Wikipedia's first sentence called it “british journalist”. Today it says “british journalist who writes a weekly column for the guardian and presents the bbc radio 4 contemporary histor”.
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 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
Jonathan Freedland Jonathan Saul Freedland is a British journalist , who writes for The Guardian .1He is the son of Michael Freedland , the biographer and journalist. Educated at Oxford University , he started his " Fleet Street " career at the short-lived Sunday Correspondent .2More recently he contributed to The Daily Mirror during its attempt to move upmarket. As well as his weekly column in The Guardian since 1997 , he pens a monthly piece for the Jewish Chronicle .3He also presents BBC Radio 4 ’s contemporary history series, The Long View .4He was named Columnist of the Year in the 2002 What the Papers Say awards.5Author of Bring Home the Revolution: How Britain Can Live the American Dream published in 1998 , an argument in favour of the UK adopting a Republican constitution. Freedland has been instrumental in The Guardian 's adopting a more anti-monarchical attitude in recent years. His latest book is Jacob's Gift , a memoir telling the stories of three generations of his own family as well as exploring wider and urgent questions of identity and belonging.6
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16879051.
The opening as it stood in 2010 6 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Jonathan Saul Freedland (born February 25, 1967) is a British journalist , who writes a weekly column for The Guardian and a monthly piece for the Jewish Chronicle .Freedland has previously written for The Daily Mirror and as of September 2005, he writes each Thursday for the London Evening Standard .Born into a Jewish family, he is the son of Michael Freedland, the biographer and journalist.Educated at University College School , a boys' independent school in Hampstead , London , and at Wadham College at the University of Oxford , he started his ' Fleet Street ' career at the short-lived Sunday Correspondent . He also presents BBC Radio 4 ’s contemporary history series, The Long View . He was named 'Columnist of the Year' in the 2002 What the Papers Say awards.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 365876464.
The opening as it stood in 2015 3 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Jonathan Saul Freedland (born 25 February 1967) is a British journalist, who writes a weekly column for The Guardian and a monthly piece for The Jewish Chronicle . He is also a regular contributor to The New York Times and The New York Review of Books , and presents BBC Radio 4 's contemporary history series, The Long View .He was named 'Columnist of the Year' in the 2002 What the Papers Say awards and in 2008 was awarded the David Watt Prize for Journalism, in recognition of his essay 'Bush's Amazing Achievement', published in The New York Review of Books .Freedland also writes best-selling thrillers under the pseudonym Sam Bourne .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 668412366.
The opening as it stood in 2020 3 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Jonathan Saul Freedland (born 25 February 1967) is a British journalist, who writes a weekly column for The Guardian . He presents BBC Radio 4 's contemporary history series The Long View . Freedland also writes thrillers, mainly under the pseudonym Sam Bourne .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 955529123.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
British journalist (born 1967) "The Long View" redirects here. Jonathan Saul Freedland (born 25 February 1967) is a British journalist who writes a weekly column for the Guardian . He presents BBC Radio 4 's contemporary history series The Long View . Freedland also writes thrillers, mainly under the pseudonym Sam Bourne , and has written a play, Jews.In Their Own Words , performed in 2022 at the Royal Court Theatre , London.In Their Own Words. review – an illuminating, unsettling study of prejudice" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176097414.
The opening as it stood in 2025 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
British journalist (born 1967) "The Long View" redirects here. Jonathan Saul Freedland (born 25 February 1967) is a British journalist who writes a weekly column for The Guardian and presents the BBC Radio 4 contemporary history series The Long View .He previously wrote for The Jewish Chronicle until his resignation in September 2024 along with Hadley Freeman , David Aaronovitch , David Baddiel and others. Freedland also writes thrillers, mainly under the pseudonym Sam Bourne , and has written a play, Jews. In Their Own Words , performed in 2022 at the Royal Court Theatre , London. In Their Own Words. review – an illuminating, unsettling study of prejudice" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1294234562. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “british journalist”. Today it says “british journalist who writes a weekly column for the guardian and presents the bbc radio 4 contemporary histor”. 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
british journalist
Now
british journalist who writes a weekly column for the guardian and presents the bbc radio 4 contemporary histor
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.
