MUSTER OF THE UNIVERSE

In a week that’s seen World Population Day, the resignation of the Chair of the ONS and news of The Bayeux Tapestry crossing the Channel, we ask:  Who would you include in your personal and professional Domesday-Book-style audit?

Announcing the stepping-down of Sir Robert Chote, the Chair of the troubled Office of National, Cabinet Office Minister, Pat McFadden, said: “new leadership was critical” to address "the challenges identified and rapidly restore confidence in the statistics produced by the ONS that underpin decision-making.”

Having faced a barrage of criticism over recent months, Chote is heading off to become President of Trinity College, Oxford.

Which is a rather softer landing than that faced by the Royal Commissioners appointed by William The Bastard if there had been similar screw-ups with the Domesday Book (more heads-off than heading off). 

William The Bastard (aka ‘William The Conqueror)’ ordered a detailed audit of a huge area of England (aka ‘The Conquered’) right down to the number of ploughing oxen and fishponds,* in order to assess available resources for the two inevitabilities of the Early Middle Ages …War and Taxes.

But what would a similar review of your personal and professional territories look like, for example:

Partner(s) and Immediate Family?

Closest Friends and Exes?

Extended family?

Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp groups?

Immediate Colleagues?

Contact Lists, LinkedIn and Professional Associations?

And for those of us in The Business of Pleasure, what would a similar audit of actual and target audiences look like?

Natural Audiences?    (for whom the perceived benefits are immediately relevant)                    Adjacent Audiences?  (target groups requiring the removal of barriers to purchase)                 Key Segments?           (geographic, demographic and psychographic)                                           Key Segment Flux?    (by month, week, day and performance?) 

Of course the major difference between the two audits is that we have access to almost all the data in the first audit, and limited access to the second (Proprietary, Mosaic, Ocean, ONS, Trade Association, etc.)

And while we constantly compare consecutive data series and sequences relating to our audiences (to identify trends and successful initiatives, etc.) there can’t be many of us (hopefully) who would apply similar scrutiny to changes in immediate family and friends.

But to celebrate World Population day, let's do exactly that, and take a peek at some of the major changes in our somewhat broader family...

90,000 years ago there was an estimated global population of between 10,000 and 100,000 modern humans (Homo sapiens) living almost entirely contained within Eastern Africa, Southern Africa and parts of North Africa.

60,000 to 70,000 years ago a small group** of these humans left Africa to populate Europe, Asia, The Americas, Oceania.  Which was far from ideal timing to be leaving hearth and home, especially if you were heading North, because:

70,000 years ago they had to contend with the onset of the Last Glacial Maximum with enormous ice sheets expanding over Northern Europe, North America and Asia, then

70,000 to 30,000 years ago saw alternating periods of cold and warmer temperatures with greatly reduced rainfall turning tropical regions into dessert, until

26,000 to 19,000 years ago they were hit with the coldest and driest period of last ice age, before

19,000 to 14,700 years ago the planet finally starts to warm up again, and then

14,700 to 12,900 years ago temperatures reach close to modern levels.

And yet, in spite of the worst climate conditions imaginable, with its devastating effect on the Homo sapiens' food supply (both flora and fauna) the plucky group of pioneers that exited Africa had somehow managed to survive and thrive:

Years Ago            Est. Global Pop.     Est. Pop. Outside Africa.             As a %

12,000                    1-5 million             500,00 to 2 million                     10-40%

10,000                   4-10 million           2 to 4 million                               40-50%

8,000                     5-15 million           4 to 8 million                               50-60%

Even within the chilly and inhospitable British Isles, the population managed to quadruple within the same period. But it was still only enough to fill the Theatre Royal Drury Lane or the London Palladium for a week and a half

Years Ago            Est. Population

12,000                    2 to 5,000

10,000                    5 to 10,000

8,000                      10-20,000

If we narrow the population lens even further, and close-in on those cantankerous humans squatting between the bends of The Thames, when William The Conqueror / Bastard / Lucky Bastard set himself up in the Tower of London, the capital’s population stood somewhere between 10,000 and 25,000 (in fact far smaller than its peak of 50,000 to 60,000 when a thriving Roman Metropolis 120-150 AD).

Yet by the time of the Great Fire of London (1666) the city's population had grown to around 350,000 to 400,000, and by 1900 it was the largest city in the world with circa 6.5 million residents.

Currently the European ‘top of the pops’ stands at: 

Moscow 12.7 million

Paris       11.3 million

London.   9.4 million

But let’s go back a bit…

That tiny global population of humans circa 90,000 years ago were responsible for the first symbolic art, harnessing fire and (probably) the beginnings of language as we know it.

By 12,000 years ago their were cultivating crops such as wheat, barley and lentils, domesticating animals such as goats, sheep and dogs, and settlements such as Jericho were evolving into the world’s first cities enjoying communal food storage and trade with other regions.

12,000 years later, their descendants have achieved a global population of circa 8.2 billion and it’s rising at a rate of approximately 70 million a year. 

Which is perhaps a somewhat daunting context in which to set our own personal audit of connections:

Partner(s) and Immediate Family

Closest Friends and Exes

Extended family

Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp groups

Immediate Colleagues

Contact Lists, LinkedIn and Professional Associations

But for those of us lucky enough to be involved in The Business of Pleasure …what a time to spread our nets!

DT 11 July 2025

*Cities such as London. Durham and Northumberland were not included in the Domesday Book

** Estimates range from a few hundred to a maximum of 10,000. Because it was such a small group of individuals, the gene pool was extremely reduced, and therefore non-African populations remain far less genetically diverse than African populations to this day.