Question: Who are your Top 5 Most Interesting Historical World Figures?
Andrew S. Preston, Esquire:
1. Jesus... I have some questions.Scott "Theodore" Logan:
2. Confucius... the sound of one hand clapping my butt.
3. Akira Kurosawa... possibly the world's greatest filmmaker.
4. Brutus... the world's first Tea Party figure.
5. Socrates... kind of the inventor of logic.
1. Leonardo Da Vinci - the original Renaissance Man
2. William Shakespeare - I'm sure his friends called him Bill
3. Albert Einstein - "Imagination is more important than knowledge."
4. Winston Churchill - "If you're going through Hell, keep going."
5. Napoleon Bonaparte - "Do the chickens have large talons?"
Most excellent!
34 comments:
1) Leonardo da Vinci (good call, Scott). The man either invented or envisioned everything from flying machines to scissors.
2) Thomas Paine. The most under-rated and overlooked of our Founding Fathers.
3) Sun Tzu. 2500 years ago he wrote (or, more like Bill Bennett's "Book of Virtues", edited) what is still the definitive manual on warfare. So now that EVERYONE who fancies himself a soldier is up to date on "The Art of War", I'd like to know what he held back.
4) Eratosthenes. The librarian of THE Library of Alexandria. 'Nuff said.
5) Lana Turner. No real reason, except that I'd like a date.
Dave, Sun Tzu had a three book deal, so he probably let back enough for two sequels. :P In all seriousness, it's amazing that one book written so long ago could still provide such a strong basic foundation that it's still read as THE guide to strategy today.
Dude, wasn't Socrates a character in Plato's dialogs? That would be like someone in the future coming back to get the truth from James T. Kirk.
Station!!
Socrates was used as a character by Plato. But he was also real. He just didn't write his own books.
Love the Bill and Ted names guys. And in no particular order.
1. Hannibal Barca - One of the greatest generals ever and Romes greatest enemy, now people only think of the name when it comes a fictional serial killer.
2. Gaius Julius Caesar - He was never an Emperor, but they named the office after him.
3. Harold Godwinson - The last Anglo-Saxon King of England he defeated the last Viking invasion at the Battle of Stamford Bridge only to be killed at the Battle of Hastings in William the Conqueror invasion. Everyone remembers Willian and forgets Harold.
4. Hector - Again everyone remembers Achilles, but out of the whole story Hector was the 'best' person overall, not motivated by personal greed or glory, he just wanted to protect his own.
5. Vlad Tepes, Prince of Wallachia (Vlad the Impaler) - the inspiration for Dracula. He was a hero to Christians for his fight against the Muslim Ottoman Empire.
Scott.
1. Solomon - He wrote the parts of the Bible that apparently nobody reads.
2. Edgar Allen Poe - people struggle to understand him to this day.
3. Cleopatra - I hear she was a hottie.
4. Leif Ericson - I'm interested in any explorer or any Viking. That makes Leif a twofer.
5. "Boss" Tom Dennison - The original Omaha gangster.
Hmmmm. In no particular order, I'll go with:
1. Plato - wrote one of the great masterpieces in philosophy.
2. George Washington - had the power to determine what course America took, and made the right choice.
3. Pope Pius XII - a frequently misunderstood leader who was faced with only bad options.
4. Leonardo da Vinci - very definition of the term "Renaissance man." Also, apparently he wrote a secret code or something.
5. Winston Churchill - not a perfect man, but he had more courage and resolve than all of today's world leaders combined.
Winston Churchill
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Ronald Reagan
James Madison
King Arthur (then we'll know if he's real)
Nice thinking rlaWTX! Maybe we should add the Roswell alien to the list too! :)
tryanmax, LOL! He wrote the parts of the Bible that apparently nobody reads.
T-Rav, Churchill would be neat to meet, especially when he was younger.
Scott, Glad you liked the theme. :)
Nice list! Very "old school." In terms of Hector, I think it would be fascinating to find out if Troy was real and what really happened. Even beyond that, I'd love to meet all of these Ancient Greeks that we still know today. What an impressive legacy.
Andrew S. Preston, Esquire... The theme was well played.
I love my history so I had to go old school and I went for under appreciated people who had an impact in history.
They have found Troy and it is in Turkey so I like to think that it was real and there was a Hector who wasn't out for glory of chicks.
The ancient Greeks were fascinating as were the Romans and others who influenced our current way of life.
Scott.
Scott, Thanks! :)
I'm a fan of history too, and I like your choices a lot.
I know they've said they found Troy, but they're still kind of guessing. I'd love to see something definitive. Perhaps a sign:
Welcome to Troy
Population: 468
In any event, I'd love to see it. Troy must have been pretty amazing to have earned the history that it earned. I'd love to see the face that launched a thousand ships too.
1. William Pitt the Younger -- Wildly intelligent, youngest man to become Prime Minister of England and one of the longest holding of that office as well.
2. C.S. Lewis -- he's one of my favorite authors, so I'd like to meet him.
3. Socrates -- though he'd probably not even give me the time of day, since I'm a woman.
4. Farinelli -- Because I would never wish a boy to be made a castrato, but I'd like to hear what Farinelli sounded like.
5. Sir Frederick Treves -- because he was a REALLY cool guy.
goldvemilion, Whenever I think of Pitt the Younger, I think of the show Blackadder where they had some fun with him.
Lewis would be interesting. He's a fantastic writer.
As for Farinelli, yeah, that's a tough career requirement.
Jesus, Benjamin Franklin, Queen Elizabeth, Mozart, Aristotle. It's not that these are the top 5 or best, it's just they are five who I think I would be incredibly interesting to interview.
"...And tougher sentences for geography masters!"
I do think of Pitt the Younger (and Pitt the even younger) but he was a REALLY REALLY fascinating guy in real life.
I want to meet Hannibal Barca and Hector, too.
Also Odysseus.
And Homer.
Oh, and Jonathan (the son of Saul) and Elijah!
(If I knew someone with a time machine, we'd be going to MANY more than five places)
Jed, Franklin sounds like both a fascinating man and a heck of a drinking buddy.
And while I loved the film Amadeus, I have to say that Mozart sounds like a jerk.
goldvermilion, That's the episode! LOL!
If I had a time machine, I would definitely go see more than just five.
Blackadder the Third is my favorite season of Blackadder. :)
Well, there was no limitation placed on these people having to be nice guys! :) Still, I think much of Mozart's reputation as a jerk is pretty unsubstantiated. Certainly the film did nothing but enhance that perception, but the large bulk of that film is simply fiction. Still, the reason I chose him is that the notion of his musical prodigy fascinates me, and his influence on Western music was so enormous. So I would simply hope he was civil enough and willing to discuss it all.
Tryanmax - speaking of Cleopatra, I just screened the 50th anniversary edition which was just released on Blu-Ray. It is once again a fascinating exercise to see these big spectacles from the past restored digitally. There is a two hour documentary that is well worth watching just as a look at Hollywood and the business outlook at the time.
Jed, sounds cool. I'm waiting for the price of blu ray players to drop a little bit more before I finally make the switch. For some reason, these children insist on eating several times a day.
goldvermilion, Me too. That was easily their best. I love the episode with the dictionary!
Jed, It wouldn't surprise me if people played up his being a jerk, but I have no first hand knowledge as I haven't studied him.
tryanmax, You should have gotten free-range kids. They don't need to be fed.
Andrew, trust me, if I didn't stop them, they would be free range. Unfortunately, the state frowns on free-range kids.
But free range chickens are so popular!
I'm going to set Jesus above -- as the Given in a list (sorta like Desert Island Discs includes the Bible and Shakespeare as books on an island)....
1. Moses... the dude saw God -- walked with him and called Him friend.
2. Nebuchadnezzar -- the Babylonian King... a lot of religious questions... and I wanna know about those Hanging Gardens.
3. Lorenzo Medici 'Il Magnifico'... a toss up between him and Leonardo, but the politics would be the thing...
4. Winston Churchill
5. Ronald Reagan
... I'd give up all that to watch Cowboys games with and talk to my grandfather again.
Andrew it is an educated guess, but I don't think you'll see your sign.
I also love Blackadder, great show.
Scott.
tryanmax, That's the state for you... always stopping a good idea. :P
goldvermilion, Apparently, there is a difference. LOL!
Floyd, Great answer all around! :)
Scott, Sadly, yeah, there probably wouldn't be a sign. :(
Still, it is kind of cool that they think they found it. I'd love to have seen it in its prime. I'd love to have seen Athens too back then.
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