Dale Banham’s Grand Prix race has helped many history teachers in Suffolk to think freshly about metaphors and images that will inspire and enable pupils (especially underachieving boys) to write analytically and at length. In this article he explores the reasons for the race’s success. His first theme is the importance of giving pupils time to prepare for written argument. Eleven year-olds should not attempt extended written argument ‘cold’. His second theme is a fascinating response to a problem that many history teachers have identified. Whilst it is obvious that a key emphasis in Banham’s teaching is the requirement for pupils to confront, self-consciously, the organisational problem of composition (all kinds of creative ‘sorting’ crop up again and again), what is striking is...