Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the important work of Peter Medway in seeking to define English as a school subject in the period from the 1980s to the early years of this century. Design/methodology/approach: The author reviews the work of Peter Medway. Findings: The paper addresses the issue of how his work reflected -- or not -- the curriculum thinking of his time and the complexity of ideas he brought to this endeavour. Originality/value: This paper is an original look at the work of Peter Medway in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.