  The study of detached eclipsing binaries is one of the most powerful ways to
investigate the properties of individual stars and stellar systems. We present
preliminary masses, radii and effective temperatures for the eclipsing binary
WW Aurigae, which is composed of two metallic-lined A-type stars. We also
reanalyse the data on HD 23642, an A-type eclipsing binary member of the
Pleiades open cluster with a metallic-lined component, and determine its
distance to be 139 +/- 4 pc. This is in agreement with the traditional Pleiades
distance, but in disagreement with distance to the Pleiades, and to HD 23642
itself, derived from Hipparcos trigonometrical parallaxes.
