Saturday 7 July 2012

If you could have dinner with 6 people, who would they be?

I spent a long time thinking about this one, and I had a lot of difficulty getting it down to 6 people. Not because there are so many people I had to choose from but because I was having a dilemma about the actual question. My dilemma has caused me to make two lists. One is my ideal dinner party, the other is limited to those not dead and not fictional! But of course, they overlap a bit.

List one: The Ideal

1. Billy Connolly. Funniest man alive if you ask me. Why wouldn't I want that at my dinner party?!
2. Jimmy Stewart. Actor of old hollywood classics fame. I'd love to talk to him about the filming of Harvey (one of my favourite films). Also, I'm fascinated by his voice/accent.
3. Samwise Gamgee. Yes, the hobbit. I loved his character, more so in the book than the film if I'm honest. Though they weren't too far apart. I found Frodo kind of annoying, and I'd like to ask Sam how he put up with that. His character just makes me smile and go all heart-warmed, particularly at the "Don't you leave him Samwise Gamgee, and I don't mean to" moment. "I ain't been dropping no eaves" is another great one.
4. Jane Austen. The wonder that is. I'd like to know how she found being a female writer in a time when they were few and far between. Also, I'd like to give her some Daphne du Maurier books to read. Female leads that meet unfortunate circumstances that all make blissful happy endings getting everything they desire... I think she would like them.
5. Hugh Laurie. He's hilarious, insanely clever and could delight us all on the piano after dinner. Why wouldn't you invite him?!
6. Eddi Reader. Saving the best till last. I think this woman is incredible. A complete lunatic of course, but the best people are. She opens her mouth to sing and I'm spellbound. You just can't help it. I reckon she'd be great at a dinner party; she'd have us all in stiches. For example, this exchange when she was purchasing a christmas tree. Salesman: "Are you going to put it up yourself?" Eddi Reader: "No, in my living room." Brilliant.

List two: Being Realistic

1. Billy Connolly.
2. Hugh Laurie.
3. Eddi Reader.
4. Stephen Fry. I could just copy and paste what I said about Hugh Laurie, just leaving out the music part. I would love to see these two together, to sit back and watch magic happen.
5. Jasper Fforde. If you like books and haven't read anything by him please put down whatever you are doing and go and get them all. You can thank me later. Well written, intelligent humour. I think he'd be great to have around.
6. Julie Walters. She's in so many of the films that I love. She is brilliant in Calendar Girls, and she makes Mamma Mia bearable. Plus the woman played Molly Weasley. Sold!

So there we have it. I think I'm happy with that. I have to admit to being a little bit sad now that none of these people are actually coming to my house. But I'll live.

Just in case anyone is interested here are the people that so nearly made it:
Marilyn Monroe, Kenneth Williams, Elizabeth Bennet, Duchess Georgiana of Devonshire, Hermione Granger, Dame Maggie Smith and Beatrix Potter. J.K.Rowling was a really close call. But after much thought she would come round to my house for tea and cake by herself so I could geek out all afternoon. If she was at dinner I wouldn't be able to tear myself away from Harry Potter land to talk to anyone else!

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