Diana Laffin and Maggie Wilson want their pupils to connect with people in the past and to experience some of their emotions. The emotional factor is a difficult one in history, both for pupils and professional historians. When studying Eden’s actions at Suez, for example, what we lack is a proper insight into the immediate pressures he faced and the kind of environment in which he operated. What exactly did it feel like to be him at that moment? We can never know for sure and the additional problems faced by pupils (for example, empathising with adults and being unable to deal with hindsight) increase the challenge. One way of handling these difficulties is through the careful use of analogy in the classroom. In some ways, this is Luff with a twist (see, for example, Luff’s article in issue 113). As in Luff’s case, the two activities outlined here are all about active demonstration and role play, but the vehicle is the present, not the past. Of course, there are limitations to the use of analogies which have to be handled properly. But can they invoke feelings of injustice, betrayal and confusion that help pupils feel their way into the past?