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1936 - 2015
HONORARY FELLOW, MERTON COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Martin John Gilbert was an eminent British historian and author of over eighty books. His greatest contribution to historiography was as the official biographer of Sir Winston Churchill.
Born to Jewish parents in Britain, he was employed by Lord Randolph Churchill as a research assistant for the ambitious historical account of his father. Gilbert himself went on to complete volumes 3 to 8 of the series.
While an undergraduate in Vancouver, Canada, a friend and I attended a public lecture by Gilbert in a trendy warehouse-turned-theatre on Granville Island.
I didn't quite realise it then, but later learnt that the occasion was in effect the Vancouver book-launch of Gilbert's magisterial one-volume summary (if you can call 1066 pages a "summary").
Not long after the lecture, I purchased my own copy of the book at a ridiculously cheap price, which I feel today was a severe injustice to the tremendous amount of work put in by Churchill's foremost biographer.
Martin Gilbert has an informative website here.
If you have some time to spare, watch Martin Gilbert discuss his career and works.
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