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John Ehrman

John Patrick William Ehrman, FBA (17 March 1920 – 15 June 2011) was a British historian, most notable for his three-volume biography of William Pitt the Younger. He also wrote two volumes of the official British History of the Second World War; "Grand Strategy" Volumes V and VI. The son of Albert Ehrman, John was educated at Charterhouse School and Trinity College, Cambridge, when the outbreak of war in 1939 interrupted his studies. Ehrman served in the Royal Navy in the Middle East and the Atlantic. He returned to Trinity College after the war and his work gained him the admiration of G. M. Trevelyan and George Clark. He was elected to a Fellowship in 1947. In 1948, Ehrman married a daughter of Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey Blake and they had four sons. J. R. M. Butler, who had been Ehrman's tutor and was the leading spirit behind Britain's official History of the Second World War, chose Ehrman to write the fifth and sixth volumes on Grand Strategy for the series. These were published in 1956 and were well received. Ehrman also wrote The Atomic Bomb (1953), where he explained Britain's involvement in the making and use of the atomic weapon. Due to the classified information that it contained, the book was not published until the early 1990s. In 1957 he delivered the Lees Knowles Lectures at Cambridge.…

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Article summary

John Patrick William Ehrman, FBA (17 March 1920 – 15 June 2011) was a British historian, most notable for his three-volume biography of William Pitt the Younger. He also wrote two volumes of the official British History of the Second World War; "Grand Strategy" Volumes V and VI. The son of Albert Ehrman, John was educated at Charterhouse School and Trinity College, Cambridge, when the outbreak of war in 1939 interrupted his studies. Ehrman served in the Royal Navy in the Middle East and the Atlantic. He returned to Trinity College after the war and his work gained him the admiration of G. M. Trevelyan and George Clark. He was elected to a Fellowship in 1947. In 1948, Ehrman married a daughter of Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey Blake and they had four sons. J. R. M. Butler, who had been Ehrman's tutor and was the leading spirit behind Britain's official History of the Second World War, chose Ehrman to write the fifth and sixth volumes on Grand Strategy for the series. These were published in 1956 and were well received. Ehrman also wrote The Atomic Bomb (1953), where he explained Britain's involvement in the making and use of the atomic weapon. Due to the classified information that it contained, the book was not published until the early 1990s. In 1957 he delivered the Lees Knowles Lectures at Cambridge.…

Key claims

  1. publication date: 1956 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the publication date is "1956". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1368573669

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.