I believe je met Pol Pot, so if true that would put me 3 degrees. For the Burmese junta, just two degrees from each one. > [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Great!!! Name those “stars”!!! That’s a good connection! I definitely recall John Garfield’s name. He was a few years older than my uncle, so they were not classmates, and I believe he grew up in NYC anyway, so I’m unsure of the exact connection. Ah, I just remembered he knows Ned Beatty personally. I _think_ they belong to the same church. Knows him well enough to have visiting privileges anyway. My father and all of his siblings were born and raised in Hollywood. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681/26 "2010-05-17T03:58:51Z")
OOps, replying to one I already replied to… ---
**Author:** ![Indyellen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/indyellen/32/4176_2.png) [@Indyellen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indyellen)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681/27 "2010-05-17T04:01:43Z")
My Grandfather received a Labor award from Hubert Humphrey (my Grandfather edited the union paper at Guide Lamp in Anderson Indiana); I don’t know for sure how long they talked but that would put me 3 degrees from LBJ & 4 degrees from JFK - onward & upward from there, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681/28 "2010-05-17T04:31:12Z")
I’ve met Al Gore (twice), so that puts me within a couple of degrees of most recent world leaders. A friend of mine also owns a hotel where he hosted Jimmy Carter a few years ago, so there’s that link too. I’ve met three Panamanian presidents, including one who served in the 1980s, so that puts me a couple of steps from Manuel Antonio Noriega. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681/29 "2010-05-17T04:37:36Z")
Ah, and I had a nice conversation with Jim Edwards, Grand Old Man of elephant polo, at the 2006 tournament in northern Thailand. He’s now deceased, but he owned and operated the Tiger Top Jungle Lodge in Nepal, where he hosted, among other personages, Jimmy Carter, Queen Elizabeth and other British royals and at least one Beatle, Ringo Starr I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681/30 "2010-05-17T07:16:42Z")
Oh, forgot that my friend Steve is friends with the Governor of Florida, so there’s another political connection. One of my AmeriCorps teammates’ grandmother was a Du Pont, from THE Du Ponts, so that puts me within a few degrees of whatever Du Pont you’d care to name, plus whoever they associated with. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681/31 "2010-05-17T07:50:46Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Yes, nice! That’s what I’m looking for. I wonder if I have a good “Escobar” number! A guy I sat next to at work (at a long ago job) like to recount the story of how he was trekking through Columbia and went someplace to score some blow, but he didn’t care for the quality or otherwise thought they were cheating him. So they invited him into a back room where he spoke with Pablo Escobar himself. So that gives me an Escobar number of 2, which is as close as I’d ever want to get. I’m also 2’s with Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill, via a certain professor I had a class with. Probably at least a 3 with both Presidents Bush through the same connection. I have sort of an aunt who was president of her Elvis fan club in high school, and that gives me an Elvis number of 2. Via WWII veterans in my family, I’m probably a Patton 2 and an Ike 3. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681/32 "2010-05-17T08:26:47Z")
Sirhan Sirhan was in my father’s sixth grade class, so that’s two degrees for me. Three to Robert Kennedy, if killing a man counts as a degree. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681/33 "2010-05-17T09:52:17Z")
I only have my grandmother’s word for it, but while in t[the RAF Ferry Command](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Ferry_Command) my grandfather (who died in the line of duty in 1941) had a stop in Bermuda, and met the Duke of Windsor and had lunch with him. This is undocumented, but certainly his Commanding officer (or whatever it is in the RAF) DID meet the Duke of Windsor who was Governer General of Bermuda at the time. If this is true I have a 4 (or 5) degree separation from Queen Elizabeth II, and much of the royal houses of Europe. Also Adolf Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681/34 "2010-05-17T10:42:57Z")
> [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](#): > > If this is true I have a 4 (or 5) degree separation from Queen Elizabeth II, and much of the royal houses of Europe. Also Adolf Hitler. I know someone who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, so I guess my number with her is 2, and she’s been around, so to speak, so I guess I’m about 4 from Hitler? ---
**Author:** ![nicole1912](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9de0a6/32.png) [@nicole1912](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nicole1912)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681/35 "2010-05-17T11:02:00Z")
I’ve been to a couple of receptions at which I’ve been introduced to the Duke of Edinburgh. He’d have no idea who I am, of course, but I assume that doesn’t matter for the purposes of this thread. I’d imagine he, his wife and his children have met a lot of interesting people… ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681/36 "2010-05-17T12:19:09Z")
My grandmother personally worked for Malcolm Forbes, and I’m not sure if she ever met Steve Forbes but they were close enough that I would say it’s likely. So I have 2 degrees of separation from them, and probably 3 from whoever they’ve met (for instance the Republican primary entries like Dole, Buchanan, and Keyes.) And then from there, 4 to Gerald Ford…and thus 5 to Nixon! ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681/37 "2010-05-17T12:24:36Z")
I’m fairly certain there are more but these are the only ones I can think of right now: 5 Napoleon Bonaparte 4 Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (two different ways) 2, 3, 4 and more Various European royalty ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681/38 "2010-05-17T12:33:36Z")
1 Terry Pratchett Harlan Ellison Phil Alden Robinson A large number of science fiction authors. 2 Albert Einstein Benjamin Britten Isaac Asimov Robert Heinlein Larry Niven 1. Charlie Chaplin Nils Bohr Werner Heisenberg Max Born Marie Curie Hendrik Lorentz J. Robert Oppenheimer Max Planck Ernest Rutherford Erwin Schroedinger Wolfgang Pauli David ben Gurion (all through Albert Einstein; there are many more, of course) ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681/39 "2010-05-17T12:38:51Z")
> [@GESancMan](#): > > Sirhan Sirhan was in my father’s sixth grade class, so that’s two degrees for me. Three to Robert Kennedy, if killing a man counts as a degree. Not quite a “conversation”, but I’d say it counts. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681/40 "2010-05-17T12:39:34Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > 1 > Terry Pratchett How could I have forgotten about having had a talk with him. Nice bloke, too bad about his illness. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-degrees-of-separation-vs-historical-figures/539681.md?page=3)