“Money, if it can’t bring you happiness, will at least help you be miserable in comfort,” said former editor of Cosmopolitan magazine Helen Gurley Brown.

However, misery of any sort will be frowned upon at newly-formed charity Movement for Happiness - where the successful candidate for the post of director can expect to pick up a salary of £80,000, just to keep the blues at bay.

The movement has been formed by Lord Richard Layard, professor Emeritus of the London School of Economics, who became known as the government's 'happiness czar' for his work studying income and its effect on our wellbeing.

The movement's goal is to "shift our culture away from selfish materialism towards more rewarding forms of social engagement".

Layard said: "We would not be ruling out £80,000 for the right person. They would have to believe in the message - to change the culture away from the feeling that your main job in life is what you can get, to what you can contribute - and have some sort of imaginative flair as well as organisational ability."

Talk about practising what you preach.