Happy List
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The Happy List is a list of 100 people in the United Kingdom "who give back, volunteer, and who make Britain a better balanced, happier country." In 2017, the list was reduced and has featured 50 people since then.[1] It was published annually in April by the Independent on Sunday, a British national Sunday newspaper, between 2008 until 2022. No further lists have been published since 2022.[2]
The BBC welcomed the first Happy List as "an antidote" to the Sunday Times Rich List, a longer-standing institution, which is published on the same day.[3] Following widespread comment in the UK and abroad, the Independent announced a week later that it would make the Happy List an annual fixture.[4] The Wall Street Journal floated the idea of a Happy List for the United States,[5] but this was not taken up.[4]
The newspaper accepts that the list is an artificial exercise, but seeks to celebrate people representing much-needed values, in the hope that they will be seen as role models.[6]
The first list included Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, cricketer and fundraiser Ian Botham, and author and philanthropist J. K. Rowling.[3]
Notably, the first happy list also included the character Tinky Winky from Teletubbies, a popular British children's show.
The Wall Street Journal noted that the list included wealthy individuals such as Duncan Bannatyne, quoting his opinion that "Britain's rich don't do enough for good causes."[5]
It also included ten less well-known people, who had featured in Gordon Brown's 2007 book, co-authored with Community Links, with a somewhat similar aim, Britain's Everyday Heroes.[7]