In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “british historian and biographer and author of over seventy books on a range of historical subjects”. Today it says “british historian and honorary fellow of merton college”.
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 historian and biographer and author of over seventy books on a range of historical subjects”. Today it says “british historian and honorary fellow of merton college”.
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
Martin Gilbert (born October 25 , 1936 in London ) is a British historian and biographer and author of over seventy books on a range of historical subjects. He is primarily known as the official biographer of Sir Winston Churchill , British Prime Minister during World War Two and for his books on the Holocaust and Jewish history. He studied modern history at Magdalen College , Oxford , graduating in 1960 with a BA . One of his professors at Oxford was A. He was knighted in 1995 for services to British history and international relations. He lives in London and since 2002 has been a Distinguished Fellow of Hillsdale College , Michigan .1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 17250917.
The opening as it stood in 2010 6 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
(born 25 October 1936 ) is a British historian and the author of over eighty books, including works on the Holocaust and Jewish history.Gilbert is a leading historian of the modern world, and is known as the official biographer of Sir Winston Churchill .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 363797829.
The opening as it stood in 2015 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
He was the author of over eighty books, including works on the Holocaust and Jewish history.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 668832993.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
He was the author of eighty-eight books, including works on Winston Churchill , the 20th century, and Jewish history including the Holocaust .He was a member of the Chilcot Inquiry into Britain's role in the Iraq War .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 957942639.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
British historian (1936–2015) For other people named Martin Gilbert, see Martin Gilbert (disambiguation) . He was the author of eighty-eight books, including works on Winston Churchill , the 20th century, and Jewish history including the Holocaust . He was a member of the Chilcot Inquiry into Britain's role in the Iraq War .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176565127.
The opening as it stood in 2025
British historian (1936–2015) For other people named Martin Gilbert, see Martin Gilbert (disambiguation) . He was the author of 88 books, including works on Winston Churchill , the 20th century, and Jewish history including the Holocaust . He was a member of the Chilcot Inquiry into Britain's role in the Iraq War .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1283237430. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “british historian and biographer and author of over seventy books on a range of historical subjects”. Today it says “british historian and honorary fellow of merton college”. 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 historian and biographer and author of over seventy books on a range of historical subjects
Now
british historian and honorary fellow of merton college
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.
