I hope not based on that terrible film.
Mark Twain, Gary Gygax, Robin Williams, Eartha Kitt, RBG, & Bella Abzug.
No menu better than this one:
American Dinner
Oysters Baked in the Shell
Terrapin Maryland…Beaten Biscuits
Pan Broiled Young Turkey
Rice Croquettes with Quince Jelly
Lima Beans in Cream…Sally Lunn
Avocado Todhunter
Pineapple Sherbet…Sponge Cake
Wisconsin Dairy Cheese…Black Coffee
Interesting menu. Nero Wolfe Cookbook? Early 20th century? Earlier?
It is what Wolfe served to the "Les Quinze Maitres," during Too Many Cooks.
Excellent spot on your part sir, I was hoping someone would figure it out.
I haven’t seen the terrible film (I assume you mean Agora), and I’m assuming no resemblance to her portrayal by Lisa Kudrow in The Good Place either. But she was a remarkably accomplished woman for her or any other time.
If this happened amidst the current political turmoil of the early 2020s, your after-dinner conversation would very probably discuss “a Republic – if you can keep it”.
I would pick one particular mystery to solve. Although few people actually care about that, it’s something which has fascinated me for years.
At the end of WWII, the Japanese military government was deadlocked on the question of surrender, with three members of the Big Six leaders in favor of sacrificing “100 million shattered jewels” – of dying to the last man, woman and child rather than surrender. The other three were willing to give up, knowing that it was the end of Japan as they knew it. Finally, the Emperor intervened and they surrendered.
Korechika Anami, the head of the Imperial Japanese Army could have lead a coup. He was expected to lead a coup. He may have actually wanted to lead a coup. But he didn’t. And no one knows why.
I would have him, the Emperor, a couple of the other key players and a couple of historians who have studied this.
Dinner would be sushi, of course, or rather, kaiseki-ryōri (懐石料理).
After so many good ones have been snapped I realized that six people is exactly two parents plus four grandparents. I’d take the version of 1965, shortly after I was born. I would have a couple of questions. It would probably be best if I let the paternal grandmother cook.
PS: I don’t know about you, but I would be afraid anything I said would be very trivial, dull and boring (if not right on wrong and stupid) for the likes of Feynman, Franklin etc.
That’s actually why I would invite the historians along to ask the good questions.
Invite Hitler
That’s why I invited people who would have interesting things to say to each other. I’d just have to start them off and let them go.
Also: I’m not quite sure how we ended up with an assumed exclusivity rule. It’s a hypothetical, so Ben Franklin could turn up at everyone’s dinner.
Archimedes, Newton, Ben Franklin, Sofia Kovalevskaya, Ada Lovelace, and Emmy Noether. I would serve a fine catered dinner. We would be too exhausted from the conversation to play any games.
I disagree. the stick-up-the-ass crowd would be cannon fodder for his wit.
Six science fiction authors. Who has more imagination with which to stimulate far-ranging conversation?
Key historical figures largely responsible for losing wars/battles. Let’s hear the self analysis.
Six of the Founding Fathers. We have some new realities and new options for dealing with them. What are their thoughts?
Do my guests go back to their original timelines at the end of the gathering?
If so, I invite my daughter from October 17, 2018. I also research the MegaMillions lottery numbers drawn on October 19, 2018, and send them back with her (and instructions to buy a ticket with those numbers). In history as it stands, the jackpot of $1.5B was won on October 23, 2018, so the pot as it stood four days earlier ought to be enough for us to scrape by on.
Just in case the Universe won’t let me alter history that way, I also have her buy a ticket that will get a half-share of the $1.5B the following Tuesday.