My three dinner guests, Violet, Malala and Lizzie

If you can invite three people to dinner, who would you choose and why? They can be anyone from the past or present, real or fictional, someone you know or a total stranger, and one of them must be from Hive.

This is February Three Challenges topic. Let me tell you who I'm inviting to my virtual dinner party. And if you're interested, why not host your own and share it in the Three Challenges community.

The first person I'd like to invite to dinner is Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham. This is a fictional character played by Dame Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey, my favourite TV series.

Source : Town and Country

Violet Crawley is the matriarch of the Grantham family. She is a born and bred English upper class aristocrat, snobbish and self-centered in a sense because that's the only world she knows. She is most famous for her witty one-liners, direct and straight to the point. For example

What is a weekend?
Don’t be defeatist, dear. It’s very middle class.
I was right about my maid. She’s leaving to get married. I mean, how could she be so selfish?
You know me: never complain, never explain
The presence of strangers is our only guarantee of good behaviour
I don’t dislike him. I just don’t like him, which is quite different

Despite her snobbery, she has a heart although she doesn't like to admit it. One can't help not liking this granny despite her snobbishness. She would be an excellent guest at a dinner party, her dry sense of humour will surely keep our dinner conversations flowing like champagne throughout the evening.

The second person is Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist fighting for equal rights to education for girls around the world. Malala was shot by the Taliban when she was 15, and now lives in England.

Source : United Nations

Many people's destiny was defined at a very young age and Malala was one of them. When Malala was 11, she started blogging about Taliban's influence in her home region, and how they stopped girls from going to school by bombing up the schools. When she was 15, the Taliban decided to kill her. What coward is afraid of a 15 year old and needs to kill her?

Malala survived the assassination, but Taliban's bullet went through her head leaving one side of her face paralysed. She was airlifted to UK for treatment and spent 10 days on induced coma. Luckily there was no damage to her brain. She was awarded the Nobel peace prize at 17, and graduated from Oxford University later on. What an amazing achievement.

Malala is the complete opposite to Violet, both remarkable females in their own way and era. I think it Violet would be so impressed with Malala's cause.

The final person I'd like to invite to dinner is @lizelle. I have met quite a few people from Hive, and there are many that I'd love to meet, Lizelle being one of them.

Lizelle runs a successful Airbnb on South Africa, and in Violet Crawley's eyes would be considered a working class, far from her world. However, Violet is also supportive of woman forging their own career, it will be interesting to see her take on the Airbnb concept. Lizelle is a keen and creative cook, perhaps she'd like to learn some authentic recipes from Malala, assuming she's a good cook.

I reckon Lizelle would be such a giggle at my dinner party and the perfect bridge between the old and the young.

I'd love to see who you invite to your own virtual dinner party. I won't be offended if you don't invite me because I'll be reading all about it here!!