28 Facts About Martin Gilbert

Sir Martin John Gilbert was a British historian and honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford.

Martin Gilbert was the author of eighty-eight books, including works on Winston Churchill, the 20th century, and Jewish history including the Holocaust.

Martin Gilbert was a member of the Chilcot Inquiry into Britain's role in the Iraq War.

Martin Gilbert was born in London, the first child of Peter Gilbert, a north London jeweller, and his wife, Miriam.

Martin Gilbert spent the next few years combining his own research projects in Oxford with being part of Randolph's research team in Suffolk, who were working on the first two volumes of the Churchill biography.

When Randolph died in 1968, Martin Gilbert was commissioned to take over the task, completing the remaining six main volumes of the biography.

Martin Gilbert spent the next 20 years on the Churchill project, publishing a number of other books throughout the time.

Martin Gilbert wrote a three-volume series called A History of the Twentieth Century.

Martin Gilbert described himself as an "archival historian" who made extensive use of primary sources in his work.

Martin Gilbert authored Jews of Hope: The Plight of Soviet Jewry Today and Shcharansky: Hero of Our Time, and he presented on behalf of the Soviet Jewry Movement in a variety of contexts, ranging from large forums such as formal representation before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to smaller forums such as an educational slideshow for the general public on behalf of the Soviet Jewry Information Centre.

In 1995, Martin Gilbert retired as a Fellow of Merton College but was made an Honorary Fellow.

Martin Gilbert was noted for his endorsement of Bat Ye'or and his Eurabia theory, providing a cover comment for her 2005 book, and has stated that the theory "is 100 percent accurate".

Martin Gilbert was appointed in June 2009 as a member of the British government's inquiry into the Iraq War.

In 1990, Martin Gilbert was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

In 2003 Martin Gilbert was awarded the Dr Leopold Lucas Prize by the University of Tubingen.

The Sir Martin Gilbert Library at Highgate School, where he was a pupil, was opened on 6 May 2014 by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Martin Gilbert was the target of a serious attempt by the State Protection Authority of Hungary to recruit him as an agent in the early 1960s.

Martin Gilbert initially responded warmly, and agreed to go on a Hungarian government-funded trip to Budapest in September 1961, and expressed views about Britain which seemed designed to impress his Hungarian hosts.

The Hungarians attempted to intercept the many letters he sent back home during the trip, and were able to work out that Martin Gilbert was lying about being a Communist.

When invited to a further meeting in Paris, Martin Gilbert did not show up and eventually when his intended handler defected to the West, the Hungarians gave up.

Martin Gilbert never explained the incident himself; writing about it in 2015, Hungarian historian Krisztian Ungvary noted that Martin Gilbert must have realised what was going on, and may have been used by the British intelligence services to plant a double agent.

Martin Gilbert had two sons with his second wife, Susan Sacher, whom he married in 1974.

Martin Gilbert described himself as a proud practising Jew and a Zionist.

In March 2012, while on a trip to Jerusalem, Martin Gilbert developed a heart arrhythmia from which he never recovered.

Martin Gilbert died in London on 3 February 2015, aged 78.

Martin Gilbert asked to be buried in Israel, and a Memorial Tribute attended by Gordon Brown and Randolph Churchill was organised on 24 November 2015 in the Western Marble Arch Synagogue, London.

Martin Gilbert's death was announced on 4 February 2015 by Sir John Chilcot.

In 2008, Martin Gilbert announced that the job of publishing the remaining companion volumes had been taken over by the Hillsdale Press, and the first of these appeared in 2014.