OFFICIAL HISTORY OF BRITAIN

The Office for National Statistics Census 2021 is the basis of this official story in numbers. In 1841 there were 734 female midwives working in Britain, along with nine artificial eye makers, 20 peg makers, six stamp makers and one bee dealer. Fast forward nearly two centuries and there are 51,000 midwives working in the UK and not an eye maker in sight. For the past 200 years, through the Census and national surveys, the Office for National Statistics and its predecessors have charted the lives of the British - our jobs, home lives and strange cultural habits, with questions on occupation, housing, religion, travel and the family. The Census findings have informed the economy, politics and every other national matter, and its collected data forms the single most valuable ongoing historical resource of modern times. Delving deep into statistics and including the latest findings on the Covid-19 pandemic, where to give one example the ONS with its partners set up the Virus Infection Survey to gauge the prevalence in the community, going from its announcement to first publication of results in barely three weeks, it taught us the value of timely, accurate, trustworthy, comprehensive information. The book marks the 25th anniversary of the ONS creation now that it is being brought together with the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys. Among the questions that have stumped the normally indefatigable ONS Press Office down the years were: 'What percentage of the UK are aristocrats?' and 'How many rats and squirrels are there in the UK?' 298pp, charts, diagrams.