Like most writers of hugely successful commercial fiction, Michael Crichton has a propensity to attract ridicule from highbrow critics.

The result was a popular, yet innovative art that, for a time at least, captured the imagination of both the public and many highbrow critics.

"And with the money you do spend, put it on the screen; don't waste it on the egos of actors or on nonsense that might appeal to some highbrow critics."

More than important exposure to the highbrow critics, their appearance signaled a revolution in the culture which several of the most eminent critics and fans resisted.

Understandably nervous highbrow critics have often denounced rock not just for its real or imagined sexual licentiousness (the usual complaint) but also for its hypnotic, brutalizing power.

Perhaps in the future, highbrow critics will wake up to this.

A refusal to heed the advice of highbrow cultural critics is nothing new.

While "Salesman" opened to - and has continued to enjoy - enormous popular success, both the play and its author have maintained a less than stellar reputation among many highbrow critics.

The highbrow critics dissent, arguing that director Iain Softley has flattened the subtleties of James' novel.

All but the most stubbornly highbrow critics would probably agree that the mingling of pop and classical has had a genuinely liberating influence on music.