1. If you had the chance to meet someone you’ve never met, from the past or present, who would it be?
Jesus. What was he like? I can think of few people who have had such a pervasive influence on our world–and the close runners-up would also be religious figures: Moses, David, Solomon, Mohammed–not to mention the unique claim of divinity.
2. If you had to live in a different century, past or future, which would it be?
Well, it’s hard to guess if one should wish to live in the future, but I’d likely gamble that the future will turn out OK. So I’d probably pick two or three hundred years in the future. In the past, I’d likely pick the 19th century, which for Quakers contained both very high and very low points. And on a totally different tack, the 19th century saw the rise of the Arts and Crafts movement and the Pre-Raphaelites.
3. If you had to move anywhere else on Earth, where would it be?
London.
4. If you had to be a fictional character, who would it be?
Hmmm. Elizabeth Bennet? Witty, well-matched in love, comfortably off.
On a more fictional note, Regis Hastur: powerful, complicated and conflicted, living at a turning point.
5. If you had to live with having someone else’s face as your own for the rest of your life, whose would it be?
Daniel Day-Lewis.