This was inspired by the historical event post. We were once asked in my business class, “What famous/infamous person would you like to meet, and why?” they can be real or mythical (eg storybook characters)
I’d like to meet the great minds of yesterday, I can’t really pick one, the people like Pavlov, Freud(spelling?), Maslow
Jesus
Finally get the low down on this God thing. Hopefully I’d get to see a miracle or three occur.
That’s what I said in class, just after someone said he’d want to meet Jesus because he was the centre of his religion
Alive: Hunter S. Thompson
Dead: Joey Ramone
Mythical: Ghost & Steve
Also dead: Richard Brautigan
“Mythical”: Pretty much any hobbit, preferably Sam, and preferably pre-quest.
Real: Elijah Wood :swoon: But anyone on this board probably knows that already. 
~Ferry
I’d like to meet Shakespeare.
George Washington.
Yeah it’s corny. So sue me.
Thomas Jefferson.
Alive - I would have to go with John Mayer… a recent musical obsession… His new album is ok… but the things he did before that on the guitar were utterly amazing…
Dead - Bruce Lee… He is almost in the mythical category… very impressive human…
mythical… Santa… How does he get to all of those houses, and still have time to drink milk and eat cookies??
Angelina Jolie - no explanation needed. 
Alive - Zoe Ball (she seems to be unattatched again)
Dead - Lord Byron (one of the most interesting people ever)
Mythical - Aphrodite (one hot babe !)
No way you’re getting just one.
Alive: Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, or even better, the whole band, and the Leningrad Cowboys.
Dead: Jesus, Rodrigo Diaz de la Vivar (El Cid), the Pizarro brothers, Hernan Cortes, Atilla the Hun, Khublai Khan, Herodotus, Xenophon, Aristotle, Josef Stalin, William Shakespeare, Knut the Great, Leif Eriksson (guy who discovered America), king Croesus, Ch’in Shi Huang-Di (apologies for spelling, I’m still getting used to the new translitteration I have to use this term - I’m used to the old-fashioned kind), Salah El-Din, the list goes on…
Mythical: The Norse gods, “Röde” Orm Tostesson (main character in an excellent novel by Frans G. Bengtsson, published in English as “the Long Ships” I believe).
Joan of Arc. And I want to know what she said to him that made him put his army under the command of a teenage girl.
Hey, cool! Me too, actually. They’ve played important parts in a few pretty cool books.
I would like to meet Chris Marlowe. No big surprise there, I guess. Maybe Goethe.
I would kind of like, with reservations, to meet my biological parents, one of whom is now dead . . . but that’s a whole other thread for some other day.
I would like to meet Stephen King. He’s one of my favorite authors and he seems like he might be a cool person to talk to.
I’d like to meet Jesus. He–or at least what people believe about him–is just so important. I’ve read so much speculation about this guy that I am now hopelessly curious about his real story, whatever that may be. I would like to know what Jesus’ philosophy really was, what the truth was about some of his miracles, his entire family background, what really happened before, during, and immediately after the Crucifixion, and a host of other things. I suspect I would also like to have a long talk with the Apostle Paul. I sincerely hope no offense is taken at my comments about Jesus or my doubts about Christianity.
Really, any citizen of ancient Greece or Rome, or medieval anywhere, or Renaissance Italy would be good to interview.
Rutger Hauer.
I would like to meet heavy metal singer Rob Halford. I really like the music of the Metal God, and from interviews I have seen and read he seems like an interesting guy.
I would like to meet Alexander the Great and Augustus Caesar. I’ve been fascinated by these two people for years and years and years, thanks to Mary Renault and a certain history teacher respectively. Both these individuals are interesting as unique people–Alex seems especially quirky–and for their achievements.
Speaking of Mary Renault, she would probably be an interesting person to talk with herself. And since we can meet imaginary people, I could probably also enjoy a conversation with the Persian Boy himself, old Bagoas. I have questions about the ancient world, modern writing, historical fiction, eunuchs and sex, and myriad other things that Mary and Baggy could probably answer for me. Or maybe not. It’s been years and years since I read The Persian Boy.
I would like to meet Joseph Campbell and ask him a bunch of questions. Same with Stephen Hawking and anthropologist Marvin Harris.
I would sort of like to meet J.D. Salinger and ask him a bunch of the usual questions. However, I’m afraid Salinger might be rude to me and I don’t think I could enjoy Catcher any more if Salinger and I were to fight.
This semester I’m falling in love with ancient Greece, real and imaginary. I would like to like to meet Agamemnon, just to call him a Big Fat Greek Bastard. I would like to meet Achilles and kick him in the heel. I would like to meet Diomedes, who actually seemed to be one of the only people in The Iliad who was sane and cool. I would like to meet Paris, just to kick his ass. On a more positive note, I would like to meet Helen . . . I think I could enjoy an hour or an eternity or so with a woman who is identified by most of the world as the hottest hottie ever and is identified by herself as someone with, um, not very strict morals . . .
I would like to meet Phil Donahue. I don’t know why, really, but I’d really like to meet him.
I’d like to sit down with Hitler with a modern history book and some nuclear physics books
I’d love to meet Sean Connery.
He’s a fellow Scot and an idol for me. One of my favorite actors.
I hate to be off topic, but…you have the single coolest user name on the planet. I bow to you.
~Ferry
Alive: Tony Blair, Osama bin Laden, Kurt Vonnegut, Blixa Bargeld, Meret Becker, Nick Cave, Nina Hagen
Dead: Kurt Cobain, Vladimir Lenin, Franz Kafka, John Lennon, Douglas Adams, Jesus, Siddhartha Gautama
Mythical: Ender or Bean. They’re so cool.