the world and his wife

The world and his wife were at the opening – we could barely move.

1957 July 4, General Secretary, The Textile Institute, A Guide to Careers: No. 32: Textile Technology, New Scientist, page 42, The world and his wife are the customers for whom the textile industry supplies the greatest necessity next to food, and some of the greatest luxuries.

1972 (1905), Natsume Sōseki, Aiko Ito, Graeme Wilson (translators), I Am a Cat (吾輩は猫である), Volume 2, 2002, combined edition, page 187, “ […] But they have to consider what the world and his wife will say, and when dealing with the world one simply cannot be too careful.”

2001, advertisement, quoted in 2001, Guy Cook, The Discourse of Advertising, page 112, Gripping stuff, Subaru four-wheel drive. The world and his wife′s favourite in fact.