Tom Hodgkinson (born 1968) is a British writer and the editor of The Idler magazine, which he established in 1993 with his friend Gavin Pretor-Pinney. His philosophy, in his published books and articles, is of a relaxed approach to life, enjoying it as it comes rather than toiling for an imagined better future. The Idler was named after a series of essays written by Dr Johnson from 1758 to 1760.
Biography
Tom Hodgkinson was born in Newcastle, England. He is the brother of journalist and author Will Hodgkinson; their father is the science and medical writer Neville Hodgkinson and their mother is the prolific non-fiction writer and journalist Liz Hodgkinson.[1][2]
In the early 1990s, he worked at a Rough Trade Records shop in London, where he had the idea for The Idler.[4] In the late 1990s, he became an importer of absinthe.[5]
From 1995 to 1997 he was Joint Head of Creative Development at Guardian Newspapers, where he worked for Carolyn McCall and Alan Rusbridger.[citation needed]
From 1997 to 2002 he and Gavin Pretor-Pinney ran Idle Industries, a creative consultancy with clients such as Channel 4, The Guardian, Sony PlayStation, ad agency Mother, Paramount TV and Oakley. The pair launched the Crap Towns series of books.[citation needed]
How to Be Idle has been translated into 25 languages and was a best-seller in the UK, US, Italy, Germany and the Czech Republic.[citation needed]
In 2006 he created National Unawareness Day, to be celebrated on 1 November.[6]
In March 2011 he and his partner Victoria Hull launched The Idler Academy in London, a school running courses in philosophy, public speaking, grammar, ukulele, singing, drawing, calligraphy, astronomy, foraging, bread baking, bartitsu and small business.[7][8]
In April 2013 he launched the Idler Academy Bad Grammar Award,[9] and in September 2013 he launched the Ukulele Player of the Year competition. Bloomsbury UK and Bloomsbury US published his and Gavin's book, The Ukulele Handbook.[10]
