Revision can be a rather dull part of the academic year, especially if it means the wholesale revisiting of the syllabus using the same old notes. This article presents an attempt at using the 'biography' of an element to give an alternative framework for recapping some of the key concepts in a typical A-level chemistry syllabus. It does not, in isolation, pretend to offer a comprehensive syllabus coverage, but rather it enables students to tackle some familiar problems in a different context.