Stage two: I wrote to the Statistics Service Dept of the UK Civil Service about the starting date of the RPI and they replied as follows: The Retail Prices Index began in 1947. Here is a link to the brief guide found on our website: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_economy/rpiguides.pdf Here is a link to all the indices from 1947: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_economy/RP02.pdf All this information is found on our website http://www.statistics.gov.uk/rpi Praise Mike Gibbs at the Stats Office! DW