session. This system has evolved over time to include other extracurricular interests, such as drama and music. Conceived as a character-building exercise, the annual games and nations system were intended to foster a team spirit and encourage physical activity among all pupils. Within each nation, masters were appointed to committees to develop Under 15 and Under 13 cricket and rugby teams, and to broaden participation beyond the First XI and XV by training pupils of every level of ability. The competitive scheme proved popular with pupils and teachers and has since been expanded to encompass a wide variety of games, sports and other extracurricular activities, held throughout the year. Nation badges were introduced in 1928. Today the nations compete for the Crichton Cup. This was first presented as a trophy for the inter-nation squadron swimming race in 1914 by J. D. Crichton, whose sons were at the school. In 1920 it was transferred to the nation championship in scholarship and athletics combined. Earlier generations of Royal High Scholars had played their own schoolyard game, known as clacken from the wooden bat used by players, and as late as the 1880s 'no High School boy considered his equipment complete unless the wooden clacken hung to his wrist as he went and came', but the rise of national games, especially rugby, the grant of Holyrood Field for cricket in 1860, and the construction of a gymnasium and swimming bath in 1885, meant the ancient Royal High Schoolyard game was extinct by 1911. Notable alumni Former pupils have made countless contributions to national life; amongst these names are: Robert Adam (1728-1792), architect Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), inventor Henry Peter Brougham (1778–1868), British statesman and Lord Chancellor. Eric Brown (pilot) (1919-2016), former Royal Navy officer and test pilot; first pilot to land on an Aircraft carrier. Ian Charleson (1949-1990). stage, TV and film actor (Chariots of Fire, Gandhi) Robin Cook (1946-2005), politician Thomas Coutts (1735-1822), banker Ronnie Corbett (1930-2016), comedian John Cruickshank V. C., Royal Air Force officer Thomas Doherty, actor Henry Dundas, Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer Robert Fergusson (1750-1774), poet Eric Lomax, military officer and author of The Railway Man John Menzies, businessman Eleanor Morton, comedian Robert Nasmyth, inventor of the steam hammer, dentist to Queen Victoria in Scotland. David Olive, physicist David Robb (1947- ), stage, TV and film actor Sir Walter Scott Bt. (1771-1832), author Archibald Campbell Tait