# You can have dinner with one famous person who shares your birthday **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 4, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086 "2013-01-04T17:54:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/101 "2013-01-06T00:26:05Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I have Teddy Roosevelt - CHARGE!!! Not my birthday but that would work for me. We could discuss his daughter Ethel who I met over fifty years ago at Sagamore Hill. For my birthday, pre-Parkinson’s Muhammad Ali, pre-syphlitic Ben Franklin or (just) post-menopausal Betty White. As is, Michelle Obama… ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/102 "2013-01-06T00:44:02Z")
George Gershwin! Although I would be tempted to go with TS Eliot to find out just how anti-Semitic he was in person. Other runners-up would be Ivan Pavlov and Serena Williams. ---
**Author:** ![Jungian\_Camisole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@Jungian\_Camisole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jungian_Camisole)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/103 "2013-01-06T01:06:08Z")
I get to choose between Groucho Marx and Mahatma Gandhi. Tough decision, but I think I’m going to go with Groucho. I would love to listen to his stories of working in Hollywood during the Golden Age of films, and especially being able to do so in an age of rampant racism and bigotry. Plus, if I could make him laugh, it would be one of the greatest highlights of my life. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/104 "2013-01-06T01:16:16Z")
March to the 11th I’m going to have to pick Douglas Adams, of course, so I can thank him for the fish and the meaning of life. But the little imp in me wants to throw Justice Scalia in a room with Johnny Knoxville. The Madden twin brothers from Good Charlotte could supply the soundtrack. Best dinner party ever! ETA: Oh, and I can’t believe someone passed up a dinner date with Alice. Blasphemy! ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/105 "2013-01-06T02:37:51Z")
If I can have enough time to learn 17th century Italian or Latin, then I’ll dine with Galileo Galilei. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/106 "2013-01-06T02:57:41Z")
The only one I’m interested in (Jan 16) is Ethel Merman. Perhaps we’ll go to a piano bar, and see what happens… ---
**Author:** ![markdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/107 "2013-01-06T04:09:50Z")
Steve Carell (August 16). ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/108 "2013-01-06T05:11:53Z")
June 18- Paul McCartney. I knew he & I shared a birthday before I looked at the site, but there was no one there I woud prefer over Paul! ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/109 "2013-01-06T09:53:24Z")
Ooh. Apparently I get Sean Bean. No question, I’m having dinner with Boromir and Ned Stark. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Rala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rala)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/110 "2013-01-06T13:41:20Z")
I have a few tempting prospects for April 1. There’s Sergei Rachmaninoff - my orchestra performed one of his symphonies last year, and my conductor would explode with delight if I got him an autograph. Or Sophonisba Breckinridge. I hadn’t heard of her before tonight, but from what I’ve read she sounds like a fascinating person. She was a lawyer, a suffragette, an abolitionist, an activist against child labour, a pacifist and quite possibly a lesbian. Or Joseph E. Murray, who pioneered organ transplants and won a Nobel prize for medicine. He actually only died a little over a month ago. Or William Harvey, who discovered the circulation of blood and was personal physician to Charles I. He was with the king at the battle of Edgehill, and apparently during the fight “He told me that he withdrew with them under a hedge, and tooke out of his pockett a booke, and read. But he had not read very long before a bullet of a great gun grazed on the ground neare him, which made him remove his station.” I like that. It’s a really tough call between Harvey and Breckinridge! I think I’ll flip a coin. OK, it came up tails, so I’m going with Breckinridge. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/111 "2013-01-06T16:58:04Z")
I’ve got quite a few choices too, but I quickly ruled out Sarah Palin. 😛 Michael Jackson, Jr., son of Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson was so deeply and tragically weird it would be interesting to talk to one of his kids. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/112 "2013-01-06T17:11:15Z")
Well, if their being dead is not a factor, it looks like Isaac Asimov wins the day, though only if he’s alive and not in a decomposed state. If it has to be a living person, I guess Cuba Gooding jr. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/113 "2013-01-06T17:30:28Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > I’ve got quite a few choices too, but I quickly ruled out Sarah Palin. 😛 Intimidated by her [elegance](http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/shortorder/trumppalinpizza.jpg)? Don’t tell me you eat pizza with your :eek: hands. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/114 "2013-01-06T18:00:41Z")
My choices are my twin-sister-from-another-mister Mariah Carey (who’s 4 hours my junior) or - Louis XVII Nathaniel Currier James Callaghan - British prime minister Sarah Vaughan Cale Yarborough Michael York Tony Banks - Musician (Genesis) Andrew Farris - Musician (INXS) Quentin Tarantino Derrick McKenzie - Musician (Jamiroquai) Brendan Hill - Musician (Blues Traveler) Nathan Fillion Fergie Since I doubt Mariah’d put her phone down for a full minute’s conversation, I’ll have Nathan Fillion as appetizer, Michael York for entree and give my dessert to the poor Dauphin, as he deserves to feel like a kid for a damn minute. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/115 "2013-01-06T18:04:52Z")
Paul Theroux. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/116 "2013-01-06T20:26:58Z")
> [@MacCat](#): > > Intimidated by her [elegance](http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/shortorder/trumppalinpizza.jpg)? Don’t tell me you eat pizza with your :eek: hands. Oh how prissy is that. Yet another reason not to share a meal with Caribou Barbie! ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/117 "2013-01-06T22:05:18Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > Oh how prissy is that. > Yet another reason not to share a meal with Caribou Barbie! Much as it turns my stomach to defend her, I have TMJ and it’s recommended I eat my pizza that way as well. I don’t know if she has TMJ or not, but I’ll wager she didn’t want a bunch of photoshopped pictures of various items replacing a slice of pizza being shoved into her lipstick-covered maw. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/118 "2013-01-06T22:29:33Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > I don’t know if she has TMJ or not, but I’ll wager she didn’t want a bunch of photoshopped pictures of various items replacing a slice of pizza being shoved into her lipstick-covered maw. Ha! 😃 Maybe just how [American Royalty](http://malialitman.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/palin-trump-pizza.jpg) eats. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/119 "2013-01-06T22:58:59Z")
I’ve got lots of actors/actresses/entertainers: Lauren Bacall, Peter Falk, Ed Begley, Jr. Mickey Rourke, David Copperfield, Jennifer Tilly, Molly Shannon, & Amy Poehler And musicians: B.B. King, Richard Marx, & Marc Anthony Athletes: Elgin Baylor - basketball Hall of Famer Orel Hershiser, - baseball pitcher They all lose to scientist: Albrecht Kossel - Nobel Prize winning German biochemist and geneticist who first isolated and described the 5 bases in nucleic acids. I hope he speaks English. B.B. King would be the runner up and my definite choice of those still living. ---
**Author:** ![Thylacine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thylacine/32/1143_2.png) [@Thylacine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacine)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2013, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086/120 "2013-01-06T23:57:45Z")
I could go all intellectual like and choose Robert Browning, Brahms or Tchaikovsky or even Evita but to prove my utter shallowness the invite is out for Traci Lords. If she declines then Janis Ian can come if she brings an instrument. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-have-dinner-with-one-famous-person-who-shares-your-birthday/646086.md?page=7)