If you could experience one historical event firsthand, which would it be and why?

I don't know how much of an"historical event" it is now, but if I showed up to Steven Hawking's "Time Traveller party" I imagine it would become one.

I guess I might say King John signing the Magna Carta at Runnymede, because it was the foundation for the rule of law in the West. But it was just a bunch of smelly dudes in a marsh. A lot of historical events are important, but not that spectacular to see.

So if I'm honest, it'd be Queen at Live Aid.

If I can experience it without dying, I’d say the asteroid that killed all the dinosaurs.

Seeing the first person to spell subtle with a b

Jesus throwing the conmen out of the church.

I don't care for the religion, but if this actually happened, it would be so satisfying to see. So-called "christians" act more like the ones he kicked out than their supposed "lord" himself.

i wanna visit that one Christmas in world war one where they all got over their shit for a day and had snowball fights and stuff. play in the snow with some of the most damaged and traumatized people in history.

Jan 6, so i can blast benny hill music.

My great grandfather was aboard the USS Missouri when the Japanese came aboard to surrender. He always said that it was one of the biggest moments of his life, and he always regretted that he didn't have a camera during that visit. I think that I would like to go back in time to that event, and bring a camera with me.

i already have experienced a few in my lifetime. i can't say that they were generally positive experiences.

I've always wished I could have taken part in the Menlo Park Homebrew Computer Club from 75 to 86.

The first meeting of the club was held on March 5, 1975, in French's garage in Menlo Park, San Mateo County, California, on the occasion of the arrival in the area of the first Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) Altair 8800 microcomputer, a unit sent for review by People's Computer Company. Steve Wozniak credits that first meeting as the inspiration to design the Apple I.

So I guess I would use the incredible advancement of time travel to go back a few years before I was born to hang out in some dude's garage.

The problem with most major historical events is that they're not fun. I would choose Field of the Cloth of Gold because it was just a big festival for weeks.

Apollo moon landing

The surrender at Appomattox, so I could tell the Union generals to keep burning until every plantation and its owners were ash

When hitler killed himself in the bunker. I would have been fascinated to witness how a guy responsible for millions of deaths somehow considered himself the victim and was forced to commit suicide. He was an evil bastard and a coward unwilling to face the consequences of his actions.

(Putting aside if the Bible's stories are real or not for a moment...)

Moses talking to God (aka 'The Burning Bush').

I'm not religious, but I'd love to witness God actually speaking to somebody.

Julius Caesar declaring himself an emperor, the celebration and seeing the man that essentially turned rome from a powerful republic to the most powerful empire with a military that dominated majority of europe.

The Battle of Agincourt. It would be interesting to confirm how effective the English longbows really were compared to the theory that the mud was really the deciding factor against the French.

Also the battle of Hastings. To see how a shield wall worked.

The extinction of the dinosaurs. Or the big bang.

Either of those sound like a blast.

Mine would be witnessing the first nuclear explosion at the trinity test site.

Brutus stabbing some little king wannabe.

I'd cross the Alps with Hannibal. I can't imagine, living right now right where he went straight through, what it looked like at he time.

I'd love to be in the room when George Lucas first screens Star Wars to Spielberg and pals. The version before Marcia Lucas saved it with her editing prowess.

Does Woodstock count?

Crucifixion of Jesus. Also the resurrection if staying there for a few days is allowed.

the KT impact

The big bang, to see how it all started.

Gettysburg Address

1893's World's Columbian Exposition.

The moment that life on earth began.

Hmm. I want to say something mysterious, like what happened to some sailing ship that disappeared, or something like that to know what happened.

Or there's some guy that buried a treasure in Missouri and left the location in a cryptogram that hasn't been solved to this day.

But I think it would be most fun to witness Apollo 11's first space walk. Niel be talking about "one small step for man" and I just walk up applauding. And then ask for a lift home.

I honestly can’t think of any historically significant event that doesn’t involve or depend upon major suffering of some sort -even the happy moments are only happy because of an end of horrible things- so I’ll just pass entirely. History sucks because humans suck.

But If we assume that time can flow in both ways, I’ll choose to go somewhere in the future-past. Maybe the day we put boots on ground in another solar system, or put an end to scarcity, if either of those ever even happen..

Yes, the Berlin wall for me too.

And when the white government in South Africa resigned, and Mandela became the boss.

Franz Ferdinand.

Charles I getting a little off the top.

Assuming I have to be a passive observer, the moment when humans learned to create fire.

It'd have to be the construction of The Sphinx or the Giza pyramids for me.

Not a major event, but there's a number of football ⚽ matches I wish I could have been at, not least the 1961 and 1968 Scottish Cup finals.

Assuming I was in some kind of protective bubble, the big bang, to see how it actually looked like.

My favourite one is yet to come. Come on Putin die already.

I'd be kind of interested to see the gathering where the Dutch killed and ate their prime minister.

Me too, I used to live there.

Human extinction. Be it a massive, catastrophic event or a whimper of a thing, it would be fun to witness the end of our run through time.

Hard question. Something that had to be amazing was Times Square on V-J day. Had to been a hell of a party and a feeling knowing that mess was over.

Last time this was asked, someone said the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and I don't think they meant for the historical insights...

Drpends. If i was allowed to live past it, the extinction of the dinosaurs

Probably the christians arriving in Jerusalem and killing everyone.

Pretty grim choice.

Bring back the USSR