by former pupil James Stedman Dixon. On his return from Africa in 1864, the celebrated missionary and explorer David Livingstone presented the awards at the school's prize-giving ceremony of that year. His speech was to inspire Hamilton Academy pupil Frederick Stanley Arnot who was later to follow on Livingstone's missionary work in central Africa. Extracurricular Sports and the Laigh Bent Playing Fields The inter-house annual sports day was held at the Academy's dedicated sports grounds, Laigh Bent Playing Fields, within walking distance of the main school building, in the 1950s and 60s Lady Keith, wife of former Hamilton Academy pupil, Lord Keith of Avonholm, often presenting the annual prizes. The school's inter-schools teams (rugby, soccer, tennis, hockey, cricket, athletics and golf) competed with other similarly ranked British schools in sports competitions, Hamilton Academy's senior soccer teams winning the Scottish Schools Championships (Bank of Scotland Scottish Schools Senior Shield) in 1910, 1919, 1920, 1925, 1926, 1930, 1952 and 1963 and its second senior teams winning the Scottish Schools League Championship (McGowan Cup) and the Ormiston Shield in 1963. Hamilton Academy's senior football teams also won the Division 1 League Cup in 1919, 1930, 1933 and 1935, in the Glasgow and District Secondary Schools Football League. The Laigh Bent (meaning 'low hill') grounds of eight acres were acquired for the school in 1926. To a design by Mr. John Rennie, a master at Hamilton Academy, a sports pavilion was opened on the site on 29 October 1930. Proceedings were led by Sir Henry Shanks Keith (a past-Provost of Hamilton and Honorary Sheriff of Lanarkshire) whose son, the afore-mentioned Lord Keith of Avonholm, had attended the Academy. The pavilion was officially opened by the Marquis of Douglas and Clydesdale (who became in 1940 the 14th Duke of Hamilton, and played a part in the Rudolf Hess incident of 1941). The duke served for many years as President of the Hamilton Academy FP (former pupil) Rugby Club. The pavilion (burnt down by vandals in 1976) comprised eleven changing rooms, dining room, kitchen, baths, two referees' rooms and drying and storage rooms. The grounds found to be too uneven, a scheme was devised (1936) for their levelling which began in March 1939 but due to World War II was not completed until 1947, following also the acquisition of a further six acres of adjoining fields, providing space for an additional three pitches. Costs of the