Brother Jonathan was a fictional character created to personify the entire United States, in the early days of the country's existence.

In editorial cartoons and patriotic posters, Brother Jonathan was usually depicted as a typical American revolutionary, with tri-cornered hat and long military jacket. Originally, from 1776 to 1783, "Brother Jonathan" was a mildly derisive term used by the Loyalists to describe the Patriots.

A popular folk tale about the origin of the term holds that the character derives from Jonathan Trumbull (1710–85), Governor of Connecticut. It is said that George Washington often uttered the words: "We must consult Brother Jonathan" when faced with a difficult question; however, that origin is doubtful, as neither man made reference to the story during their lifetimes and the first appearance of the story has been traced to the mid-19th century, long after their deaths.

The character was adopted by Americans from 1783 to 1815. During the War of 1812, the term "Uncle Sam" appeared. Uncle Sam appeared in newspapers from 1813 to 1815, and in 1816 he appeared in a book. Brother Jonathan was replaced by the female personification Columbia and the increasingly popular Uncle Sam. Indeed, the character can be seen as an intermediate step between Yankee Doodle and Uncle Sam as a representation of the everyday American.

Alistair Edward Brownlee (born 23 April 1988) is an English triathlete who is the reigning, and back-to-back, ETU European Triathlon champion and a two time Triathlon World Champion having regained the title he first won in 2009 in 2011 in Beijing.

Alistair was educated at Bradford Grammar School before he started a medicine degree at Girton College, at the University of Cambridge. After just the first eight-week term, Brownlee decided to leave and instead went to the University of Leeds, where he gained a degree in Sports Science and Physiology in 2010. He is now studying for an MSc in Finance at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Brownlee was introduced to triathlon at a young age by his uncle, Simon Hearnshaw, who regularly competed in the sport. As a junior, he was a successful fell and cross country runner, coming second in the Junior English Cross Country Championships and winning the Yorkshire County title on several occasions.

In 2006, Brownlee left Girton College, Cambridge where he was reading medicine, to move back to Yorkshire, focus on triathlon and study at University of Leeds. He is a member of the triathlon club based at Leeds Metropolitan University's Carnegie High Performance centre, and is coached by Carnegie Director of Sport Malcolm Brown, and in swimming by Jack Maitland.