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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Colonel Blimp
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A fat, pompous retired army officer, with a rooted objection to any new idea, who was created and used as a regular character (from 1934) by David *Low. The words 'blimp' and 'blimpish' have entered the language for anyone with similar attitudes. The colonel, bald and plump with long moustaches, was most often seen pontificating in a Turkish bath. His name was probably borrowed from a similarly soft, round and witless object, for 'blimp' was the common name for gas-filled aerial balloons of a kind first used in World War I.
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