George & Lynne Walton in the library they established on Cayman Brac, with Sir Martin’s books donated from his private collection Letter from George Walton: Dear Lady Gilbert, I was very fortunate and highly privileged to have met you at the Commonwealth Jewish Council reception on 19 November 2015. I…
Picture: Randolph Churchill, Stour, East Bergholt, February 1965 My employment with Randolph Churchill began in October 1962, on my twenty-sixth birthday. Given Randolph’s reputation for drink and anger, my friends and I assumed that my engagement would be of short duration. I was still there, as part of his team…
Speech given at the India International Centre, Delhi: 3 June 2002 I first came to this great city in 1958 forty-four years ago, and was present when Jawaharlal Nehru spoke at the Red Fort on the eleventh anniversary of Indian Independence – to a crowd estimated at one million. In…
The Teachers Dr Anne Langan, Elizabeth Dick, Dr Harriet Sepinwall, Maraid Mukaida, Susana Monteiro, Zakiya Atkinson, Meghan McNamara Not pictured: Michele Bellomo & Lizandaa Alburg How to give teachers background in the Holocaust to inspire their own teaching of it? Dr Harriet Sepinwall at the College of Saint Elizabeth in…
Yitzhak Rabin and John Major during a reception ceremony in Jerusalem’s Rose Garden Credit: National Photo Collection; Photo by Sa’ar Ya’acov, 12/03/1995 By Martin Gilbert It was my good fortune to have met Yitzhak Rabin a number of times during the last twenty years of his cruelly truncated life. Our…
In conjunction with Sir Martin’s eBook publisher RosettaBooks and his Atlas publisher Routledge, these titles are being offered at special promotion this month: 1st to 31st December 2015 “All the way from Adam and Eve to the current conflict in the Middle East” Buy The Story of the Jewish People…
A Memorial evening to honour The Rt Hon. Sir Martin Gilbert, CBE, DLitt, FRSL, Winston Churchill’s official biographer, was held on the 24 November 2015 at the Western Marble Arch Synagogue in Central London. Lady Gilbert welcomed guests and Rabbi Nicki Liss from Highgate Synagogue introduced the speakers who gave…
You may have noticed … different spellings for Hanukah. Gloria Donen Sosin, an American correspondent of mine, has just sent me an article in which she notes no less than eighteen different spellings – in English transliteration alone – of the five Hebrew letters that make up the name of…
In 2006, when Martin’s book Kristallnacht came out, he was invited to a party to celebrate the book and to launch it on its way. The party was held at the Residence of the German Ambassador in London, and our host was the German Chargé d’Affaires, Hans-Henning Blomeyer-Bartenstein. Martin brought…
“Kristallnacht taught several lessons. It taught those who were the source of prejudice that a whole people can be demonised; that a whole nation can be turned totally and obscenely against a decent, hard-working, creative, loyal and integral part of its own society. This point was made on 19 August…
“Governor General praises the bravery of those who fought in the Battle of Britain” “Here is what Governor General David Johnston had to say at the Battle of Britain ceremony today:” “Some years ago, I had the opportunity to speak to Sir Martin Gilbert, the author of a multi-volume biography…
Speech for 70th anniversary of arrival of ‘The Boys’ in Cumbria, 13 August 2015 By Suzanne Bardgett, Head of Research and Academic Partnerships, Imperial War Museum, London Minister, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I am here on behalf of the IWM’s Director- General, Diane Lees, who I know would have…
Extracts from Sir Martin’s unpublished diary Coming to Israel on 4 October 1973 to research Churchill’s 1921 visit there, Sir Martin was caught up in the conflict as a volunteer, and keen to record history as it happened: 5.30 am. Give a lift to an Englishman trying to get to…
TRIBUTE BY KEITH MORGAN Wonderful tributes from around the world poured out following the recent passing of Sir Martin Gilbert, Churchill’s official biographer and renowned Holocaust historian. When I heard of his death on February 3rd, after a lengthy illness, I shed tears for a man I proudly called a…
Sir Martin Gilbert, z”l October 25, 1936 – February 3, 2015 , London, UK by Esther Gilbert On 3 February 2015, Sir Martin died. He succumbed to a sudden sepsis infection, aggravated by an inability to move from a March 2012 hypoxia brain injury. During those three years he did…
First published in The Independent : 3 September 1989 By Martin Gilbert In the midst of the current commemorations of the outbreak of the Second World War, I feel uneasy. Commemorations should be a cause of pride. Yet the outbreak of war in 1939 was in many ways shameful, marking…
Newly Redesigned Website Provides Fitting Resource to the Life and Works of the Official Biographer of Sir Winston Churchill The late Sir Martin Gilbert (1936–2015) passed away in February. Since then his widow, Lady Esther Gilbert, has overseen the redesign of his official website as a lasting tribute to her husband. Sir…
One of the exciting features of the website is the inclusion of the Indexes of Sir Martin’s core books. He always took great pleasure in compiling these itemised indexes himself – writing them on index cards: now they are available here on their associated book pages. Interested in the context…
Sir Martin’s book In Ishmael’s House presented to: Gray Academy of Jewish Education Graduates May 2014: The winner of the Bernice Manishen Faintuch Peer Tutoring Scholarship, Shayna Wilhelmer, is presented by the late Bernice Faintuch’s niece Phyllis Hochman. Shayna was also presented with a copy of Martin Gilbert’s book In…
“Finest Hour, The Journal for Winston Churchill” paid tribute to Sir Martin; dedicating their autumn issue, October 2014 in his honour. Richard Langworth, the editor writes : This is my last issue of “Finest Hour”. There is no better way to complete my work of forty years than with these…