The Idler Academy

Back in 1991, bored to tears by his job, 23 year old journalist Tom Hodgkinson lay on his bed and dreamed of starting a magazine called The Idler. He’d found the title in a collection of essays by Dr Johnson, himself a constitutionally indolent man. How to live, that was the question. How to be free in a world of jobs and debt? And curse this alarm clock. In August 1993 the Idler Magazine was born.

The Idler Academy is the Idler’s educational offshoot. It is a school based in London which offers online and real-world courses in the classical liberal arts and practical skills. During the day our London HQ operates as a calm, quiet bookshop selling beautiful, useful and unusual books and gifts. We serve Monmouth coffee, tea and cake, and there is an enclosed medieval garden to retreat to. We teach philosophy, astronomy, calligraphy, music, business skills, English grammar, ukulele, public speaking, singing, drawing, self-defence and other subjects. Here you can educate yourself in the ideas of Plato or learn the ukulele, in convivial surroundings with like-minded and interesting people.