181 old boys and masters were killed in action, among them the former school chaplain, Bernard Vann, who was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously.

[2] Between the wars, the school's sporting prowess continued, and in 1929 a thatched pavilion was built on the playing fields, paid for out of tuckshop profits.

The most distinguished old boy was group captain James Brian Tait, one of the RAF's most highly decorated bomber pilots, who led the attack which sank the German battleship Tirpitz in 1944.

[citation needed] In 1965 the school received a visit from Queen Elizabeth II.

Girls were admitted for the first time in 1970 and it became fully co-educational in 1979, following the sudden closure of Overstone School in Northamptonshire.