One of the continuing needs for the education of gifted and talented children is the provision of effective role models who are their intellectual peers. Being gifted brings special conditions and demands special provisions for a differentiated education. This thesis documents the development, implementation and evaluation of an educational program intended to cater for the needs of gifted and talented children. It uses the lives of eminent personalities to provide gifted children with role models in life for coping with the phenomenon of giftedness. It argues that such studies provide real world role modelling, mastery of life long skills and a strong motivation to achieve. The theoretical base selected is George T Betts' autonomous learner model, where longer and deeper personal research is supported by at home, in class and in school provisions to encourage students to develop higher level communication skills and better self concepts about themselves as gifted persons. The program, entitled the Night of the Notables, is a flexible educational program, being both user and teacher friendly, one that can be used as enrichment or extension in selected groups or in general ability classrooms, over shorter or longer time spans, for both gifted and talented, and across several age groups. It emphasises student choice and commitment and so is similar to Renzulli Type III Enrichment for gifted education. The thesis documents the progress of the study with lower secondary students at a suburban independent school, analyses data supporting hypotheses about increased mastery of selected cognitive skills and improved affectivity, and provides original materials developed to run the program. Implications for preferring similar methodologies for teaching gifted and talented are explored.