“When stuck years ago in a job I hated, my only friend was the public bench. As the tedious mornings dragged on, how I would long for the lunch hour, when I would be able to escape the torture of the office and stroll over to the churchyard and into the comforting wooden embrace of one of its benches.”

British writer and editor

Tom Hodgkinson is a British writer and editor, best known as the founder and editor of The Idler magazine. He established it in 1993 with his friend Gavin Pretor-Pinney. His writing and editing promote a relaxed way of living, with an emphasis on enjoying life as it comes rather than laboring for a better future that may never arrive. The magazine’s name comes from the essays Samuel Johnson wrote between 1758 and 1760 under the title The Idler.