[en] the question of order in the Universe is discussed within the context of an examination of what the world might have been. Would a wide variation in the arrangement of matter and energy end up producing much the same sort of place, or does it require exceedingly special conditions. Central to the idea of a very special, orderly Universe is the concept of information which physicists now recognise as closely related to the thermodynamic concept of entropy - the measure of disorder in a system. The place of the Big Bang theory in this hypothesis is considered and the place of stars as the most ubiquitous examples of order in the Universe discussed. Finally the vital role played by gravity in the cosmic order is examined. (U.K.)