Dragons' Den star Nick Jenkins returns to his old school in Newport - with pictures

But it all started in Shropshire for Nick Jenkins, who learnt his trade at Adams' Grammar School before making his millions.

The businessman, who parted from the Den at the beginning of this year, visited the Newport school to speak to students yesterday.

He was at Adams as part of the annual Haberdashers' Deputation, which sees the Haberdashers – the school's trustees – visit and speak to the students.

Mr Jenkins said he was delighted to return and had fond memories of his time there.

"It feels great to be back and it's wonderful to see the school thriving. It's grown since I was last here.

"It's twice the size as it was before and of course there are girls here now but some things haven't changed. There is still one master here who was here when I was there.

"It's great to give something back. This school gave me a great education and gave me some of the skills that helped me in life so it's great to come back and be part of the Haberdashers and insuring that continues.

"I think Adams Grammar gave me a good all round education and taught me some of the other skills that are not necessary exams.

"I ran the school debating society, the William Adams society, it was run by the English master and it taught us how to articulate ourselves well."

Before becoming a 'dragon', he founded online greetings card retailer Moonpig and sold it in 2011 for £120 million.

The business started to make profit in 2005 and within four more years, it had sold cards to two and a half million customers.

Originally born in Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire, his nickname whilst at the boarding school, Moonpig, went on to inspire the successful business name – and that memorable advert.

He added: "My first morning at school when I was a border at Longford one of the second form boys said, "Hence forth you will be known as Moonpig."

"That stuck with me for my school career. I forgot about it and was setting the business up, wanted a name for the company that was two syllables, available as a .com, and was unique to Google.

"I spent four days spending time thinking of a simple name, threw Moonpig in and it was entirely unique. That was that and it ended up working very well."

From a pork scratching retailer to children's entertainment company, he spent two years as a dragon and invested in a number of different businesses during that time.

After stepping down along with Sarah Willingham, he now works owns an educational business for children in Africa.

"It was great fun [doing Dragons' Den]," added Mr Jenkins. "I invest in a lot start-up businesses so it was just another opportunity to look at a whole range of businesses.

"I'm always fascinated at other business models. I invested in a wide variety of things including a pork scratching business, a cycle accessory business, a children entertainment investment.

"I've stopped doing that and now I'm focused mainly on educational technology, I've got a big business in Africa which does primary school education on a tablet."

The Haberdashers' Deputation included a presentation, tour of the school and boarding house, featured music as well as lunch and a 'speed dating-style' event where pupils got the chance to speak to the Haberdashers.

Headmaster Gary Hickey added: "It's always wonderful to have former pupils of the school come back. But to have someone of Nick's calibre and experience is fantastic for the students.

"We're trying to cultivate this sense of resilience and entrepreneurship of the pupils. We actively encourage looking for different routes into the world so to have someone like Nick come along and speak to the students as someone who walked through the same corridors is a great opportunity.

"He's got lots of fond memories and said he didn't get into trouble too much!"