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Tom Hodgkinson 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 simple living to life, enjoying it as it comes rather than wage slavery for an imagined better future. The Idler was named after a series of essays written by Samuel Johnson from 1758 to 1760.
Hodgkinson was educated at Westminster School and Jesus College, Cambridge, during which time he played the bass guitar in the Stupids-influenced thrash band Chopper. He lived in North Devon until 2013. He currently lives in London.
In the early 1990s, he worked at a Rough Trade Records shop in London, where he had the idea for The Idler. In the late 1990s, he became an importer of absinthe.
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.
Hodgkinson has contributed articles to The Sunday Telegraph, The Guardian and The Sunday Times as well as being the author of the Idler spin-offs, How To Be Idle, How To Be Free and The Idle Parent.
In 2006 he created National Unawareness Day, to be celebrated on 1 November.
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.
In April 2013 he launched the Idler Academy Bad Grammar Award, 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.
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