MICHAEL Portillo will unveil a special plaque to mark Harrow High School's hundredth anniversary today.

Also known as “Harrow under the Hill,” the comprehensive in Gayon Road will see the broadcaster and former MP, one of its old students, unveil the centenary plaque while pupils dressed in uniforms from over the years look on.

When it opened in 1911 it was named Harrow County School for Boys, but was renamed as Gayton High School in 1975 when the London Borough of Harrow adopted a comprehensive education system.

The school adopted its current name in 1998 when it became a mixed comprehensive.

Now a notable sports college, it also boasts a sixth form which was attached in 2006.

Among some of its most notable achievements, Harrow High School became the world’s first school to host a scout troop, 4th Harrow, in 1911.

This is because the school’s first headmaster, Ernest Young, was a friend of Scouts founder Lord Baden Powell.

In the 1940’s the school started an army cadet force, boasting a 600-strong army, navy and RAF force by 1949. This was disbanded in 1994, but a new cadet force was started in 2009.

Harrow High School peaked in the 1950’s when headmaster Dr A. R. Simpson strived for excellence, causing the grammar school to rank 4th best in the country and outdoing its rival public school, Harrow School.

Harrow High School boasts a collection of impressive alumni, including Ernest Amor, the managing director of Kodak; Sir John Boothman, who won the Schneider Trophy in 1931 after winning a seaplane race; broadcaster and comedy writer Clive Anderson; England cricketer Mark Ramprakash; Nigel Sheinwald, British ambassador for the United States; and Roger Glover, bass guitarist for rock band Deep Purple.

Alex Bateman, who attended the school in the early 1980's and is currently an archivist for the school, said: “At the time it was a bog standard school but I look back on it with fond memories.”