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Chocolate Hobnobs with Lennon and Obama
Who would you invite to your dream tea party? That’s the question we’re asking the nation today.
Why on earth do you care? I hear you cry. Well, we’re getting ready for the start of AMNESTEA (get it?) a new fundraising campaign where we ask people to hold tea parties to raise money for Amnesty. Up and down the country around the 10th of December people’s front rooms, offices, village halls and local tea shops will be taken over and they'll be tucking into Earl Grey and fruit cake to help our human rights work.
We’re polling the nation – or at least our followers on blogs, Twitter and Facebook – to find out which historical figure they’d most want at their tea party and which living person they’d invite along too. And importantly, what biscuits would you give them?
The Amnesty press office’s fantasy tea parties threw up some interesting combinations. Mike wanted to share chocolate Hobnobs with John Lennon and Barack Obama; Sarah wants to chat socialism, suffrage and cycling with Sylvia Pankhurst and Lance Armstrong over a few Bourbons. Niall could probably gatecrash Sarah’s doo, as he’s invited Aneurin Bevan and Nelson Mandela to his party – he’ll be bringing along some Jammie Dodgers. And Becky would pair up Oscar Wilde and David Attenborough over some Viennese Whirls (which Sarah hates – biscuits are quite a divisive issue, it seems).
Personally I think my tea party would offer the best chat, as I’ve got William Shakespeare and Woody Allen coming over for a cuppa. I’ve seen all of Woody’s films so we should have plenty to chat about (why was Match Point so bad, for example?) and while I’m not sure I can quite say the same for all of William’s work, we’re Warwickshire neighbours so we can always talk about Stratford. I’m pushing the boat out in such esteemed company and buying some M&S Chocolate Gingers.
So please, add your tea party nominations below – historical figure, living person and choice of biscuit. Or you can tweet it to @Newsfromamnesty. It doesn’t even have to be someone you like: you might want to have a tough talk with Joseph Stalin and George Bush over some Garibaldis. We’ll reveal the all-time Dream Tea Party line-up next week.
And if this has got you in the teaparty mood, go to www.amnesty.org.uk/tea, order your AMNESTEA pack and start planning your ‘real world’ version, ready for Human Rights Day on the 10 December – or come to our party here at the Amnesty HQ!
Why on earth do you care? I hear you cry. Well, we’re getting ready for the start of AMNESTEA (get it?) a new fundraising campaign where we ask people to hold tea parties to raise money for Amnesty. Up and down the country around the 10th of December people’s front rooms, offices, village halls and local tea shops will be taken over and they'll be tucking into Earl Grey and fruit cake to help our human rights work.
We’re polling the nation – or at least our followers on blogs, Twitter and Facebook – to find out which historical figure they’d most want at their tea party and which living person they’d invite along too. And importantly, what biscuits would you give them?
The Amnesty press office’s fantasy tea parties threw up some interesting combinations. Mike wanted to share chocolate Hobnobs with John Lennon and Barack Obama; Sarah wants to chat socialism, suffrage and cycling with Sylvia Pankhurst and Lance Armstrong over a few Bourbons. Niall could probably gatecrash Sarah’s doo, as he’s invited Aneurin Bevan and Nelson Mandela to his party – he’ll be bringing along some Jammie Dodgers. And Becky would pair up Oscar Wilde and David Attenborough over some Viennese Whirls (which Sarah hates – biscuits are quite a divisive issue, it seems).
Personally I think my tea party would offer the best chat, as I’ve got William Shakespeare and Woody Allen coming over for a cuppa. I’ve seen all of Woody’s films so we should have plenty to chat about (why was Match Point so bad, for example?) and while I’m not sure I can quite say the same for all of William’s work, we’re Warwickshire neighbours so we can always talk about Stratford. I’m pushing the boat out in such esteemed company and buying some M&S Chocolate Gingers.
So please, add your tea party nominations below – historical figure, living person and choice of biscuit. Or you can tweet it to @Newsfromamnesty. It doesn’t even have to be someone you like: you might want to have a tough talk with Joseph Stalin and George Bush over some Garibaldis. We’ll reveal the all-time Dream Tea Party line-up next week.
And if this has got you in the teaparty mood, go to www.amnesty.org.uk/tea, order your AMNESTEA pack and start planning your ‘real world’ version, ready for Human Rights Day on the 10 December – or come to our party here at the Amnesty HQ!
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38 Comments
This is a toughie but… I think I'd go for a mixture of Fox's Butter Crinkle Crunch and some ginger nuts, a nice pot of Ringtons 1907 blend, a gossip with a young Evelyn Waugh and really, I'd like to invite Friedrich Nietzsche but am sure that would result in the most bonkers tea party since Alice in Wonderland…
Yes Gandhi would be on my list too but he wouldn't like my choice of biccies of a good old custard cream.
I'd also have Nelson Mandela and Maya Angelou as well. I reckon they'll have interesting tales to tell.
i would crib up on tea facts and poetry before my tea party so as to appear informed and good company to my esteemed guests; i would chip in things like this:
you know william gladstone said of tea:
If you are cold, tea will warm you; if you are too
heated, it will cool you; if you are depressed, it will
cheer you; if you are exhausted, it will calm you.
and then i might add:
and mr anon said:
Bread and water can so easily be toast and tea
and i'm sure they'd come back again…..
I'd go with plain chocolate hobnobs, Mungo Park and Nelson Mandela. But only if we could have coffee at this tea party and not tea.
Marie-Antoinette and Jarvis Cocker with either batternberg cake or cadbury's chocolate fingers
For a real tea party – party rings! Yeahhh. I'd invite (my favourite author) Isabel Allende, no one else, just her – she might find my adoration of her a bit scary, but tough luck 'cos it's my dream party, not hers!
I was going to invite Oscar Wilde but seems like he's busy attending someone else's tea party.
Thus Valentine Warner (posh but lovely chef) and Emile Zola for some bookish chat. We'd have Keemun tea (nice smoky flavour) and biscuit-wise, it has to be the bourbon or the humble rich tea..
"Tea is liquid wisdom"
Tea – Teapigs Chilli Chai
Biscuit – Plain Chocolate Digestives
Dead – Joe Strummer
Alive – Difficult. Every time I meet someone 'inspirational' I feel robbed. So I'd go for a random person from around the globe who experiences everything completely differently to me – and just talk.
Right then. Tea – Yogi liquorice tea in one of my hand made Jack Doherty porcelain tea bowls. (I would normally go for the creamy hot chocolate option, but i'll stick to the rules for once….)
Biscuits – Despite being a Party Ring and Iced Gems fan, someone has already bagged that packet from the shelves up above. So I'm going for an old favourite of Scottish Shortcake. Proper stuff though, like I used to make from my Wombles recipe book as a lad. Not the cheap supermarket stuff. Of course. (Shortcake with tea? hmmmm…not quite right….maybe I do need hot chocolate after all??????)
Dead person – Tank Man from Tiananmen Sq. I'd want to know his life story, his motivation for being in the student protests and let him know that his was one of the most important images of the 20th Centuary. Amazing what a simple gesture of peaceful protest by a single person with a carrier bag can convey.
Living person – I'd like someone such as Eddie Izzard or Ross Noble but it's worrisome that they'd not live up to my ideals about them in real life. But it's got to be worth a punt hasn't it. Let Eddie shine I say!
Location – my lounge, with the wood stove lit and my choice of Cinematic Orchestra album on in the background whilst we three chew the cud. Hmmmmm….Cosy.
Being awkward I can't drink tea or coffee as they make me really ill so it would have to be camomile tea with local honey for me.
I have always wanted to meet William Morris, one of the most hardworking creative people ever but with a social conscience. Sounds corny but I would love to have had the Princess of Wales there – he would have been blushing like a schoolboy in minutes - because they were both caring people, but I'll have to opt for Kaffe Fassett, the knitwear designer and artist.
Two very creative workaholics in one room with some home baked oat and raisin cookies, lemon scumbles and banana cake. And we'd have BBC Radio 4 murmuring in the background.
Thanks everyone for the wealth of responses. Personally I've expanded my knowledge of tea varieties no end from this blog and will clearly have to broaden my horizons from current cuppa PG Tips.
And please, don't worry about duplicating someone else's choice – we're trying to find out who is the most popular choice!
Keep 'em coming,
steve
I like a cup of tea as much as anyone else, but I think its interesting that you would specifically mention M&S bisquits as a part of a fundraiser for human rights. This is a company that has been strongly allied with the Israel and its oppresive activities for many years. Those who support human rights, should also support Palestinian rights.
From Boycott Israeli Goods at http://www.bigcampaign.org/:
Historically, Marks & Spencer has made statements in support of
Zionism. Lord Sieff, chairman and founder of M&S who died in 2001,
made several statements in support of Israel's military policies. In
1941, Sieff said that "large sections of the Arab population of
Palestine should be transplanted to Iraq and other Middle-Eastern Arab
States" (Jewish Chronicle, 21/09/1941). In 1990, Sieff, in a book
entitled On Management: The Marks and Spencer Way, wrote that one of the fundamental objectives of M&S was to "aid the economic development of Israel."
Hello, (apologies to Steve for veering off Blog topic…)
Jean said "Those who support human rights, should also support Palestinian rights."
Who says we don't? I think most us here do indeed support Palestinian rights and have been vocal about it too. Just because some people shop at M&S (and choose not to boycott) does not mean they do not support the Palestinian cause and are thus pro-Israeli / anti-Palestinian.
Being pro-human rights does not exclude believing that Israeli citizens have rights too. Both sides have a right to exist (IMHO according to the ignored UN declarations). And both sides have committed war crimes which is unacceptable. So I do reject your intimation (and I choose that word carefully) that the commentors above who mentioned M&S are not pro-human rights or even being hypocritical.
This is tough… two people?
I think I would invite Mark Thomas for a big of activist chat, and C.S.Lewis for a bit of literary chat.
As for the tea- peppermint all the way. Biscuits? Shortbread, every time. But if I was allowed what I believe is technically cake, homemade Scones would win every time.
I would invite Eddie Izzard… He could be 'Mum' :D
I would like to get the great man himself…Burns into a room with all the ladies he seduced (OK big room) because I think everyone should face all their responsibilities once in their lives.
As to food…a little humble pie goes a long way with a delicate Green Tea to cleanse the system.
The results are in!
Here are the people you most wanted to take tea with:
http://blogs_entry.asp?eid=4821
I would have battenburg cake and french fancies.
I too would opt for coffee so long as it wasn't freeze dried reconstituted muck. If I had to have tea it would have to be builders tea all the way unless someone really did provide Baklava and then it would have to be chai safferon.
Dead people ay mmmmmmm it would have to be the Prophet Mohammed PBUH or maybe even his wife Aisha PBUH. (although it that case I might rethink the french fancies). Mother Teresa would be next on
Living people is harder - Aung san suu Kyi! I think the Elizabeth Windsor rather than The Queen would be very interesting!!!! I think Queen Rania would also have a lot to say.