Shakespeare, democracy and raspberry-ripple

THE proud philistine—in the sense of someone with little or no interest in the Arts and culture—is one of Britain’s notable contributions to the world. It sits alongside (in ascending order of importance, at least to a philistine) Shakespeare, Parliamentary democracy, Monty Python, the floral tie and raspberry-ripple ice cream. The term comes, of course, from the Bible, which characterises the Philistines as coarse and belligerent enemies of the Israelites. That association resulted in the word being used pejoratively by the students of Jena university in the 17th century to describe the populace(1869). In fairness, Arnold was no more flattering to the aristocracy, whom he termed ‘barbarians’.