Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?

I was recently reading a newspaper interview with a "celebrity" when they asked him "Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?" which got me thinking who would I invite to my dream dinner party.

I came up with a list of Muhammad Ali, Clement Attlee, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Winston Churchill, Bill Clinton, Mahatma Gandhi, John F Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, John Simpson, Margaret Thatcher and Malcolm X.

I'm just really impressed with what these people achieved in the civil right movement, journalism, politics or sports and would love to have them round a dinner table discussing their thoughts.

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali maybe a retired boxer but the former three time world heavyweight champion and Olympic gold medal winner may still be one of the best known boxers. Muhammad Ali has been crowned "Sportsman of the Century" by Sports Illustrated and the BBC.

Clement Attlee

Clement Attlee was Deputy Prime Minister from February 1942 to May 1945 and Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951. Under Clement Attlee the Labour Party won a landslide election victory after World War II making Clement Attlee the first Labour Prime Minister to the first to have a majority in Parliament and serve a full Parliamentary term. In my opinion Clement Attlee (along with Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman & Thatcher) led one of the most ground-breaking, radical and revolutionary British governments of the twentieth century. Clement Attlee's government decolonised large parts of the British Empire, expanded the welfare state and nationalised major industries and public utilities.

Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman

Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman was Prime Minister from December 1905 until April 1908. With Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman as Prime Minister the government introduced sick pay and old age pensions

Sir Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Churchill was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Sir Winston Churchill held a number of political and cabinet positions before the First World War and during the First World War and then during the interwar years Sir Winston Churchill served as Chancellor of the Exchequer. After the outbreak of the Second World War, Sir Winston Churchill was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty but following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain Sir Winston Churchill became Prime Minister and led the British war effort during the war. After losing the 1945 election, Sir Winston Churchill became the leader of the opposition and 1951 became Prime Minister again before retiring in 1955.

Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton was the forty-second President of the United States (from 1993 to 2001). Before becoming president Bill Clinton was Governor of Arkansas. Bill Clinton presided over the longest period of peace-time economic expansion in American history. Bill Clinton was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives for perjury and obstruction of justice but was subsequently acquitted by the United States Senate. Since leaving office, Bill Clinton created the William J. Clinton Foundation to promote and address international causes, such as treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS and global warming. Bill Clinton launched the first official White House website in October 1994 and supported the North American Free Trade Agreement. In December 1998 Operation Desert Fox a bombing campaign to weaken Saddam Hussein's grip on power over Iraq was launched and in March 1999 Operation Allied Force, a NATO campaign against the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was launched. Bill Clinton also tried to address the Arab-Israeli conflict; Bill Clinton brought Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat together. Bill Clinton also supported efforts to find a peaceful solution in Northern Ireland and including on Good Friday in April 1998 making telephone calls to party leaders in Northern Ireland encouraging them to reach an agreement. The biggest failure of the Bill Clinton administration was its reluctance to get involved in the in 1994 Rwanda genocide.

Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi was the political and spiritual leader of the Indian independence movement. Mahatma Gandhi pioneered Satyagraha a means of resisting tyranny through civil disobedience. Mahatma Gandhi was a British educated lawyer who first used his ideas of peaceful civil disobedience as an Indian struggling for civil rights in South Africa and then after returning to India organised poor farmers & labourers to protest against oppressive taxation and widespread discrimination. Mahatma Gandhi led campaigns across India on a wide range of issues above all for the independence of India. Mahatma Gandhi was imprisoned for many years on numerous occasions in both South Africa and India and throughout his life remained committed to non-violence. Mahatma Gandhi and his teachings have been an inspiration to many campaigners over the years.

John F Kennedy

John F Kennedy was the thirty-fifth President of the United States (from 1961 to 1963). John F Kennedy was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953 and then a U.S. Senator from 1953 to 1961. During John F Kennedy's time as president there was the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Space Race and the American Civil Rights Movement. John F Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas.

Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King was one of the main leaders of the American civil rights movement. A political activist and Baptist minister Martin Luther King is regarded as one of America's greatest orators. Martin Luther King's most influential and well-known speech is the "I Have A Dream" which was delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington in 1963. In 1964 Martin Luther King became the youngest man to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (for his work as a peacemaker, promoting non-violence and equal treatment for different races). On April 4, 1968, King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela is the former President of South Africa, the first to be elected in fully representative democratic elections. Before becoming president Nelson Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist and leader of the African National Congress. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison. Following his release from prison in 1990 Nelson Mandela switched to a policy of reconciliation and negotiation helping transition to multi-racial democracy in South Africa. Nelson Mandela received more than one hundred awards over four decades, most notably the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

John Simpson

John Simpson is the BBC's World Affairs Editor, in a BBC career over 40 years; John Simpson has earned a reputation as one of the world's most experienced and authoritative journalists. Since starting at the BBC in 1966 John Simpson has reported from 120 countries including 36 war zones, and has interviewed more than 150 kings, presidents and prime ministers. John Simpson's assignments have included the great majority of big international news stories since the Eighties: the Iranian revolution against the Shah, the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe and in Russia itself, Tiananmen Square, the Gulf War, the wars in Bosnia, the end of apartheid in South Africa, the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher was British Prime Minister (from 1979 to 1990) and leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 until 1990, being the first and to date only woman to hold either post. Margaret Thatcher's was longest serving Prime Minister since Lord Salisbury and was the longest continuous period in office as Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool. After the 1979 General Election Margaret Thatcher succeeded James Callaghan as PM. Margaret Thatcher is well remembered as a Prime Minister who led a radical programme of privatisation and deregulation, reform of the Trade Unions, tax cuts and war against Argentina in the Falkland Islands.

Malcolm X

Malcolm X or El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz was an American Muslim and for sometime the spokesman for Nation of Islam. Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam in 1964 and went on a pilgrimage (Hajj) to Saudi Arabia and converted Sunni Islam. After returning to USA Malcolm X founded the Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. Malcolm X was later assassinated in Washington Heights.