The Biography Channel has a poll with some good questions in it. I'm borrowing their idea, so we can see what the FT community thinks! (For now, stick with the choices given - just out of curiousity as to who/what everyone would pick.)

Which man from the last 1,000 years would you most like to have dinner with? Why?

Sigmund Freud
Leonardo da Vinci
Thomas Jefferson
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Elvis Presley
Karl Marx
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Pablo Picasso

Which woman from the last 1,000 years would you most like to have dinner with? Why?

Joan of Arc
Marie Curie
Mary Wollstonecraft
Elizabeth I
Harriet Tubman
Princess Diana
Jane Austen
Betsy Ross

Which moment in the last 1,000 years do you most wish you had witnessed? Why?

The Wright Brothers' first flight
Graham Bell's first telephone call to Watson
Jesse Owens winning 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin
Michelangelo completing the Sistine Chapel
The Beatles last concert
Abraham Lincoln giving the Gettysburg Address
The end of WWII
The first talking picture/movie

Which of the following would you pick as the #1 of the last millennium? Why?

Johann Gutenberg
Isaac Newton
Martin Luther
William Shakespeare
Ronald Reagan
Gandhi
Earnest Hemingway

[ 12-14-2001: Message edited by: Linda1 ]

Q1: Freud, easily...his philosophical musings may not have all been correct, but they were fascinating. I enjoy trying to understand humanity and I believe that was Freud's raisen d'etre (or however you spell it)...

Q2: Jane Austen...for the same reason. Her writings betray her extraordinary curiousity about humankind...that, to me, is interesting...

Q3: Jesse Owens triumphs...in a seat right next to old Adolf so I could see the bitter expression on his face...

Q4: By influence on human kind? Of that very odd group I must select Newton for his laying of the groundwork of the modern physical sciences and his influence on all scientific thought. Ronald Reagan? He'd be about #1,000,000,000,000 (have there been that many people?) or lower...

I realize that these lists were probably compiled by the biography channel. One disturbing thing about the lists presented is that they only include westerners and western events...where are the Asians, Africans or South Americans? I'd love to see Gandhi's name in place of Reagan's at least...

It was kind of a Biography plus Linda1 creation! I took their answers and put a couple more in! You're right about no non-Westerners. I'll put Gandhi's name in there - you're right about his being there as an option.

1) For the first question, I'm having trouble deciding. I'd like Sigmund Freud to analyze me, so I want to have dinner with him. But, I'd also like to have dinner with Karl Marx because a whole lot has happened since he has died. I would like to ask him to look at all of the examples of Communism that has occurred since he had died, and I'd like to hear him critique them.
2) I'd like to have dinner with Harriet Tubman because I'm interested in hearing first handedly how she helped free over three-hundred slaves. I'd like to ask her what she feels about society now- would she be satisfied, would she think more can be done to improve society?
3) I'd like to see Jesse Owens win the four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin for the same reason thejazzkickazz mentioned. I'd also like to personally praise him.
4) Martin Luther because he had such a huge influence on religion.

I have edited this because the first time around I made too many grammarical errors.

[ 12-15-2001: Message edited by: Lanni ]

Lanni, you are a very remarkable person! Your answers to these questions are wonderful! And, very insightful.

In particular, I love your reasons behind wanting to meet Marx and Tubman. You are so right - getting their perspectives on what's occurred in the world would be phenomenal. It would be so interesting to hear what they think.

I just felt like I had to tell you this! I think I remember hearing that you're under 18 (am I thinking of you?) - if so, I'm just blown away by the thought you've put into these!

[ 12-14-2001: Message edited by: Linda1 ]

Thank you for the compliment, but I'm not under 18 .

If Confucius was a choice, he'd be my pick...
Once I could my universal translator working properply
I'm sure the conversation would be sparkling...
But I digress...
Thomas Jefferson, life, liberty and so on
Joan of Arc, in order to understand martyrdom
The first flight, just because...
Gutenberg, without which none of what i do would be possible...

If Confucius was a choice, he'd be my pick...
Once I could get my universal translator working properply
I'm sure the conversation would be sparkling...
But I digress...
Thomas Jefferson, life, liberty and so on
Joan of Arc, in order to understand martyrdom
The first flight, just because...
Gutenberg, without which none of what i do would be possible...