In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “british-born zionist and writer”. Today it says “british author at the forefront of zionism during the 19th century”.
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-born zionist and writer”. Today it says “british author at the forefront of zionism during the 19th century”.
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
His early life was spent in the East End of London , and he was a teacher in the Jewish Free School there. In later life, his friends included Jerome K. He wrote a very influential novel Children of the Ghetto ( 1892 ), and his play The Melting Pot was a hit in the USA in 1908 - 1909 . He also wrote mystery works, such as The Big Bow Mystery . However, he is best known for coining the slogan, "a land without people for a people without land" to describe the nation that is now Israel . Zangwill, a British Jew , founded an organization called the Jewish Territorialist Organization in 1905 . The aim of the Jewish Territorialist Organization was to create a Jewish homeland in whatever possible territory in the world (and not necessarily in what today is the state of Israel ). Zangwill died in 1926 after trying to create the Jewish state in such diverse places as Canada , Australia , Mesopotamia , Uganda and Cyrenaica . Israel Zangwill was the father of Oliver L. Zangwill , a prominent British psychologist .1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16251911.
The opening as it stood in 2015 10 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Israel Zangwill (21 January 1864 – 1 August 1926) was a British humorist and writer.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 668707541.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Israel Zangwill (21 January 1864 – 1 August 1926) was a British author at the forefront of cultural Zionism during the 19th century, and was a close associate of Theodor Herzl .He later rejected the search for a Jewish homeland in Palestine and became the prime thinker behind the territorial movement .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 962316699.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
British author (1864–1926) Israel Zangwill (14 February 1864 – 1 August 1926; birth date sometimes given as 21 January 1864) was a British author at the forefront of cultural Zionism during the 19th century, and was a close associate of Theodor Herzl . He later rejected the search for a Jewish homeland in Palestine and became the prime thinker behind the territorial movement .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176581849.
The opening as it stood in 2025
British author (1864–1926) Israel Zangwill (21 January 1864 – 1 August 1926) was a British author at the forefront of Zionism during the 19th century, and was a close associate of Theodor Herzl . He later rejected the search for a Jewish homeland in Palestine and became the prime thinker behind the territorial movement . A Jew in the Public Arena .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1294431337. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “british-born zionist and writer”. Today it says “british author at the forefront of zionism during the 19th century”. 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-born zionist and writer
Now
british author at the forefront of zionism during the 19th century
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.
