Fab Five Series: C’mon People, Participate!!!

Sgt. Pepper’s album cover. A work of art in and of itself. More than five people, but a good example of what I’d like from you.

When I was younger, my father would ask friends and acquaintances to name their five favorite historical figures. He didn’t require an answer straight away. You could go home and think about it and get back to him. He said you could tell a lot about a person by the answers they gave. Some people would put so much time and effort into their answer with lengthy justifications. Tedious care would be taken to select the perfect five. Others? Not so much.

I’ve been mulling over a way to incorporate this icebreaker into my blog. Then it hit me. I’ll ask other writers to play along. That’s where you come in! If you’d like to participate it’s simple. First you select the five historical figures you want to include. The criteria for selection is completely up to you.

My father chose people who were larger than life, people who impressed upon him when he was younger what the meaning of greatness was, people who are known by one name! Beethoven, Napoleon, Einstein. My wife chose people she’d like to talk to or have a drink with, people with something to tell or something to hide. Lee Harvery Oswald, Anastasia Romanov, Salvador Dali.

Once you’ve chosen your Fab Five you need to do the writeup. It should be six paragraphs or so. In the first paragraph tell us who you are, what interest you have in history, any work that you do that you’d like mentioned and/or linked to (your blog, Twitter handle, whatever…) and, most importantly, what you’re criteria for selection is. Then you’ll give a paragraph on each of the five, explaining why you chose them or what significance they have. The paragraphs can be as short or long as you like them. You don’t need to give a bio of the person unless you feel it’s needed.

You e-mail it all to me and I’ll do the rest. Include any image that you want to use for the person if you think it’ll be hard for me to scrounge one up. Also include any links to any work of yours you may want mentioned as well as any contact info or social media. You can include a picture of yourself if you like.

yesterday.unhinged@gmail.com

I’m hoping this fosters discussion as well as serving as a platform to cross-promote our work or hobbies. Plus, you’re writing my blog for me!

I’ll post one a week until the well runs dry. Can’t wait to hear from you.

Here they go.

I’m up first. You’ll have to excuse the beginning of the post. It’s got the exact same writeup as above. Just scroll down to get to the goods.

A Khan, Rousseau, Orwell, a Sex Machine and The Greatest  By Aaron Malone from Yesterday Unhinged

TE Lawrence, a PM, an Honest Man, Schindler & a Jedi  By Robert Horvat from If It Happened Yesterday, It’s History and The History of the Byzantine Empire.

An Inept Ruler, a Leper, Raymond of Tripoli, a Knight and a Ragged Hermit  By Sharyn Eastaugh from the History of the Crusades Podcast.

Dinner with the GenSek, the Sage of Monticello and More  By Sean Munger of seanmunger.com and Zombies of Byzantium fame.

The First Computer Programmer, the Father of Science Fiction & More  By Richard Shephard, the King of the Twittersphere (@rshepherd1964).

An Amateur Who Changed The Skies, The Definition of Incompetence & More  By Jenny Bennett of 1870 to 1918, a new blog about a self-explanatory time period, and Endless Streams and Forests.

One of the Greats of American Literature, a Pair of Conspirators & More  By Undine, host of Strange Company and The World of Edgar Allan Poe, two great blogs you should definitely check out.