The British are supposed to be particularly averse to intellectuals a prejudice closely bound up with their dislike of foreigners. Indeed one important source of this Anglo-Saxon distaste for highbrows and eggheads was the French revolution which was seen as an attempt to reconstruct society on the basis of abstract rational principles.

There's all this stuff that is happening in Edinburgh now it's a sad attempt to create an Edinburgh society similar to a London society a highbrow literature celebrity society.

I'm not an especially highbrow person but I have always loved small quirky edgy movies.

There can be no two opinions as to what a highbrow is. He is the man or woman of thoroughbred intelligence who rides his mind at a gallop across country in pursuit of an idea.