Sir Alan Sugar

by Charlie Burden

‘We landed at Barton, a friendly and clublike airfield now named City Airport Manchester – a far grander name than it suggests with a grass runway about the same length as a football pitch,’ explained Sugar. ‘We landed and ran over the end of the slippery runway by about 15 feet into some taller grass. In doing so the propeller of the plane picked up some minor damage and according to the rules this means the plane can’t fly unless checked out by a qualified engineer.’

  The plane was then towed by a tractor back to a hangar. Meanwhile, Sugar and his travelling companion returned to the airport clubhouse, where they were able to laugh off the incident and tuck in to a snack. ‘As far as “life-threatening” is concerned, to put things in perspective my friend and I had as much chance of dying from the incident as we did in dying from food poisoning from the tuna sandwich that a very nice lady made us in the clubhouse while we waited for a mate to pick us up and take us home.’

  One pilot, who was at the airfield, reportedly said, ‘He wasn’t shaken or hurt but he seemed quite annoyed with himself. It is only a small airport. There is not a great deal of room for pilot error. Had he been going much faster, it could have been a very different story.’

  But a spokesman for Sugar tried to play the incident down. ‘The accident was due to the weather being particularly wet and heavy,’ the spokesman told the Daily Mail. ‘It is also a very short runway. For Sir Alan this was just a pleasure trip. He flies a great deal at the weekends.’

  Officialdom soon gave its own verdict. A report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch into the crash on 5 July stated, ‘As the aircraft turned on to the final approach, the visibility deteriorated, and the wind shifted, becoming a slight tail wind. The pilot lost sight of the far end of the runway in the poor visibility, and touched down in the middle third of runway. Conscious of the risk of skidding on the “very wet” runway, he applied light braking. The aircraft ran off the end of the runway into a rough area of long grass. Both occupants vacated the aircraft without difficulty.’ The report concluded of Sugar, ‘The pilot reported that, with the benefit of hindsight, he considers that a go-around would have been a safer course of action.’

  Earlier that year, former newspaper editor Piers Morgan had written humorously of an in-air encounter he had with Alan Sugar. He jokingly headlined the article ‘How Alan Sugar tried to kill me’. Sugar had greeted Morgan at their rendezvous at the airfield at Brentwood, Essex, with a raucous ‘Oi, Morgan, you ready to die, then?’ The journalist described his friend as appearing like ‘Stormin’ Norman Schwarzkopf in a big brown Biggles jacket and black shades’. As they belted into the plane, Sugar jokingly asked his guest whether he had made a will. All the same, Morgan had to admire pilot Sugar’s flying ability, and Sugar’s love of the air was palpable. ‘I love it up here,’ he said. ‘Nobody can bother you, there are no phones or faxes or bloody emails.’

  There then followed some confusion over whether another plane was in the vicinity, causing some nervous moments for the pair. As they landed, Sugar told Morgan ‘I’ve failed … you’re still alive!’

  In the same column where he outlined his hair-raising flight with Sugar, Morgan also gave a great insight into Sir Alan and Ann’s 40th wedding anniversary celebrations at their home in 2008. On arrival there, Morgan found ‘a long tarpaulin tunnel patrolled by a small army of security men, leading through to an absolutely enormous marquee teeming with more than 250 people in smart black tie, standing around several large bars and gleefully guzzling vintage champagne’. The former showbiz journalist must have been to thousands of glitzy parties in his career, but this one really blew him away. ‘It was spectacularly lavish, like a scene from a Corleone family wedding in The Godfather. The centrepiece was two giant digitally enhanced photos of the happy couple on their wedding day.’

  It was a glorious evening, thoroughly enjoyed by all in attendance. The compere for the entertainment was show-business royalty Bruce Forsyth, who took to the stage with appreciative applause erupting all round. He promised ‘a few surprises’, and then was joined by Maureen Lipman for a foxtrot dance on the stage. ‘Is that really you, Maureen?’ he said, shocked when she returned to her seat. ‘Oh my God, I’m so sorry!’ Next on to the stage was one of Sir Alan’s young grandsons, who sang the Elton John classic ‘Daniel’, which provoked some wry grins due to a lyric that contained the words ‘Woah oh, oh, Daniel and papa, you’re both as old as can be, you moan about aches and pains, now it’s rubbed off on me.’ And it earned the crooning youngster a deserved standing ovation. Forsyth returned to the fray, quipping, ‘Sixty years in show business, and I end up being the warm-up for a seven-year-old!’

  Then it was time for legendary Jewish American comedian Jackie Mason. ‘I don’t know why I’m here,’ he joked, ‘or who for, other than he’s a billionaire with a big head and short legs.’ By now, the guests were rolling in the aisles. But he wasn’t finished. ‘Sushi’, he mused, ‘must have been created by two Jews thinking, “How can we open a restaurant without a kitchen?”’ On and on he went, with distinctly Jewish humour coming to the fore. His final quip brought the house down, and was entirely appropriate for the occasion. ‘Gentiles look at Bill Gates making $100 billion and think, “Well done!” Jews think, “Is that all he makes?”’

  Then the host, Sir Alan Sugar, took to the stage to a standing ovation and almost joyous respect. Speaking of his wife, he was full of love and praise. ‘I can honestly say I have never ever heard anyone say a bad word about Ann,’ he said. ‘As you know you can’t say the same about me. Talk about chalk and cheese. She always says the day she met me she knew she had met Mr Right; what she didn’t know was that my first name was Always.’

  He then turned to a moment in their marriage that had gained legendary status. One year, he sent his wife a birthday card, and signed it with the unbelievably inappropriately impersonal ‘From Sir Alan Sugar’. Attempting to explain this to the audience, he said, ‘It was a busy day in the office. Ann was not a happy bunny. So I apologised and then ran through loads of things I could buy her to make up for my mistake.’

  ‘Do you want a new dress?’ he asked.

  ‘No,’ replied his wife.

  ‘A new watch?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘A car?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘OK, well just tell me what I can get you. To which she angrily replied, “A bloody divorce.”’ As laughter filled the room, Sugar added the punchline: ‘I said, “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking of spending that much.”’

  With the joking out of the way, it was time for Sir Alan to pay a more serious tribute. ‘Now, ladies and gentlemen, on to a more serious and genuine note,’ he said. ‘I feel a bit of a fraud standing up here. It is true that over the past 25 years or so, due to my various shenanigans, the focus of attention has been on me. Quite unfairly so, as behind me is Ann – someone who has always sat in the background and let it all happen. But she has been by my side through good and bad times – fortunately not too many bad times. Ann has been a great leveller for me, and kept me on the straight and level. She, of course, wanted me to succeed in whatever I have done, but I think most of you know that’s not where her priorities are. Happy family life always came first, as well as the welfare of others.’

  Sir Alan has always insisted that he not only puts his family before business, but also that this is the only way to succeed in business, by putting it second to your loved ones. It was a message he repeated on the night. ‘Now here is a message to those young aspiring men here tonight. I would remind you what it is to be a successful man, and what is one’s prize possession in life. It has absolutely nothing at all to do with money, academic achievement, or any material things. A real successful man puts the love of his wife and children first; a real successful man’s greatest position in life is to have a great family. I am lucky enough to have had a wife for forty years, who gave me three great children, who in turn have given us seven wonderful grandchildren. You see, everything I have today is because of t
he love of that lady and the respect my three children have for the both of us. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming, let’s have a great night.’

  It was indeed a great night, and one that few of those present would ever forget. Least of all Alan Sugar and his wife, who remain as happy as ever.

  Once more, Sugar had shown a remarkable ability at public speaking. Many politicians would have envied his delivery for both its wit and sincerity, not least of them, the new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. When Brown replaced Tony Blair as Prime Minister on 27 June 2007, it was a moment of excitement, fulfilment and nervousness for him. The man from Govan, Scotland, had for so long dreamed of entering Number 10 Downing Street. Having worked his way up the greasy pole of politics, he had seen his progress limited by the successful reign of Tony Blair. A rumoured ‘agreement’ between the pair that Brown would replace Blair was taking longer to be fulfilled than Brown wished, and relations between the pair were somewhat frosty by the time Blair finally stepped down, allowing his Chancellor to replace him as Prime Minister. The early days of Brown’s reign were challenging. There was a new outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, terrorists attacked London and Glasgow, and then there was horrendous flooding across the country. Life at the top was proving tough for Brown, and rumours that members of his own party and cabinet were plotting to replace him would have done nothing to make him feel more secure.

  Not that he was without support in the country, and one of his biggest supporters was Sugar. As news spread like wildfire that Labour politicians were conspiring to replace Brown, Sir Alan emerged to back the Prime Minister. He did so in typically ebullient manner: ‘You can’t run a government and you can’t run a company or anything like that unless everybody is on side,’ he said of the plotters. His support was not merely emotional: he also offered practical tips in dealing with the detractors in the ranks. ‘If they are not on side he should kick them out and then what he should do is tell the rest of the world that he has been appointed to do a job for two years and let me get on with it and then at the end of that period of time – judge me then,’ said Sir Alan. He added that he felt that Brown was being unfairly scapegoated for issues that had a much more wide-ranging source. ‘It’s very easy for people to blame the top man when things are no good but what you have to look deeper at is what these problems are.’

  These were strong words of support for Brown from one of Britain’s greatest business brains. Given Brown’s background and expertise in the financial side of politics, it will have meant a lot to him to hear these sentiments. And, as Sugar continued to back the embattled Scot, it transpired that his admiration was by no means a new thing. ‘It’s not just recently that I have backed Gordon Brown,’ he said. ‘I’ve known him for a long time as Chancellor, and I have got to know him quite well, and, out of the last four prime ministers that I have had the pleasure to have met, I think he is a very, very clever man and a man who is over everything and knows what is going on.’ In what could be construed as a thinly veiled dig at the likes of Tony Blair and David Cameron, he contrasted what he saw as Brown’s genuine nature, with the more theatrical, image-based politicians who dominate the 21st-century Westminster scene. ‘He may not come across as some kind of actor but he has got his hand on the pulse,’ avowed Sugar. At this point, it appeared he was becoming quite a commentator on the political scene, and he recalled his earliest memory of politics and the people at the top. He first became properly aware of the office of prime minister at the tender age of 15. ‘It was the first time I signed on to why the country needs a leader,’ he explained.

  In another subtle contrast with the more showbiz politicians of the 21st century, he looked back at the political scene that dominated Britain in his youth. ‘In those days a prime minister was seen as stuffy, perhaps boring, but a serious person, a person you trusted to guide the country through the challenges it faced both at home and abroad.’ Clearly, Sugar saw Gordon Brown as very much in this mould. He was quick to insist that he had nothing to gain from backing Brown, no ulterior motive. ‘I have no axe to grind. Let’s face it, I have done OK – I am Sir Alan, recognised by the Queen for my services to business thanks to my natural-born entrepreneurial spirit. You haven’t seen me up the arse of the politicians. I don’t need to achieve anything or be recognised any more.’

  It is little wonder that Sugar related to the fickle fortunes of politics, and how they were impacting on Brown. Because Sugar had worked in a similarly high-pressure and volatile profession – football – his heart went out to Brown as he faced schemes and behind-the-scenes machinations. ‘It reminds me of my days as a football club chairman,’ said Sugar. ‘Walk out of the ground after giving the opponents a good hiding and the fans would chant, “Alwight, Al … top man … keep up the good work, mate … how’s the family? … well done, son.” A week later when we got our arse kicked, the same group chanted, “Oi, you tosser, what you gonna do about the team, then, eh? Get your fucking chequebook out, you fucking wanker.”’

  Meanwhile, The Apprentice was going from strength to strength. A record 20,000 applications were received for the fourth series from which 16 candidates were chosen. The contestants were housed in the Glass Factory in Battersea, and, as ever, there were plenty of characters among the 16 who made it. Raef Bjayou is a posh, handsome Exeter University graduate. He assured himself instant cult status with his pronouncements that ‘the spoken word is my tool’ and ‘I get along with prince and pauper’. Another stand-out candidate was Michael Sophocles, the overcelebrating candidate who provoked the memorable reaction from Margaret Mountford mentioned earlier. Eccentric and a bit posh, risk manager Lucinda Ledgerwood was very much a first for the series, described by Sugar as ‘zany’. It was a fair description. Then there was pin-up Alex Wotherspoon, who was a salesman with boy-band looks.

  It seemed set to be a cracking series, and viewers were not to be disappointed. The second week saw both teams challenged to run an overnight laundry service. Almost inevitably, items of clothing were lost, and one team offered a ‘project-manager hotline’ to customers, prompting Sugar to wonder whether laundry customers would ever call a hotline ‘to check on the progress of their Calvin Kleins’.

  However, the most memorable tasks of the series – and one of which Sugar has expressed his pride – came when the teams were sent to Morocco to buy a list of items at as cheap as price as they could manage. This prompted comedy galore, particularly when ‘nice Jewish boy’ Michael Sophocles bizarrely asked a Muslim to bless a chicken for him, in order to satisfy the criteria of buying a kosher chicken. Sugar then quizzed Sophocles as to whether he was indeed Jewish, reminding him that he could always pull down his trousers to check whether he was circumcised. Eagle-eyed viewers may have noticed that Sophocles, claiming to be a ‘nice Jewish boy’, crossed himself prior to entering the boardroom.

  The Week 11 interviews were as memorable as ever, with the addition of businesswoman Karren Brady to the panel. However, the most entertaining interviewer was, as ever, property developer Paul Kelmsley. A business sensation, Kelmsley has become a hero to aspiring millionaires across the country. On The Apprentice, he is always hilariously brusque with the candidates. When he reported back to Sugar in the boardroom, he noted that one candidate – Lee McQueen – had cheekily winked at him at the conclusion of the interview. As the interviewers left the boardroom, Kelmsley reprised this theme by cheekily winking at Sugar. ‘Pisss offff,’ responded the boss!

  Not that McQueen’s wink – or the revelation that he had lied on his CV – was about to get in the way of his winning the show, although he admits he was shocked himself at his victory.

  ‘When I was told I’d won, I took a deep breath,’ he said afterwards, smiling. ‘I was relieved, overjoyed. My heart missed a beat. I was thinking, “Really?” Sir Alan is firm but fair. He’s very, very successful and if I can take just a tiny percentage of his wealth I’ll be a multimillionaire. I’ve got my dream job and I’ve already got my dream girl [his girlfri
end Nicola]. I suppose now I should go down on one knee and ask her to marry me. That would really complete things, wouldn’t it?

  ‘One of the first things I’m going to have to do when I join Sir Alan’s company is ask him for some time off so we can go on holiday. And I should treat Nicola to something nice like some fancy new shoes. When I was 26 I said to my mates I was going to have a Porsche 911 when I was 30. Well I’m 30 now and I’ve got a £100,000-a-year job so it shouldn’t be long before that gets sorted.’

  McQueen – who earned £75,000-a-year in his last job at Capita Group – was put in charge of a new company within Sugar’s sprawling £800-million-plus empire. He explained, ‘Sir Alan has bought a new business doing digital advertising and signage. I’ll be running the sales teams with one of his colleagues. It’s just want I wanted to do – start on something fresh and exciting.’

  McQueen received fan mail galore as a result of his appearance on The Apprentice – from all sorts of people. ‘I’ve had letters from gay blokes. One guy said he didn’t care if I won – he just wanted to spend some time with me. I’ll probably give that a miss.’

  Something Sugar could not give a miss were the usual promotional rounds for The Apprentice. During Series 4, he was back in the interview seat at Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on BBC1. In what was becoming an annual outing, he once more pitched up to promote The Apprentice as the contestants came to the home run of their race to win the show. Once more, there was plenty of anticipation and the appearance was awarded the pick of the day in the television columns of numerous newspapers. Sitting alongside his wife Ann in the green room on the night, Sugar appeared relaxed. Ross had set up a gag during the introduction of Sugar, with comedian Alan Carr dressed up as a woman, to play the part of Frances, Sugar’s ‘secretary’ in the series. So when it was time for Sugar to be interviewed, he phoned the green room and said, ‘Frances, can you send him through?’