Meeting of Minds was the brainchild of brilliant writer, comedian, musician and composer Steve Allen. Years in development, the program brought together historical figures such as Socrates, Marie Antoinette, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Jefferson, Voltaire and Cleopatra to name only a few, would meet and discuss topics from their own point of view. The series ran on PBS from 1977 to 1981.
A meeting of historical figures from different eras, perhaps hundreds of years apart, has been an often used literary device in books and screenplays. A “home version” where friends discuss their choices of people to dine with makes for lively (yawn) conversation…to some. So if you had the ability to pick four random people, living or dead, to dine and converse with for one evening, who would be on your guest list?
I will take this intellectual exercise a step beyond the banal and combine historical significance with a brainteaser. There is no right or wrong answer but lively conversation is sure to follow as each person says what they would do in this situation.
You have arranged a dinner with the following guests: the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln; the greatest icon of non-violent resistance, Mahatma Gandhi, playwright and poet William Shakespeare and the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, also know as Lady Godiva (something for the gentlemen). You are serving your sure-fire hit cheese soufflé and 10 minutes before the guests are due to arrive you are told one of the guests is lactose intolerant and eating cheese gives them the winds something terrible.
What would you do?