Last week, I was invited by my friends at The 5ive Blog to guest feature while one of their members took a break. They are a delightful little blog, where each contributor ranks their top five of a weekly topic, then the rest comment on that list. I'm a sucker for a good list, so this blog scratches a sort of itch.

For a topic, I suggested that we each share the top five living figures we most dream about spending time with. I had terrific fun crafting my list, and found that discovering the influences of others is a terrific way to learn more about them.

Head over The 5ive Blog to read my contributions (I wrote the intoduction, along with my list and the commentaries). And please comment with your top five picks. I'm genuinely curious.

By the way, I posted this list on Twitter, tagging some of the individuals I had listed. Malcolm Guite got back to me, saying that next time I'm in Cambridge he'd be happy to have a pipe with me. So it's true. Some dreams really can come true!