TWO of the five living Nobel Prize winners born in Scotland have returned to the Borders high school they attended as youngsters.

Sir Angus Deaton and Richard Henderson were joined by physicist Sir David Wallace, another former pupil of Hawick High School.

The esteemed men met current pupils, head teacher Vicky Porteous and town councillor Watson McAteer during the visit.

Mr McAteer, convener of Scottish Borders Council, said: “We are truly honoured to welcome these three remarkable gentlemen back to Hawick. It is a really unique opportunity and we feel incredibly privileged to be in their company.

“It really is quite remarkable that three former pupils from the same era have gone on to achieve such phenomenal success.”

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Sir Angus, of Princeton University, was born in Edinburgh in 1945. His father qualified as a civil engineer in 1955 and they moved to the Roxburghshire village of Bowden.

He went to Hawick High School in 1957 and received a scholarship to Fettes College in Edinburgh in 1959.

Sir Angus was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2015 for his work in economic sciences. He received a knighthood in 2016 for services to research in economics and international affairs.

“Hawick High School was very good to me,” he said. “My teachers were dedicated and knowledgeable. I remember much that I learned all those years ago, but most of all I discovered that I wanted to learn more.”

Mr Henderson was also born in Edinburgh in 1945. The family moved to Newcastleton in 1951, where he attended primary school for five years.

He was one of only four pupils to be selected to go to Hawick High School in 1955.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2017.

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Mr Henderson said of the Hawick school: “Our teachers were dedicated and serious. They introduced us to a wide range of academic and practical pursuits, for example metalwork, that we would never have experienced otherwise.

“In my case it led on to a career in scientific research, but it was at Hawick that my first glimpses into a different world were revealed.”

Sir David was born in Hawick in 1945 and was head boy of the high school in 1963.

He was knighted in 2004 for services to UK science, technology and engineering.

Sir David said: “It is a great privilege to be able to join Angus and Richard on their return to our school. They are two of the five living Nobel Laureates born in Scotland – truly a historic occasion.

“We all, along with many others, owe a great deal to the education and wider opportunities that the school provided.”