Who's your favourite historical figure?

I don't think Lenin was best case scenario.

Here is the description:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT2z0nrsQ8o&pp=ygUiZXBpYyByYXAgYmF0dGxlcyBvZiBoaXN0b3J5IHB1dGluIA%3D%3D

Alas further reinforcement that Lenin is indeed best possible case scenario.
"Stopped the greatest revolution since the birth of Marx" was a fantastic line.

Oda Nobunaga (1538-1582). He was a warlord in the 16th century whose ambition was to unite Japan under a single banner. He's actually where my username comes from. In June 1582, his retainers Akechi Mitsuhide betrayed him and ambushed him at the Honno-ji Temple in Kyoto. When Oda realised there was no escape, he asked his pageboy Mori Ranmaru (whom he also had a sexual relationship with) to set the temple on fire. He then commit seppuku so that Akechi could not take his head. Mori followed him into death. Something that drew me to Oda was that he was very ambitious and he had good values, however he was often considered a fool and undermined.

After him, then Guo Jia (170-207 AD). Guo Jia was an advisor to the military warlord Cao Cao during the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history. Guo Jia's strategies were not only brilliant but they were also instrumental to Cao Cao's success on the battlefield. In 207 AD, Cao Cao's army won the Battle of White Wolf Mountain due to Guo Jia's quick thinking. Unfortunately, Guo Jia died shortly after from illness. In 208 AD, Cao Cao lost in the largest naval battle in history (in terms of participants at least, according to Norwich University) known as the Battle of Red Cliffs (aka Battle of Chibi). Cao Cao has been quoted saying that had Guo Jia been there, then things would have gone differently. He continued to mourn Guo Jia's loss long after he was gone, lamenting over his death in letters he sent to others. Guo Jia was an incredibly intelligent person and if there was any way I could sit down and have a drink with him I 100% would.

But hes french (corsica) so thats fair.

He was a practitioner of Stoicism and wrote the book 'Meditations'; a book which had I not read, would have never led me down the path of Stoicism and self improvement.

Without such a philosophy I would still be in a depressive rut, so in a way he and his writings saved me.

Can be any past person (that existed) or someone who is still alive but has made history.

I've always loved Benjamin Franklin. He was an adventurer and an incredible polymath. He was born in poverty; and escaped an apprenticeship under his brother; and ended up a famous diplomat in France and addressing the House of Parliament in London. A great scientist and is credited with various invention which he never patented; and knew and met the great thinkers of the age, from David Hume to Thomas Paine. He left behind a huge amount of material and diaries, and wrote the first autobiography, including the funny 'Poor Richard's Almanack'.

Then, I've always wished I could meet Oscar Wilde. He died in such dire drab circumstances & at a very young age with Robbie Ross at his side. I think his boys suffered also and died young. I would have loved for him to know just how many people would continue to read and admire him many many years after his death and he would become an icon, campaigner etc. Interestingly, the prosecution barrister against him was Sir Horace Avory who, as a judge, was so noted for sending men to the gallows that he was knowen as "the hanging judge".

Simone de Beauvoir, Emmeline Pankhurst.

A paedophile and a terrorist. Amazing.

Bit harsh to describe Mrs Pankhurst as a terrorist.
Emily Davidson, sure.

Whilst the mass criminality that Mrs Pankhurst ordered her WSPU activists to commit, publicly justified for years and brazenly turned a blind eye to in the name of the 'votes for women' cause was indeed thuggish & wholly despicable.
Her main objectives were to inflict immense economic damage via attacks upon items of valuable property and cause immense social disruption. Not to terrorise or use violent criminality to kill people/inflict serious physical harm.

I'm not an apologist for terrorists and paedophiles.

Now this is a difficult one.

Frederick II the Great of Prussia is defo one of the most fascinating historical figures out there, given he was both a strategic mastermind and had some innovative philosophical ideas for his time. Not 100% sure he’s my favourite historical figure though.