# Who would you invite to dinner? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 5, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020 "2005-06-05T18:11:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020/1 "2005-06-05T18:11:41Z")
So, you can have dinner with 6 other people, from any time or place in history - who would you choose to invite? I have noticed mine features very few historical figures, but currently would be: \*\*Martha Gellhorn \*\*- writer during 30s-70s who covered Spanish Civil War **Ranulf Feinnes** - explorer, famous for amputating his own fingers in his garden shed **Eddie Izzard** - Comedian **Elizabeth I** **Stephen Fry** - Actor/writer **Thomas Keller** - chef - if he wants to make us dinner, I won’t complain! Who would you have? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020/2 "2005-06-05T22:57:14Z")
Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Gaius Julius Caesar, The Duke of Wellington, Winston Churchill, Bob Shaw (author of Fighter Combat). I’d be totally outclassed, but enjoy every minute of it. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020/3 "2005-06-05T23:06:43Z")
**Robert E. Lee** - Gettysburg, Day 3 - WTF? **Thomas Jefferson** - OK, Tom. Now what do we do? **William Shakespeare** - Tell me stories of the theatre… **Sir Francis Drake** - Alright, Frank. Where did you ditch the main haul? And about New Albion… **Elizabeth I** - Get together with Tom and rewrite politics **Robert Heinlein** - I’d just want to say “Thank You” to the man who taught me more than anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2005, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020/4 "2005-06-05T23:08:49Z")
Groucho Marx Tom Lehrer Kurt Vonnegut Cary Grant Katharine Hepburn Stephen King Can I invite Harborwolf too? ---
**Author:** ![Low\_Key\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@Low\_Key\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Low_Key_1)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020/5 "2005-06-06T00:47:59Z")
**Samuel Beckett** - Author/Playwright **Friedrich Nietzsche** - Philosopher **Karl Marx** - Philosopher/Economist **Jerry Garcia** - Musician **Aristotle** - Philosopher …and I was going to invite Nicole Kidman, but then I realized that I would just spend the evening chatting to her and miss out on the great conversations between all the others at the table, so I’ve decided to invite **Paulo Coelho** (author) instead. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020/6 "2005-06-06T01:39:01Z")
It would probably be a bad idea because I’d get back on the cigars, but: **C.S. Lewis** - top bloke; boisterous and a surprisingly good listener for such a learned person. **Meryl Streep** - attractive, witty and smart, but old enough so that I wouldn’t be angling (unsuccessfully, of course) to manoeuvre her into bed. **John Adams** - easily my favourite of the founding fathers. **Andrew Bulmer** - old boy from the same school; a Christian who has worked in India for 30 years building villages. I once asked him what advice he had for someone wanting to lead a Christian life, and he said “Be yourself”. Chance for him to expand a bit. **Keith Miller** - Australian cricketer and WWII pilot; one of a kind, cocking a snook at authority with charm and discernment. **Fred Couples** - American golfer ; someone once described him as “all cake and no frosting (icing)”. I’d like to finf out why. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020/7 "2005-06-06T01:46:20Z")
Assuming everyone would behave themselves: Ben Franklin Leonardo da Vinci Jeff Lynne Jesus Hitler ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020/8 "2005-06-06T01:49:32Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Assuming everyone would behave themselves: > > Ben Franklin > Leonardo da Vinci > Jeff Lynne > Jesus > Hitler Can’t freakin’ count these days: Thomas Jefferson ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020/9 "2005-06-06T02:46:47Z")
I’m gonna hold mine down to five invited guests, so there’ll be three couples. 1. My late grandpa and Mary Pickford. Him I’d love to visit with again and he always had a soft spot for Ms. Pickford. I owe him her presence, and much more. 2. Jimmy Carter and Condi Rice. That otta’ liven it up a bit! 3. I’d be with Leslie F. (_I could have loved her better, didn’t mean to be unkind_ and all that.) Steaks on the grille, baked 'taters in the oven, Jack Daniels and Coke in water glasses, out on the back porch. Good rockin’ tonight! ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020/10 "2005-06-06T02:49:24Z")
Whom would I invite? I’d love to have dinner with all four of my grandparents, two of whom died before I was born. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020/11 "2005-06-06T03:10:09Z")
[Karl Gauss](http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Gauss.html)(!) (who else?) [John von Neumann](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann) (possibly the smartest person in history) [Leonardo da Vinci](http://www.museoscienza.org/english/leonardo/) (von Neumann’s rival for spih) [Richard Feynman](http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Feynman.html) (to tell jokes and to not let anyone get too full of themselves) [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart](http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/mozart.html) (to compose a few ditties for us to sing after dinner) [Thomas Young](http://www.fau.edu/~jordanrg/bios/Young/Young_bio.htm) (to finally give him the recognition he deserves) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020/12 "2005-06-06T07:59:27Z")
Good question. \ Tiberious Claudius Nero Germanicus. Not that I don’t trust Suetonius, but I don’t 😉 Hyapatia, female librarian at the Library of Alexander, as an intelligent and witty companion for Claudius Leonardo da Vinci. I love someone with wideranging interests. Hildegard von Bingen. Just wow. And I think she would make the perfect dinner companion for Leonardo. Till Lindeman, vocalist for Rammstein. Eye candy with a mind. Well read, a sense of humor. Menu - Isicia omentata [more or less prawn croquettes in a savory sauce. The recipe I normally use is roman, but seafood croquettes are found throughout history] mixed 'hors d’oeuvres - hardboiled eggs, pickles of various yummy things [gherkins, olives, several different veggies] dates filled with diced toasted almonds and cinnamon, honey cured dried pears, spiced beets, peppers filled with cheese and prosciutto, melon slices, grapes, small mozzarella balls, balls of herb wrapped goat cheese] salad of mixed greens [eaten throughout history, I have roman, medieval and modern versions that are all surprisingly similar] Pernam [[aka Pig Newton](http://www.geocities.com/aruvqann/pernam.html) which is pork leg simmered with figs then wrapped in dough and roasted, more or less. fresh bread of several types, with soft cheese, plain butter, garlic herb butter and cinnamon/quince paste available to spread on it throughout the meal and for dessert, a classic creme brulee Not sure what to offer to drink with it, probably hypocras[spiced wine] a nice still mead, assorted wines, basically whatever people want=) ---
**Author:** ![Sarah\_Woodruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sarah\_Woodruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarah_Woodruff)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020/13 "2005-06-06T08:14:58Z")
I’m forseeing some social awkwardness with this list, but anyway: Charles Dickens Elizabeth I Mahatma Gandhi Lou Reed the Empress Livia my maternal grandfather, who died a month before my mother was born: so I could find out what he was like as a person. I’d invite Steve Buscemi if someone on the list didn’t RSVP ( possibly because they wouldn’t trust food that had been near Livia). ---
**Author:** ![BadBadger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@BadBadger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BadBadger)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020/14 "2005-06-06T09:47:53Z")
So long as we have Babel fishes or universal translators: Alexander the Great (although he’d have to check his weapons at the door before he gets drunk) Hitler (tho I may end up giving Alex his weapons back at some point in the meal) Sir Patrick Moore - [UK Astronomer](http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/spaceguide/skyatnight/patrickmoore.shtml) presenting the Sky at Night since 1957 (he’s also on my death list so he’d definately get an invite) Angelina Jolie - nuff said Sir Isaac Newton - again be careful with cutlery etc. > [@](#): > > Newton, experimental philosopher, slid a bodkin into his eye socket between eyeball and bone. He pressed with the tip until he saw ‘severall white darke & coloured circles’… Almost as recklessly, he stared with one eye at the sun, reflected in a looking glass, for as long as he could bear. Peter Cook - [comedian](http://www.chortle.co.uk/comics/comics.html?http&&&www.chortle.co.uk/comics/pcook.html) (especially if I could have the duo of Cook and Moore at the table. Hell, I’d even drop one of the above for that) ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020/15 "2005-06-06T09:54:33Z")
**Bill Clinton** **Martha Stewart** **Bill Maher** **Dave Chapelle** **Michael Jackson** **O. J. Simpson** Can you just imagine? ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020/16 "2005-06-06T16:58:50Z")
Ooooh… this is gona be hard … **Sylvia Browne** - a well known psychic who I find absolutely FACINATING **JRR Tolkein** - oh , to get to sit down and talk about LOTR with the master… **Pat Derby** - an obscure choice to be sure . She was a wild animal trainer in the 60’s and 70’s , now runs a performing animal rescue . Wrote a book called The Lady and Her Tiger , that is my all-time favorite book . **Orlando Bloom** - OK … he doesn’t have to _say_ a word , just sit there and look pretty . 😃 **Jesus** - I have questions . Lots and lots of questions . **My Best Friend Pat** - we live too far apart to spend much time together , and I know she would enjoy all of these choices , as well … What’s for dinner ? I’d start off with a nice salad with all the trimmings . For the main course , ribs that have been smoking all day , smoked corn on the cob , and baked potatoes . For the vegitarians (I know Orli and Pat Derby are , and who knows about Jesus…) I would throw together a nice veggie stirfry . Dessert would be deep-dish apple pie , hot out of the oven , with vanilla ice cream melting over it , topped with walnuts toasted in butter in a skillet and then tossed in cinnamon & sugar … I would have a variety of drinks , whatever anyone wanted . Sounds like an evening of good conversation to me … (And if Keith Urban wanter to drop by to sing & play , I would not turn him away… 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020/17 "2005-06-06T17:22:09Z")
(I love this game!) In no special order: 1. Abe Lincoln 2. Winston Churchill 3. Mohammed 4. My father 5. Oliver Cromwell 6. Leonard, de Vinci Menu: Roast turkey, pureed yams, purred potatoes (with turnip accents) a nice succotash blueberry pie An exceptional coffee A dry champagne A selection of teas ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020/18 "2005-06-06T17:24:32Z")
I’d have dinner alone. _They_ wouldn’t be interested in _me_, & _I_ wouldn’t be able to think of a thing to say to _them_. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020/19 "2005-06-06T17:26:25Z")
Andrew Lloyd Webber and his ex-wives Sarah I and Sarah Brightman Julian Lloyd Webber and his ex-wives Cecilia and Zhara. I’d love every minute of it. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020/20 "2005-06-06T17:26:59Z")
So far on the balance of averages the board would invite: Jesus Hitler Elizabeth I Thomas Jefferson Leonardo da Vinci Their Grandfher/mother But it’s really interesting to see the diversity of the answers. I also like the fact that without prompting, the food is as important as the company! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-invite-to-dinner/307020.md?page=2)