The wartime volumes contain many letters from former pupils serving at the front. The Royal High School also publishes an Annual Report at the end of the school session in June/July. As the school's main publication of record, it contains future session dates, a staff list, the rector's report, a programme for the commemoration day ceremony, a list of awards, and a report from each subject detailing staffing, academic achievement and general events that went on in that subject in the past academic year. The rector's report was first published in 1846. Rectors Popular culture Among the Royal High School's appearances in literature are the stories related in the Gentleman's Magazine, Walter Scott's Autobiography, Lord Cockburn's Memorials, Captain Basil Hall's Log Book of a Midshipman, George Borrow's Lavengro, George M'Crie's 1866 poem, The Old High School and William Boyd's The New Confessions. The most celebrated of all is the 'Green-Breeks' episode in Scott's novel, Waverley, Appendix III (1814). The author, a pupil from 1779 to 1783, reminisces wistfully about the bicker, or traditional mass brawl, humorously likened to a Homeric battle, fought in the streets of Edinburgh between pupils from different social classes. A school ballad, The Woeful Slaying of Bailie Macmoran, was founded on a school siege of 1595 known as the great barring-out. This turbulent history continues to inspire new work. Gentlemen’s Bairns is a play by C. S. Lincoln which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2006. It dramatises the fatal shooting during the siege of a chief magistrate, John Macmoran, by a pupil, William Sinclair, a grandson of the Earl of Caithness. This incident is also taught as part of first year History curriculum. See also Old Royal High School, Edinburgh List of the oldest schools in the world :Category:People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh References External links and School history The Royal High School's page on Scottish Schools Online The Royal High School Club The Royal High School Club in London Educational institutions established in the 12th century Organisations based in Edinburgh with royal patronage Secondary schools in Edinburgh 1128 establishments in Scotland