Conceived as a counterblast to self-congratulatory ‘super rich’ countdowns, this year’s Independent on Sunday Happy List, published 19th April 2009, features Bradt Travel Guides’ founder, Hilary Bradt, along with Sir David Attenborough, Thomas the Tank Engine and 97 others…

The Independent on Sunday’s David Randall says the Happy List ‘celebrates some of the people in Britain who give back, enhance the lives of others, and realise that, in an acquisitive society, there’s a crying need for values other than materialism.’

Hilary’s is characteristically generous in response to her inclusion in the Happy 100, ‘My reaction is a mixture of pleasure and humility.  Pleasure for my hard-working staff and authors who have made Bradt Travel Guides what it is, and humility when reading the achievements of the other people on the list.  We can all think of people who should be here, and with this in mind the Independent on Sunday’s website gives readers a chance to nominate their own choice for the Happy List, so here’s an opportunity to sing the praises of your unsung heroes (and heroines).’

Against a crumbling economic landscape of financial institutions collapsing to reveal infestations of amoral boardroom blaggers, the usual top 100 round-ups of monetary worth have an increased potential to stoke revolution even in the Home Counties.  Perhaps we’ve had enough of besuited fat cats, overpaid and underperforming ‘celebrities’ and those who’ve simply inherited wealth earned by previous generations.  Though in reality it’s likely to be a while before broadsheet daily headlines paraphrase Marx and herald ‘Profit is the Unpaid Labour of the Working Classes’, the Independent on Sunday’s Happy List 2009 does identify that life can be more than an opportunity to screw every last cent from the act of existence.

For full details see the Independent on Sunday’s Happy List.