Wikipedia's first sentence called it “fictional spy created by jan guillou and appearing in guillou's spy novels”. Today it says “book series by swedish author and journalist jan guillou centered on the fictional swedish spy carl gustaf gilb”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2020 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2020
Carl Hamilton novels is a book series by Swedish author and journalist Jan Guillou centered on the fictional Swedish spy Carl Hamilton. The main character is an elite military officer working for the Swedish Security agency and Intelligence agency during the end of the Cold War , residing in Stockholm but active internationally. Carl Hamilton has been called "Sweden's James Bond", but the plot of Guillou's novels also has a heavy focus on politics and journalism. One commentator said the books "... place [Guillou] besides John le Carre and Len Deighton " (famous British spy novelists).1 The first novel was published in 1986 and the series is a best-seller in Sweden, with more than 10 million sold copies. The character of Carl Hamilton has also appeared in a number of film and television adaptations. Nordstrom, 2010, pg. 104) "Folkbladet" . 2020-06-15. : CS1 maint: url-status ( link ) Pollack, Ester (2011).2
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 964461731.
The opening as it stood in 2005
Carl Hamilton is a fictional spy created by Jan Guillou and appearing in Guillou's spy novels.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 16134337.
The opening as it stood in 2010
See Carl Hamilton for other people with the same name.Count Carl Hamilton (code names Coq Rouge and Trident ) is a fictional spy created by Jan Guillou and appearing in a number of Guillou's spy novels, as well as film and TV adaptations.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 370588854.
The opening as it stood in 2015 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
The Carl Hamilton novels are a series of novels by Swedish author Jan Guillou centered on the fictional spy Carl Hamilton.In Sweden and other countries it is a best-selling series.Carl Hamilton has been called "Sweden's James Bond".One commentator said the books "... place [Guillou] besides John le Carre and Len Deighton " (famous British spy novelists).The first novel Coq Rouge was published in 1986, it was Guillou's first significant work of fiction.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 650155415.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Fictional character The Carl Hamilton novels is a book series by Swedish author and journalist Jan Guillou centered on the fictional Swedish spy Carl Hamilton. The main character is an elite military officer working for the Swedish Security agency and Intelligence agency during the end of the Cold War , residing in Stockholm but active internationally. Carl Hamilton has been called "Sweden's James Bond", but the plot of Guillou's novels also has a heavy focus on politics and journalism. One commentator said the books "... place [Guillou] besides John le Carré and Len Deighton " (famous British spy novelists). The first novel was published in 1986 and the series is a best-seller in Sweden, with more than 10 million sold copies. The character of Carl Hamilton has also appeared in a number of film and television adaptations.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1172352385.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Fictional character The Carl Hamilton novels is a book series by Swedish author and journalist Jan Guillou centered on the fictional Swedish spy Carl Gustaf Gilbert Hamilton. The main character is an elite military officer working for the Swedish Security agency and Intelligence agency during the end of the Cold War , residing in Stockholm but active internationally. Carl Hamilton has been called "Sweden's James Bond", but the plot of Guillou's novels also has a heavy focus on politics and journalism. One commentator said the books "... place [Guillou] besides John le Carré and Len Deighton " (famous British spy novelists). The first novel was published in 1986 and the series is a best-seller in Sweden, with more than 10 million sold copies. The character of Carl Hamilton has also appeared in a number of film and television adaptations.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1253500738. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “fictional spy created by jan guillou and appearing in guillou's spy novels”. Today it says “book series by swedish author and journalist jan guillou centered on the fictional swedish spy carl gustaf gilb”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
fictional spy created by jan guillou and appearing in guillou's spy novels
Now
book series by swedish author and journalist jan guillou centered on the fictional swedish spy carl gustaf gilb
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
