Established by the bequest of a tobacco merchant over two centuries ago, James Gillespie's was the very first free school in Scotland. Always of bold, liberal outlook, Gillespie's has been variously a boys' boarding-school, a posh Edinburgh Merchant Company concern, a sought-after girls-only 'Corporation Grammar' and, since 1973, a co-educational area comprehensive, regularly turning in some of the best exam results in Scotland. Former pupil and award-winning journalist John MacLeod reveals all in a book which tells not just the historical facts, but which is liberally peppered with anecdote, including details about the clock that never worked, the ghost of the 'Green Lady' and the day they nearly drowned the Queen Mother...