Gee, I was goimg to say “Jean Harlow, Theda Bara and Anna Held,” so I could ask them if I did a good job with their biographies. But then I was overwhelmed by the mental image of the three of them whalin’ away at me with baseball bats for either getting everything wrong or giving away their real ages . . .
. . . So, I guess Abraham Lincoln, Marie Antoinette (if I could speak French or Austrian) and Oscar Wilde.
NOT myself at a younger age—I’d hate to have to either disillusion or lie to the poor little sprat.
[ul][li]Thomas Jefferson. Reasons: doesn’t require assuming that language barriers could be overcome, I know enough about him to be able to have a good sense of what things I’d want to ask him, his range of knowledge and interests was broad enough that you’d never run out of things to talk about, and it’d be fascinating to hear his take on everything that’s happened in the last 175 years. I can’t think of any one figure offhand who could authoritatively tell you more about the world from say 1760 to 1825.[/li][li]Benjamin Franklin, for many of the same reasons as Jefferson, plus his experience as a printer and that he probably would be more fun than Jefferson.[/li]OK, two fairly conventional choices, so for the third . . . probably someone else from the book arts; maybe Frederic Goudy, perhaps Bruce Rogers, or more likely Jan Tschichold. I don’t think I’d be able to stand an entire day with Eric Gill, fascinating though it undoubtedly would be.[/ul]
John Wilkes Booth. I’d tie him up on the night Lincoln went to Ford’s Theater.
Lee Harvey Oswald. Likewise. (Except for the Ford’s Theater part. Kennedy never went to Ford’s Theater. As far as I know.)
Adolf Hitler during his stint as a soldier in the 1st World War. The Germans would hardly notice one more casualty if I shot him.
Or didn’t you mean we could change the past when we travelled back in time?
Watson and Crick - I combine them because it would be one moment in time I would want to be at - the discovery of the DNA double helix
John Bellairs - I have been a fan of his novels since 6th grade and regretfully I read a notice in one of his recent books that he died before I ever thought of writing him a fan letter and telling him how much I loved everything he did.
Archimedes (I think if I remember right) - I just want to see him jump out of the tub and run down the street yelling “Eureka!”
**NO!! YOU CAN NOT CHANGE THE PAST!!!{/b] As a historian, the very thought rankles. Though you could become a “revisionalist” historian- The next best thing! For me, I’ve only ever thought about hearing people speak- Those 3 would be Martin Luthor King, jr. Winston Churchill and Jesus. To meet?..Hmmmmmm. Hitler would be interesting, naturally, but I’m not sure you’d get anything coherent out of him in those last days-besides the bunker is going to be crowded with all you folks there so:
Dr King. I’d still like to meet him, maybe in a room with Malcomb X, where the 3 of us could have a long chat about the history and future of descrimination in America.
2.Mohommud (sp?). It is an interesting historical fact that for the 500 or more years after he introduced Islam to the world, The Muslem section of the world was by far the more enlightened and liberal, while Christian Europe was mired in the dark ages. Now, Christian nations seem to occupy a dominant position in the world. Be fun to discuss.
Emperor Theodosius. In AD 391, he ordered the destruction of the Library at Alexandria, An act I view as the greatest single catastrophy to knowledge in the history of mankind. ( FWIW- He’d be the one I’d like to kill before it happenes.) To imagine the equivelent, picture if you will, say, President Pat Robertson ordering the Smithsonian, the Nat. Gallery and the Library of Congress razed because " If it repeats what’s in the Bible it’s unnecessary, and if dosen’t, It’s evil". This was the rational Theodosius used to justify the destruction of the historical equevelent.( for the same reason he had one of the 7 wonders- the statue of Zeuss, destroyed) God! I’d love to be able to access the knowledge of the Egyptian, Greek and Roman Empires, the historical Greek philosophers, the records of civilizations lost to us still today! Who knows? maybe even proof of pre-Columbian contact with the new world. Damn. what a loss. I just wanna know WHY???WHY???
a) The prophet Elijah–or Elisha after Elijah shot off to the unknown (although getting a straight answer about Elijah’s ascension might be like getting an in-character Knight of the SCA to admit that he didn’t actually get his arm cut off and sewn back on during Crown Tourney…)
b) Miyamoto Musashi
c) the guy who invented metalworking.
–plus:
Early Church Fathers I’d like to give a thwack in the head:
a) St. Paul
b) St. Augustine
c) St. Jerome
[…and Theodosius should’ve just been run through.]
People I’d kill as kinder:
a) Einstein
b) Oppenheimer
c) um… Theodosius will do, for now.
Well, here’s a rather obscure comparison. Maybe we could arrange for Theodosius to meet the same fate as Emperor Andronicus of the Eastern Roman Empire in the late 12th century. That would be fitting!
Buddha-Anyone who can come up with “life is suffering” and get all kinds of people to follow him after that I want to meet. Besides, it’s a good outlook to have.
Bohdat Dharmon-Anyone who invents Gung Fu because the real deal is too much to teach to his students, I also want to meet.
Vlad Tepes-Just to see what all the hubub was really about, and to see where the whole vampire thing I am so fascinated with started.
“Winners never quit and quitters never win, but those who never win and never quit are idiots.”
Boy, is Wally ever going to be pissed that no one mentioned him. You go into the hospital for a day, and boom you’re thrown over for Einstein, Thomas Jefferson, King David & other riff-raff
Wally, of course.
Joan of Arc
Galen
Sue from El Paso
Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.
