In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “british colonial administrator”. Today it says “british colonial administrator who served as high commissioner for palestine”.
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 2026-08-02. In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “british colonial administrator”. Today it says “british colonial administrator who served as high commissioner for palestine”.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 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 2005
Harold Alfred MacMichael ( 1882 - 1969 ) was a British colonial administrator.1He graduated with a first from Magdalene College, Cambridge . After passing his civil service exam he entered the service of the British Empire in the colony of Sudan . He then served in the Blue Nile province until 1915 when he became a senior insepctor of Khartoum province rising to the position of civil secretary in 1926 . In 1933 he became governor of Tanganyika until 1937 . The next year he became High Commissioner of the British Mandate of Palestine and survived an assassination attempt in 1944 by members of the right wing Lehi that wounded his wife. He was subsequently assigned to Malaya where he wrote the constitution and then Malta . v t e2
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16890202.
The opening as it stood in 2010 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
High Commissioner for Palestine at sunken garden in the residency. He graduated with a first from Magdalene College, Cambridge . After passing his civil service exam he entered the service of the British Empire in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan . He then served in the Blue Nile province until 1915 when he became a senior inspector of Khartoum province, rising to the position of civil secretary in 1926. In 1933 he became Governor of Tanganyika until 1937. The next year he became High Commissioner of the British Mandate of Palestine and survived an assassination attempt in 1944 by members of the right wing Lehi that wounded his wife. He was subsequently assigned to British Malaya where he wrote the constitution and then Malta .MacMichael's daughter, Araminta, married the politician and business leader Toby Low, 1st Baron Aldington . v t e
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 356737062.
The opening as it stood in 2015 8 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Sir Harold Alfred MacMichael , GCMG , DSO (1882-1969), was a British colonial administrator.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 660643552.
The opening as it stood in 2025
British colonial administrator (1882–1969) Sir Harold Alfred MacMichael GCMG DSO (15 October 1882 – 19 September 1969) was a British colonial administrator who served as High Commissioner for Palestine .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1297329827. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “british colonial administrator”. Today it says “british colonial administrator who served as high commissioner for palestine”. 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 between 2005 and 2025.
Then
british colonial administrator
Now
british colonial administrator who served as high commissioner for palestine
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.
