he painted this self—portrait at the age of 12 and downgraded his ambition to become british prime minister. at the age of 13, johnson was off to eton college, the elite private school that has produced 20 british prime ministers. at eton he became a star of the school plays, and he discovered he could make people laugh. do you think you learned something for later life from acting in plays at eton, that you could get more laughs by looking as if you don't know your lines than actually remembering them? well, i certainly think that, as a general tactic in life, if that is what you are driving at, it is often useful to give the slight impression that