UKH

Who do you wish was around today to give their ideas and comments on that state of things?

I miss Vonnegut, Hunter Thompson, Hitch and Bourdain for their comments on politics and society.

Would love to hear Deng Xiao Ping's opinions on current China, David Sterling's on current Britain and Marshall McLuhan's on the media.

Be nice to have Glen Gould back too.

In reply to Removed Userwaitout:

Bill Hicks would be fun to have around.

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Glen Gould. Hmmm interesting. I often play his original recording of the Goldberg variations, when studying or thinking seriously. Yet I think that he was an oddity. 

If him, what about Horowitz? 

Then on from there, what about Beethoven? Or is that too far back?

In reply to veteye:

I say go as far back as you like.

I mention Gould in this instance for his views on recording techniques, the recording industry and technology, and the performing arts in general. Chaplin and Orsen Welles would be good too.

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Churchill.
Might not be to everyone's liking, but at least he would have managed to get stuff done and at the same time making people accept that those decisions no matter how restrictive were actually necessary.

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Sartre: so we could get falling-down putting-the-world-to-rights drunk together in Les Deux Magots.

Shackleton: so we don't have to spend years slowly wasting away, leaderless on the lockdown ice.

And for music, Robert Johnson, with his Hellhound on a lead.

In reply to Andy Clarke:

Which type of, and location of crossroads would you meet at?

In reply to veteye:

In Clarksdale, where Highway 61 meets Highway 49. We could get ourselves matching commemorative T shirts. (I am actually planning to visit this unashamedly touristy spot when I do a Blues Trail to celebrate my next big birthday - pandemics permitting.)

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Linda Smith & Jeremy Hardy.

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Do they have to be people who were alive during our own lives?

I still miss John Peel, for exposing me to music I'd otherwise have missed, or dismissed, and for the happily shambolic way he occasionally did it

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Bill & Ben, Andy Pandy and Larry the lamb. What would they make of the crap the kids watch today? All that CGI stuff is just weird.

In reply to nufkin:

Not at all.  

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John Peel

on US politics Alastair Cooke

In reply to Andy Clarke:

That’s the crossroads where the devil sold his soul to Keith Richards isn’t it?

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Pericles. I reckon he would be interested to see how that new-fangled democracy thing is working out.

In reply to Robert Durran:

If we're going right back I'd like to hear what Marcus Aurelius would have to say about today's society too. Perhaps much the same as he said before but it would be folly to assume that. He might be a Twitter sensation.

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It would be interesting to see what Orwell might make of things these days

In reply to DaveHK:

I'd quite like to see Homer's reaction to the cultural ubiquity of the idea of an "Odyssey" nearly three thousand years after he lived.

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Fermat, because, well, you know.

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As a cultural icon, I lament this week's passing of Spencer Davis whose music represents the sound of my teen years as much and possibly even more than the Beatles or the Stones. Definitely one of Abertawe's finest. RIP.

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As others mentioned, Vonnegut and Orwell come to mind, and I guess for the same sort of reasons I'd also choose Aldous Huxley.  I think they'd help us understand what kind of a beast our modern society actually is, and where we are / might be heading for. 

Some other people that might be able to use their skills to help us think about the world today and see ways forward, maybe David Hume and John Stuart Mill. 

Also I'd love to see what historic politicians would make of the UK and the world today, eg JFK, William Pitt the younger, William Gladstone, then going further back Emperor Justinian, Marcus Aurelius, Julius Caesar, etc... In some ways maybe the older ones would have less to offer than the more recent ones just because the world has changed so much that its hard to imagine whether what made them interesting and successful back in the day would be relevant in today's world. But then again it would still be interesting just to hear them try to get to grips with things and what they make of it coming from such a different background. 

Also not that she's dead, but I'd love to know what the Queen is really thinking. I imagine there are few other people around who have met so many public figures, been privy to politics at the highest level for decades, and communicated with so many influential people on all manner of topics. 

In reply to Tom Valentine:

I was really little, when my brother came in the house and started talking about how his school mate from round the corner was joining Spencer Davis’ band. Turns out Steve Winwood and his brother did ok....

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Benny Hill?        Sorry...

In reply to Removed Userwaitout :Is it wise to constantly hanker back to the past?  Perhaps if the 4 people you name first had lived 100 years earlier they'd have been complete non-entities and you wouldn't miss them as much.

In reply to wbo2:

No, I don't think so, but it doesn't hurt to refer to it.

Completely possible, many people significant for their times are lost to history, probably most when you think about it. Where is Mani these days? For some reason though, some aren't. In the case of those 4, they chose to record their ideas, just as Solzhenitsyn, Dickens, Machiavelli and Confucius did before them, and those ideas influence the chaotic course that history takes. 

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

Steve W is the one that you think of most  but Spencer D was the driving force I think.

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Peter Ustinov for his intellect and humour.

Peter Cooke for his humour and intellect, saw him once in the early 80's and he looked like he was a corpse.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Quite possibly, but there can't be many artists as gifted across such a spectrum as Stevie Winwood: one of the great white soul voices; superb keyboard player (Traffic passim of course - but also that Hammond organ on Voodoo Chile spurring Jimi to rarely-scaled heights); and an excellent guitarist: his solo on the live (Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired has always been one of my favourites.

In reply to Andy Clarke:

Happlily SW is not being missed yet and is still in fine form.

In reply to AukWalk:

I think the writer I'd most like to have back to comment on the current state of society would be Shelley. I'd love to hear what the author of the inspirational Mask of Anarchy would make of the moral bankruptcy of leaders like Johnson and Trump.