I would like to speak with a leader among the Neanderthal.  

My choice, for what little it's worth, would be Herodotus, the so-called "father of history." I'd like to know the extent of his actual travels, how his work was received, where he got the grossly inflated figures for Persian forces (which he would have known would have been logistically impossible at the time), etc.

Benjamin Franklin....just so I can tell him to go fly a kite.

Yup! Can't make bread without good dough.

Nostradamus for the obvious reasons.

Took the words right out of my mind.

Being serious, one person I'd like to speak with in depth is Sir Winston Churchill, given he was such an enigmatic person.  I met him briefly when he visited my school in 1964, but there were so many questions and not enough time.  He was there to award another student and myself certificates of excellence for our essays on the causes of WWII, but his time was limited and the opportunity to chat was short.

actually.... it would be really cool to be able to tell Vincent just how successful he eventually was.... that he's probably the most famous artist on the planet...

would be great to watch him get his head around that one..... I really liked that episode of Dr Who.... bringing him to the present at the Musée d'Orsay...

if I only had a Tardis...  

[quote quoting="post"]
Just one. Just for one hour. They'll miraculously be able to understood your native tongue, though they will have no idea about technologies subsequent to their death. You can talk to them about anything they'd know. Of course, you can discuss other stuff, too, but they'll probably just look at you as though you were crazy.

 

Whom would you choose to speak with?

Myself from the past and tell him to stay away from my future wife

Everyone's entitled to their own answer, and I do not mean to question yours. But Jesus (or any other religious figure) to me would be a waste of a brilliant opportunity (not that my choice was very interesting).

The way I see it, Jesus is one of two things (I'm assuming here that he existed at all). Jesus is either 1) the true son of god or 2) a normal person with ideas that were grand at the time. Now, if it was 2) then it wouldn't be interesting to talk to him. He wouldn't be able to say anything that a modern moderate preacher wouldn't. No grand discoveries, no hidden truths. Really just platitudes. Probably a few corrections for what's in the bible. But what do you really expect? "Yes, the crusades were horrible. No, the death penalty is not a christian thing. Please don't drop more nukes."

And if 1) was true, that he was the son of god, then surely it would be more interesting to talk to god instead.

Albert Einstein. I'd really like to understand that theory of his.

Isaac Newton, or Carl Sagan. I'd be very torn between those two.. One has a mind that is quite frankly beyond the scope of my measure, and the other a passionate presence that embodies what it means to have a love of knowledge. I'm afraid a thousand years would not be near enough to determine which I'd choose, if only one could be chosen.

And now that I think about it, maybe the person who invented the antikythera mechanism.. That'd be an interesting conversation too I think. I'd love to know how the idea for that device came about during a time when nothing else quite like it existed. At least to my (limited) knowledge. Actually, the longer I think about it the more people pop into my head, but still.. Few are giants as Isaac Newton or Carl Sagan to me, so.. yeah. Tough call.