"When you've got a criminal record, no qualifications, no references, your best option is starting your own business because no one can stop you."

Duncan Bannatyne is now best known as a VC on Dragon's Den.


"The only thing I enjoyed at Dalmuir primary, a school in Clydebank, was maths. I had the ability to add up, but my maths teacher didn't have much time for me because I couldn't write down how I got the answers. I could see that the kids who went to high school had better toys than me. I made it my mission to do as well as I could, so that I could pass my 11-plus and get into the "posh school". I knuckled down, and when I passed – I was the only one in the family who did – my parents were incredibly proud of me.

When I started at Clydebank High School, it was immediately obvious that I was going to find it tough. I hated things like English – I was slightly dyslexic. I was hopeless at sport, too, having no coordination."

For more on Bannatyne:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/passedfailed-an-education-in-the-life-of-duncan-bannatyne-entrepreneur-and-dragons-den-panellist-1647932.html