During the years following the Second World War, members of the English teaching community in London, often within the London Association for the Teaching of English, conducted work which led to a “new” English for the emerging comprehensive school system.  Such work was rooted in the belief that English teaching should be responsive to the culture, class, language and experience of children. Contrasting this work with the current state of English teaching, this piece considers to what extent the progress made in that post-war period has survived two decades of government intervention in English curriculum and pedagogy.