Wikipedia's first sentence called it “anglo-irish soldier”. Today it says “british army officer”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Anglo-Irish military officer, hunter and author (1867–1947) Lieutenant-Colonel”. It now reads “British Army officer, hunter and author (1867–1947) Lieutenant-Colonel”.
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 October 6, 2023 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 October 6, 2023
Anglo-Irish military officer, hunter and author (1867–1947) Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson DSO (10 November 1867 – 18 June 1947) was an Anglo-Irish military officer, hunter, and author best known for his book The Man-eaters of Tsavo (1907), which details Patterson's experiences during the construction of a railway bridge over the Tsavo River in the East Africa Protectorate from 1898 to 1899. The book went on to inspire three films: Bwana Devil (1952), Killers of Kilimanjaro (1959), and The Ghost and the Darkness (1996). During World War I , Patterson served as the commander of the British Army 's Jewish Legion , which has been described as the first precursor to the Israel Defense Forces .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1176835788.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Patterson , was an Anglo-Irish soldier , hunter , author and Zionist , best known for his book The Man-Eaters of Tsavo (1907), which details his experiences while building a railway in Kenya . In the 1996 film The Ghost and the Darkness , he was portrayed by actor Val Kilmer .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 358905647.
The opening as it stood in 2015 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Patterson , was a British soldier, hunter, author and Christian Zionist , best known for his book The Man-Eaters of Tsavo (1907), which details his experiences while building a railway bridge over the Tsavo river in Kenya in 1898–99.The book has inspired three Hollywood films - Bwana Devil (1952), Killers of Kilimanjaro (1959) and The Ghost and the Darkness (1996) in which he was portrayed by Val Kilmer .In the First World War, Patterson was the commander of the Jewish Legion , "the first Jewish fighting force in nearly two millennia.And as such, he can be called the godfather of the Israeli army." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Remarks at the Burial Ceremony for Lt.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 661119505.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Patterson , was a British soldier, hunter, author and Christian Zionist , best known for his book The Man-Eaters of Tsavo (1907), which details his experiences while building a railway bridge over the Tsavo river in British East Africa (now Kenya) in 1898–99. The book has inspired three Hollywood films – Bwana Devil (1952), Killers of Kilimanjaro (1959) and The Ghost and the Darkness (1996) in which he was portrayed by Val Kilmer . In the First World War, Patterson was the commander of the Jewish Legion , "the first Jewish fighting force in nearly two millennia", and has been described as the godfather of the modern Israel Defense Forces .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 964411019.
The opening as it stood in 2025
British Army officer, hunter and author (1867–1947) Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson DSO (10 November 1867 – 18 June 1947) was a British Army officer, hunter, and author best known for his book The Man-eaters of Tsavo (1907), which details Patterson's experiences during the construction of a railway bridge over the Tsavo River in the East Africa Protectorate from 1898 to 1899. The book went on to inspire three films: Bwana Devil (1952), Killers of Kilimanjaro (1959), and The Ghost and the Darkness (1996). During World War I , Patterson served as the commander of the Jewish Legion , which has been described as the first precursor to the Israel Defense Forces .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1297409660. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “anglo-irish soldier”. Today it says “british army officer”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Anglo-Irish military officer, hunter and author (1867–1947) Lieutenant-Colonel”. It now reads “British Army officer, hunter and author (1867–1947) Lieutenant-Colonel”. Read the current article and compare.
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 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
anglo-irish soldier
Now
british army officer
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.
