The earliest reference in the Oxford English Dictionary is dated as recently as 1950 in Sport magazine: Such is the magnetism of world class heavyweight boxers! So it is a modern anxiety, one we did not have when we had an Empire & the world was ours
Setting out to be world class is first cousin to the belief that we have institutions which are the envy of the world, such as the NHS
Usually such institutions are so much envied that nobody makes the slightest attempt to copy them. No doubt because they cannot come up to our standards
Personally I lean towards the belief that If a thing is worth doing it is worth doing badly, & The best is the enemy of the good. So can we just calm down & settle for what is good for us?
Or else, you know what will happen. We will lose to Germany on penalties & sink into a national depression
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