The IoS Happy List 2008

The Wealth List, Power List, Influence List, Celebrity List... almost every week some publication or other is worshipping at the shrine of the wealthy and famous. Today, 'The Sunday Times' produces its famous Rich List, an entire magazine devoted to the moneyed. About time, then, we thought, that someone produced an antidote. So here it is: the Happy List, celebrating those Britons who have given back, enhanced the lives of others and realised that in an acquisitive society there's a crying need for values other than mere materialism.

Deciding to do this – because it was needed and because we believe it reflects our readers' values – was the easy part. Choosing who to include, and the criteria they would have to satisfy, was a great deal harder. We'll spare you the pseudo-philosophical debates that ambushed the early days of this project and cut to the conclusions we reached: that the people on our list should be those who make the lives of strangers happier, that this is their prime motive in doing what they do (as opposed to a side-effect of it), and that their example deserves celebrating. And, after considering the conditions under which community happiness tends to flourish, we elected to look for candidates in 10 categories: philanthropy, charity, mental well-being, physical health, pleasure (ie those in the media and culture who make us feel better), environment, innovation, volunteers and time-givers, community activity, and entertainment.

It was obvious from the start, and indeed was quite deliberate, that many of those most worthy of inclusion would be unknown outside their areas, and therefore unsung. Tracking them down was going to be a problem, and so we got help, approaching many organisations. A full list of them is given below. The Local Government Association was especially helpful, syndicating our appeal to all the county councils in the UK, which enthusiastically returned to us with stories about their local heroes. These ran into the hundreds, each inspiring and worthy of publication, and making the job of choosing one person above another almost impossible.

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But choose we had to, and the result of this two-month project are the 100 people, whose achievements and contributions to the nation's happiness are described on the following pages. The Happy List, we hope, not only does what we set out to do, but contains lots of extraordinary people – and some fun, surprising entrants, too. They include Britain's most eccentric fundraiser, the woman who has fostered more than 800 children, the man who created the nation's only Fairtrade town, extraordinary local crime-fighters, two remarkable young girls who have fought illness and disability and now help others do so, our most beneficial inventors, a man still coaching young athletes after 56 years, multi-millionaires who have given away most of their wealth, founders of imaginative charities that have transformed the lives of millions, and many more.

Where we have selected the few high-profile candidates, our choice is informed not only by popularity, but by the extent to which he or she has achieved something beyond the common scope of their profession. Richard Curtis is perhaps the most prolific and gifted creator of British comedy, but it is for his monumental contribution to charity that he makes the list. Ditto Joanne Rowling.

In other instances, some popular and laudable figures are conspicuously absent. Sir David Attenborough, for instance, was a hotly contested nomination. Few broadcasters have given more pleasure, but we felt (and had a hunch Sir David would agree) that too often ignored in the praising of his programmes are the men and women who take the pictures. And since our selections were driven by a desire to popularise the work of those behind the scenes, we opted for Alastair MacEwen, one of Britain's most formidable wildlife cameramen, instead.

The list is, of course, a wholly artificial exercise, but our hope is that the 100 people here represent values that need trumpeting, and make for role models more worthy than £50,000-a-week footballers, their shopaholic partners and those who have done nothing more demanding than inherit lots of money. As it would be invidious to rank them, our selections are presented alphabetically. There are bound to be omissions in our list, and so we have set up a Happy List web page where readers can nominate those they think should be included and celebrated.

David Randall

The Happy List was compiled with advice and nominations from the following organisations: Institute for Philanthropy, National Council for Voluntary Organisations, Association of Charitable Foundations, Muslim Council, the Beacon Fellowship, the Department for Culture and Media, Impetus Trust, Dreams Come True, the National Lottery, the Church of England, the Community Channel, Institute of Fundraising, the Carnegie Trust, National Trust, the Charity Commision, British Association of Social Workers, various national and community award schemes (from Pride of Britain to Harrow Heroes), Oxfam, Cancer Research UK and Greenpeace. Special thanks are due to Joanna Bale from the Local Government Association and Musa Okwonga from the Institute of Philanthropy.