2023: The List

Congratulations, if you are reading this it means you have completed 2023.

One of the things I have started doing properly in the last few months is going back through my old diaries and notebooks. I have been keeping journals of one type of another for years, but I have never really read them back. Last year was the first time I published a List of the Year on Millennial Gent, and it was largely done off the top of my head. So, this year I decided to go back through the diaries, notes and journal entries from the last 12 months and pick out a few highlights.

Online Read of the Year: Austin Kleon

Texan ‘writer who draws’ Austin Kleon remains my favourite online blogger and writer of the year, as I continue to devour both his weekly newsletters – the free Friday one is a treasure trove of inspiration, articles, insights and quotes, while his Tuesday subscribers mailout is always a fascinating read.

Icon of the Year: Mary Earps

The England goalie, who has rightly been named MBE in the New Year’s Honours List, was a star on the pitch and off it at the World Cup this summer. Not only did she cement her spot as the best keeper in the world, she also took on sportswear giants Nike, who had not bothered to make a replica of her kit. Also, her yelling “fuck off” at the opposition is one of my moments of the year.

TV Show of the Year: One Piece

It has been a good year for TV in our house; alongside the usual annual series runs like Strictly and GBBO, we have devoured the second season of Loki, the final season of Sex Education, part of both The English and The Staircase, as well as The Continental and Daisy Jones & The Six. But One Piece stands out for me as a piece of real fun, adventure and escapism. To be honest, I haven’t actually finished it, because I am enjoying it so much I haven’t wanted to watch the last episode and end it.

Style Icon of the Year: Jeremy Allen White

I am always delighted to find a new Short Man Style icon, so when The Bear star Jeremy Allen White proclaimed himself a “short king” in the pages of GQ earlier this year, I figured I was on to a winner. Since then, I have devoured interviews with him and become a big fan of his loose-fit, dress-down look. I suspect there will be more written about him in the new year.

Film of the Year: Glass Onion – A Knives Out Mystery

There were a few contenders here, Barbie is an obvious one, alongside John Wick 4, Elemental, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse (yes, I have a soft spot for popcorn flicks). I have also not yet seen two of the year’s late big hitters, in Saltburn and Maestro, but it is a late 2022 film which has remained my favourite through the year. Glass Onion was an absolute joy when I saw it in January, and I have seen it twice more since. Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc was one of my favourite characters of the year, and I can’t wait for the next one.

Album of the Year: Ezra Collective – Where I’m Meant To Be

Mercury Prize winners the Ezra Collective were one of my top artists of the year on Spotify and it is largely thanks to this album. I discovered them a while back on Jools Holland and have been a big fan ever since. If you have not listened to the album, do so, it is a work of art.

Music Act of the Year: Luke Combs

Just pipping out the Ezra Collective and Trombone Shorty on my listening list of 2023 is country artist Luke Combs. Like quite a few people I know, I have been swept up in the country wave in 2023 as my long-standing love of Bruce Springsteen has taken me on a journey through more of the music of Americana. His storytelling in his songs is just brilliant.

Book of the Year: Greenlights – Matthew McConaughey

I have essentially been reading the same book for all of 2023, and that is Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. The 900+ page epic has been read alongside a host of other things including a handful of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher books, collected essays by Philip Pullman and George Orwell, and an autobiography of Carl Jung. But I picked up Greenlights by Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey in an airport before an early-morning flight and devoured it on the plane. Since then, I have continued to dive back into the book, which is part memoir, part published journal and a hefty dose of what the author terms armchair anthropology and street philosophy. Don’t take it too seriously, but dive in and take the ride.

Self-Gift of the Year: Moleskin X Kaweco Fountain Pen

“Write slow” has been one of my mantras for 2023, a largely ignored one, granted, but it has still been there, and this beautiful tool has helped me try and do so. I took inspiration a few years ago from the excellent William Gilchrist, stylist to the Rolling Stones and Jude Law, who carries one with him everywhere to take notes, and since doing the same, I have not looked back.

Coffee of the Year: Betty’s Café Blend

While my ongoing search for the best cup of coffee has slowed a bit this year, I did hit a goldmine when S and I made a trip up to my old university stomping grounds of Leeds earlier this year. Eschewing the city, we decided to stay in neighbouring Harrogate, and took tea at the iconic Betty’s Tea Rooms. Betty’s is linked with another famous Yorkshire business, Taylor’s of Harrogate, but it was the Betty’s brand brews which caught my eye. I grabbed a trio of their varieties and the Café Blend has become my mid-morning cup of choice.

Tequila of the Year: Cazcabel Reposado

What started out as a plan to convince friends that tequila is not just the stuff of shooting nightmares has grown into a full-blown love for the spirit, and I am always delighted to find a new one that I love. I picked up Centinela Rsposado at a work event in Florida earlier this year and it was leading the way until October when I got my hands on a bottle of Cazcabel Reposado and fell in love. The Blanco edition was the start of my tequila love a few years back, so this seems like the right choice for tipple of the year.

Phrase of the Year: Dolce far Niente

There were a few options here. Skipping back through my notebooks I found a few repeated mantras: “Look up”, “Always be curious”, “Write slow”. But dolce far niente, an Italian phrase meaning pleasant idleness is my absolute favourite.

Character of the Year: Ted Lasso

This one was tough. I keep a running list (and Pinterest board) of TV and film characters who I like. Some because I think they are brilliant, some because I steal inspiration for stuff, I am writing from them, and some because I think I can learn something from them. Ted Lasso, star of the eponymous Apple TV show, ticks most of these boxes. The final season may have split critics (I am still working up to it) but his open positivity and boundless curiosity were winners for me.

Laugh of the Year: Tom Houghton

Sometimes videos pop up on your Instagram feed which just send you down a hole, devouring everything by that creator you can find. I won’t lie, when I first discovered Tom Houghton, or The Honourable Tom Houghton as he is rightly called thanks to his father’s title, I assumed he was a caricature. But from actually living in the Tower of London to making genuinely funny comments on life in general, I have become a big fan. He was also on The Circle, but I don’t watch that, so I can’t help you there.

So that is my 2023 in a nutshell. Let me know what your highlights of the year have been in the comments.