Well doesn’t a book written by the Office for National Statistics sound like a thrilling read?
National Statistics – the blurb
In 1841 there were 734 female midwives working in Britain, along with 9 artificial eye makers, 20 peg makers, 6 stamp makers and 1 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 two centuries, 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 family, the Census findings have informed the economy, politics, and every other national matter. Its collected data forms the single most valuable ongoing historical resource of modern times.
Now, for the first time ever, The Official History of Britain collects these findings into a wonderfully written and entertaining book by Boris Starling and assisted by the ONS’ statistical advisor, David Bradbury. Delving deep into statistics surrounding our occupations, our working lives, relationships; our quirks, habits, weird interests and cultural beliefs, and, of course, the latest findings on the Covid-19 pandemic, The Official History of Britain places Britain under the microscope and asks who we are and how we’ve changed as a nation.
There’s a stat for that
Hats off to Starling and Bradbury, they really do take a dry subject matter and make it readable. The stats are there don’t get me wrong (the number of baby girls named Alexa halved between 2017 and 2018 due to Amazon’s electronic know it all) but there’s a sarcastic wit running through and the decisions as to what stats were included genius.
It was written just before England and Wales’ most recent census and slap bang in middle of the pandemic. The comparisons between the 1921 census and 2021 are eyebrow raising. Don’t forget Spanish flu had just ravaged the population 100 years ago. I did find the lack of color in the charts problematic especially given it was a hardback. The future predictions section was also slightly unnecessary but overall I was pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying the read and the book.