Memorial honoring prolific historian Sir Martin Gilbert set for November

A memorial evening to honour the late Sir Martin Gilbert is to be held in Central London on 24 November.

The prolific historian and official biographer of Winston Churchill passed away in February this year, aged 78, after a career in which he published 88 books, including masterly texts on Israel and the Holocaust.

An authority on Jewish history, Gilbert described himself as a “pugnacious Zionist” and his work helped establish Holocaust Studies. He also explored the Jewish Diaspora, British diplomacy, Soviet refuseniks, the two world wars and the history of Jerusalem.

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In 2009 he was appointed a member of the British government’s inquiry into the Iraq War, headed by Sir John Chilcot, whose findings have still not been published.

At the time of his death, his personal website was swamped with tributes, among them leaders of the Jewish community, including Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, who described him as “a scholar and a gentleman,” adding: “Every educated Jew’s bookshelf has been enriched by at least some of his books.”