In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “retired appliance manufacturer of new york who was disabled and used a wheelchair for mobility”. Today it says “american man who was shot”.
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 “retired appliance manufacturer of new york who was disabled and used a wheelchair for mobility”. Today it says “american man who was shot”.
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
Leon Klinghoffer ( September 24 , 1916 – October 8 , 1985 ) was a retired appliance manufacturer of New York who was disabled and used a wheelchair for mobility. Leon and Marilyn Klinghoffer, Jewish-Americans , were celebrating their 36th wedding anniversary in 1985 by taking a cruise aboard the Achille Lauro . He was killed by Palestinian terrorists aboard the Achille Lauro . In the afternoon of October 8, 1985 , four Palestinian terrorists who had hijacked the Achille Lauro , shot Leon Klinghoffer while he was sitting in his wheelchair , and then threw him overboard (while still alive). His wife watched in horror. Klinghoffer was buried at Beth David Memorial Park in Kenilworth , New Jersey .Four months after Leon Klinghoffer's murder, Marilyn Klinghoffer died of colon cancer . His daughters are Ilsa and Lisa. The hijacking was made into a television movie in 1990 , Voyage of Terror – The Achille Lauro Affair starring Burt Lancaster and Eve Marie Saint . John Coolidge Adams ' second opera, The Death of Klinghoffer , with a libretto by Alice Goodman , opened to great controversy in 1991 . The concept for the opera was suggested by director Peter Sellars . The Los Angeles Opera shared in the works' commission but never presented it.1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16093526.
The opening as it stood in 2010 11 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Leon Klinghoffer (September 24, 1916 – October 8, 1985) was a wheelchair-using American appliance manufacturer who was murdered and thrown overboard by Palestinian terrorists in the hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985."Klinghoffer daughters recall personal tragedy at commemoration of terror victims outside Israel" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 371157402.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Leon Klinghoffer (September 24, 1916 – October 8, 1985) was a disabled American appliance manufacturer who was murdered and thrown overboard by Palestinian terrorists who hijacked the cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985. "Klinghoffer daughters recall personal tragedy at commemoration of terror victims outside Israel" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 667694234.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Leon Klinghoffer (September 24, 1916 – October 8, 1985) was an American man, who used a wheelchair, and was shot, killed and thrown overboard the cruise ship Achille Lauro by members of the terrorist group known as the Palestine Liberation Front who hijacked the ship in 1985. "Klinghoffer daughters recall personal tragedy at commemoration of terror victims outside Israel" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 955954573.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
American man killed in the 1985 Achille Lauro hijacking Leon Klinghoffer (September 24, 1916 – October 8, 1985) was an American man who was shot, killed and thrown overboard from the cruise ship Achille Lauro by members of the Palestinian Liberation Front who hijacked the ship in 1985. "Klinghoffer daughters recall personal tragedy at commemoration of terror victims outside Israel" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1172642321. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “retired appliance manufacturer of new york who was disabled and used a wheelchair for mobility”. Today it says “american man who was shot”. Read the current article and compare.
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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
retired appliance manufacturer of new york who was disabled and used a wheelchair for mobility
Now
american man who was shot
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.
