Two distinguished old boys of Winchester College received a rousing reception from present students on Friday.

They were welcomed "Ad Portas"-at the gates-by the headmaster, Tommy Cookson, and all students and staff, about 700 people. The honour was given to the Nawab of Pataudi, an Indian prince and Richard Noble.

The nawab (63) became the youngest captain of India's Test cricket team, when, aged 21, he was appointed on the 1961-62 tour of the West Indies. He went on to lead his country 40 times during the 1960s and '70s. In his 46 Tests, he scored 2,793 runs, with six centuries, three of them against England.

Richard Noble (58) held the world land-speed record of 633.468 miles per hour from 1983-1987. He then went on to head the team that broke the sound barrier on land in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, with RAF pilot, Andy Green, in the hot seat.

Prefect of Hall, Mark Austin (18) faultlessly recited a welcome in Latin to each man and they replied briefly in the language of the Caesars.

The Nawab said that 50 years ago, he and a friend were the first Indians to attend Winchester College. A school in the Himalayas was "no preparation for the adventure with the English weather, the minimum comforts of a British public school and the lack of privacy."

At Winchester, the Nawab said, he had made long-standing friends. India and Britain had had a special relationship for 150 years.Thousands of Indian soldiers fought, with distinction, alongside British colleagues in two world wars. The figures were staggering: 30% of the Merchant Navy comprised Indian lascars and over 3,000,000 Indians volunteered to join the army.

"If the introduction of modern communications, the development of the railways and the spread of English helped the few to govern the many, it also hastened the unification of India and its march towards independence.

"And if today, the Indian diaspora is comfortably settled all over the world, it is because the British undertook the first globalisation of labour to Africa, the Far East and West Indies and to the mills of the Midlands in this country."

Since independence, the traffic had moved the other way. "By the the time I left Winchester, Indian doctors had become the backbone of the NHS, yoga had come into fashion and the Beatles were learning the sitar. Later, writers from the subcontinent got serious recognition.

"Indians are diligent and by and large law-abiding and I am sure that those working or living here will continue to contribute fully to the growth of their adopted country."

Richard Noble said he and colleagues had created the world land speed records in very tough conditions, with limited resources. "We wanted to show that Britain was still capable of outstanding engineering achievement in the face of the toughest competition."

He added: "One day, when you can look back 40 years, you will be able to see with great clarity and perspective what an important part Winchester played in your life. To me, the key point is that this is a quite extraordinary school because of its exceptional standards and its history of educating its sons in the absolute pursuit of excellence."

He stressed: "You need to understand the importance of taking risk; you can, of course, choose to work through life without taking any risk at all-but if you do, then a whole rich vista of experience will forever be denied to you."

The ceremony of Ad Portas is a development from the official welcome accorded to the New College, Oxford, examiners on their annual visit to Winchester.

In 1615, Letitia Williams instituted a payment of 13s 4d to the scholar who delivered the speech. Bishops of Winchester and visiting royalty had also been greeted over the centuries with formal speeches "at the gates." In 1873, the practice of delivering a Latin speech to the examiners came to an end. When the ceremony was revived in 1881 to welcome Archbishop Tait, the modern Ad Portas was established.

Among those welcomed since have been Gladstone, kings and queens, including the present Queen, Stanley Baldwin, Arnold Toynbee, Geoffrey Howe, nine Wykehamist judges and many bishops of Winchester, including John Taylor, Colin James and Michael Scott-Joynt.