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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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John Bull
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The personification of the English nation. He first appeared in print in 1712 in a pamphlet by John Arbuthnot (1667–1735), where he is contrasted with Lewis Baboon (representing the French) and other foreign characters. Arbuthnot describes him as an 'honest plain-dealing fellow, choleric, bold and of a very inconstant temper'. The same century produced someone who has often seemed the essential flesh-and-blood version – Dr *Johnson, described by Boswell as 'at bottom much of a John Bull, much of a blunt true-born Englishman'.
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