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My favourite book is "My Early Life" by Winston Churchill which charts his first 25 years.

Sounds dull but is anything but. He really led an extraordinary life and his inimitable writing style is etched in every sentence.

Here he is trying to pass his entrance examination to Harrow:

"The Headmaster, Mr Welldon, took a broad-minded view of my Latin prose: he showed discernment in judging my general ability. This was the more remarkable, because I was found unable to answer a single question in the Latin paper. I wrote my name at the top of the page. I wrote down the number of the question '1'. After much reflection I put a braket round it thus '(1)'. But thereafter I could not think of anything connected with it that was either relevant or true. Incidentally there arrived from nowhere in particular a blot and several smudges. I gazed for two whole hours at this sad spectacle: and then merciful ushers collected my piece of paper with all the others and carried it up to the headmaster's table. It was from these slender indications of scholarship that Mr. Welldon drew the conclusion that I was worthy to pass into Harrow. It is very much to his credit. It showed that he was a man capable of looking beneath the surface of things: a man not dependent upon paper manifestations. I have always had the greatest regard for him."

Winston's actually being a bit tongue-in-cheek here: his father was a senior member of the Government at the time so his entrance to Harrow was never in doubt!!!