Guess Who's Coming to Dinner - Part II

After criticism that the last list was too much on the Testosterone side of life, I've been giving some thought to the ten women I would invite to dinner. Quite a challenge in itself.

1. Edith Cavell. Heroine of the First World War. "I realise that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone."
2. Marilyn Monroe. What did go on with the Kennedy Brothers?
3. Constance Markiewicz. First Woman elected to the UK Parliament. What was it like during the Easter Rising?
4. Joan of Arc. St Joan
   
5. Stevie Smith. One of Hull's lesser known daughters. Great Poet.
6. Soong May-ling. Otherwise known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek.
7. Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. 'nuff said
8. Dolores Ibárruri Gómez. Otherwise known as La Pasionaria. "No Pasaran!"
9. Helen Suzman. Anti-Apartheid Campaigner.
10. Joni Mitchell. For the music - especially Big Yellow Taxi

So there you go. 10 women for dinner. I think I may need a translator ;)

VV

Top Tunes

As many of you know I've been doing "Today's Top Tune" on Facebook and Twitter for some time now (about 18 months on and off) and I just thought I would share the Top Ten Tunes currently on my iPod. As many of you know I have an eclectic taste in music so here goes:

1. Reasons not to be an Idiot - Frank Turner (45 Plays)

2.Good Monsters - Jars of Clay (43 Plays)

=3. Mirrors & Smoke - Jars of Clay (37)

=3. April Skies - Jesus & Mary Chain (37)

=5. Work - Jars of Clay (36)

=5. Heavy Metal Drummer - Wilco (36)

7. American English - Idlewild (35)

8. Dead Man (Carry Me) - Jars of Clay (32)

=9. Evening of Swing (has been Cancelled) - Half Man Half Biscuit (31)

=9. Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down - Alicia Keys (31)

Bubbling under are tracks from Stiff Little Fingers, Feeder, The Killers, Placebo, Ska-P, The Gaslight Anthem and Snow Patrol.

Watch this space Pop Pickers :)

VV

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

I just looked at this blog and realised I haven't really had much to say for myself in the last 12 months which has been longer than the 140 characters which Twitter will give you (@vauxhallvelox in case there was ever any doubt).

So what's brought me back to the blogosphere? Nothing in particular, just a sudden urge to blog on something. And here it is. The ten people I would invite to a dinner party.

1. Colonel Theodore Roosevelt - Medal of Honor winner, liberal Republican President of the USA and a particular hero of mine.
2. John Adams - 1st Vice President of the USA and 2nd President. Constitutionalist (well I am a bit of a constitutional geek). Was a toss up between Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
3. David Penhaligon - Leader of the Liberal Party that never was. "Put it on a piece of paper and put it through a letter box."
4. John Wesley - Founder of Methodism
5. Noel Chavasse - one of only three men to be awarded two Victoria Crosses.
6. General Sir Ian Hamilton - twice nominated for a VC but never awarded. I want to ask him about all the cock-ups surrounding the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915.
7. Billy Bragg - well we need some music and I agree with a lot of his politics, especially on electoral reform.
8. Dietrich Bonhoeffer - German Pastor, member of the July Plot against Hitler - executed at Flossenberg in 1945. "We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself."
9. William Ewart Gladstone - only person to be British Prime Minister four times.
10. Victor d'Hondt - if only to find out how his eponymous system actually works.

There we have it. I'm sure there are others I could have chosen and I'm sure you won't all agree with my choices but I think it would make for an interesting dinner party.

VV