Alan Sugar
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Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar (born 24 March 1947) is a British business magnate, media personality, author, politician, and political adviser. Sugar began what would later become his largest business venture, consumer electronics company
Amstrad Amstrad plc was a British consumer electronics company, founded in 1968 by Alan Sugar. During the 1980s, the company was known for its Home computer, home computers beginning with the Amstrad CPC and later also the ZX Spectrum range after the ...
, in 1968. In 2007, he sold his remaining interest in the company in a deal to
BSkyB Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), trading as Sky, is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers ...
for £125 million. He was also the chairman and part-owner of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1991 to 2001, selling his remaining stake in the club in 2007 as well, for £25 million. He is the host and "Boss" of the
BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...
reality competition series '' The Apprentice'', which has been broadcast every year, with the exception of 2020 and 2021, since 2005. He also assumed the role for '' The Celebrity Apprentice Australia'' for Australia's
Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...
in 2021 and 2022. Sugar was elevated to the
House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
in 2009 as a Labour peer and was one of the party's biggest donors, but left the party in 2015 and subsequently expressed support for the Conservative Party. According to the ''Sunday Times'' Rich List, Sugar became a billionaire in 2015. In 2021, his fortune was estimated at £1.21bn, ranking him as the 138th-richest person in the UK.


Early life

Alan Michael Sugar was born on 24 March 1947 in Hackney,
East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...
, into a Jewish family. His father, Nathan, was a tailor in the garment industry of the East End. His maternal grandparents were born in
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, and his paternal grandfather was born in
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
. Sugar's paternal grandmother, Sarah Sugar, was born in London to Polish parents. When Sugar was young, his family lived in a council flat. Because of his profuse, curly hair, he was nicknamed "Mop head", a name that he still goes by in the present day. He attended Northwold Primary School and then Brooke House Secondary School in
Upper Clapton Clapton is a district of east London, England, in the London Borough of Hackney. Clapton is divided into Upper Clapton, in the north, and Lower Clapton to the south. Clapton railway station lies north-east of Charing Cross. Geography and orig ...
, Hackney, and made extra money by working at a greengrocers. After leaving school at the age of 16, he worked briefly for the civil service as a statistician at the Ministry of Education.


Amstrad

In 1968, aged 21, Sugar set up
Amstrad Amstrad plc was a British consumer electronics company, founded in 1968 by Alan Sugar. During the 1980s, the company was known for its Home computer, home computers beginning with the Amstrad CPC and later also the ZX Spectrum range after the ...
with £100 of Post Office savings. He started off selling radio aerials for cars and other electrical goods out of a van which he had bought for £50 and insured for £8. The name of the company was formed from his initials and the first four letters of the word 'trading': Alan Michael Sugar Trading. It began as a general importer/exporter and wholesale; by 1970 the first manufacturing venture was underway. He achieved lower production prices by using injection moulding plastics for
hi-fi High fidelity (hi-fi or, rarely, HiFi) is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) ...
turntable covers, severely undercutting competitors who used vacuum-forming processes. In the mid 1970s manufacturing capacity was expanded to include the production of audio amplifiers, stereo cassette recording decks and AM/FM radio tuners. In most cases beating the competition on price. In 1980, Amstrad was listed on the
London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...
and during the 1980s Amstrad doubled its profit and market value every year. By 1984, recognising the opportunity of the
home computer Home computers were a class of microcomputers that entered the market in 1977 and became common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a s ...
era, Amstrad launched an
8-bit In computer architecture, 8-bit integers or other data units are those that are 8 bits wide (1 octet). Also, 8-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) architectures are those that are based on registers or data bu ...
machine, the Amstrad CPC 464. Although the CPC range were attractive machines, with
CP/M CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/Intel 8085, 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Dig ...
-capability and a good
BASIC Basic or BASIC may refer to: Science and technology * BASIC, a computer programming language * Basic (chemistry), having the properties of a base * Basic access authentication, in HTTP Entertainment * Basic (film), ''Basic'' (film), a 2003 film ...
interpreter, it had to compete with its arch-rivals, the more graphically complex
Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...
and the popular Sinclair
ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...
, not to mention the highly sophisticated
BBC Micro The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a family of microcomputers developed and manufactured by Acorn Computers in the early 1980s as part of the BBC's Computer Literacy Project. Launched in December 1981, it was showcased across severa ...
. Despite this, three million units were sold worldwide with a long production life of eight years. It inspired an East German version with Z80 clone processors. In 1985, Sugar had another major breakthrough with the launch of the
Amstrad PCW The Amstrad PCW series is a range of personal computers produced by United Kingdom, British company Amstrad from 1985 to 1998, and also sold under licence in Europe as the "Joyce" by the German electronics company Schneider Computer Division, Schn ...
8256
word processor A word processor (WP) is a device or computer program that provides for input, editing, formatting, and output of text, often with some additional features. Early word processors were stand-alone devices dedicated to the function, but current word ...
which retailed at over £300, but was still considerably cheaper than rival machines (such as the Apple Macintosh Plus, which retailed at $2,599). In 1986, Amstrad bought the rights to the Sinclair computer product line and produced two more ZX Spectrum models in a similar style to their CPC machines. It also developed the
PC1512 The Amstrad PC1512 was Amstrad's mostly IBM PC compatible, IBM PC-compatible computer system, launched in 1986, and advertised with prices from £399 plus VAT. The system was also marketed in the US by Texas-based Vidco Inc. from the start of 19 ...
, a PC compatible computer, which became quite popular in Europe and was the first in a line of Amstrad PCs. In 1988, Stewart Alsop II called Sugar and
Jack Tramiel Jack Tramiel (, ); born Idek Trzmiel (; December 13, 1928 – April 8, 2012) was a Polish- American businessman and Holocaust survivor, best known for founding Commodore International. The Commodore PET, VIC-20, and Commodore 64 are som ...
"the world's two leading business-as-war entrepreneurs". The 1990s proved a difficult time for the company. The launch of a range of business PCs was marred by unreliable hard disks (supplied by Seagate), causing high levels of customer dissatisfaction and damaging Amstrad's reputation in the personal computer market, from which it never recovered. Subsequently, Seagate was ordered to pay Amstrad $153 million in damages for lost revenue. This was later reduced by $22 million in an out of court settlement. In the early 1990s, Amstrad began to focus on portable computers rather than desktop computers. Also, in 1990, Amstrad entered the gaming market with the Amstrad GX4000, but it was a commercial failure, largely because there was only a poor selection of games available. Additionally, it was immediately superseded by the Japanese consoles:
Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...
and
Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania a ...
, which both had a much more comprehensive selection of games. In 1993, Amstrad released the PenPad, a PDA, and bought into Betacom and
Viglen Viglen Ltd provides IT products and services, including storage systems, servers, workstations and data/voice communications equipment and services. History The company was formed in 1975, by Vigen Boyadjian. During the 1980s, the company ...
in order to focus more on telecommunications rather than computers. Amstrad released the first of its combined telephony and e-mail devices, called the '' e-m@iler'', followed by the ''e-m@ilerplus'' in 2002, neither of which sold in great volume. On 31 July 2007, it was announced that broadcaster
BSkyB Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), trading as Sky, is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers ...
had agreed to buy Amstrad for about £125m. At the time of the takeover, Sugar commented that he wished to play a part in the business, saying: "I turn 60 this year and I have had 40 years of hustling in the business, but now I have to start thinking about my team of loyal staff, many of whom have been with me for many years." On 2 July 2008 it was announced that Sugar was standing down from Amstrad as chairman, to focus on his other business interests.


Tottenham Hotspur

After a take-over battle with
Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, politician and fraudster. After escaping the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, ...
for ownership of
Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...
, Sugar teamed up with the club's manager Terry Venables and bought it in June 1991. Although his initial investment helped ease the financial troubles the club was suffering at the time, his treatment of Tottenham as a business venture and not a footballing one made him an unpopular figure among the Spurs fans. In Sugar's nine years as chairman, Tottenham Hotspur did not finish in the top six in the league and won just one trophy, the
1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
League Cup. After being sacked as the club's chief executive by Sugar in 1993, Venables appealed to the high courts for reinstatement. A legal battle for the club took place over the summer, which Sugar won (see ''Re Tottenham Hotspur plc'' 9941 BCLC 655). The decision to sack Venables angered many Tottenham fans, and Sugar later said, "I felt as though I'd killed
Bambi ''Bambi'' is a 1942 American Animated film, animated Coming of age, coming-of-age drama film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Loosely based on Felix Salten's 1923 novel ''Bambi, a Life in the Woods'', the ...
." In 1992, Sugar was the only representative of the then "big five" (
Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
, Everton,
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
,
Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...
and Tottenham Hotspur) who voted in favour of
Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...
's bid for
Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
television rights. The other four voted in favour of ITV's bid, as it had promised to show big five games more often. At the time of the vote, Sugar's company Amstrad was developing satellite dishes for Sky, though Sugar had declared this prior to the vote. During negotiations, Sugar called Sky CEO
Sam Chisholm Samuel Hewlings Chisholm AO (8 October 1939 – 9 July 2018) was a New Zealand-born Australian media executive who was a significant figure in the Australian media. Career Chisholm attended King's College, Auckland. Chisholm had been ...
and angrily ordered him to "blow TVout of the water" with a much higher bid. In 1994, Sugar financed the transfers of three players of the
1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...
: Ilie Dumitrescu, Gica Popescu, and Jürgen Klinsmann, who in his first season in English football, was named FWA Footballer of the Year. Because Spurs had not qualified for European competition, Klinsmann decided to invoke an opt-out clause in his contract and left for Bayern Munich in the summer of 1995. Sugar appeared on television holding the last shirt Klinsmann wore for Spurs and said he would "not wash his car with it". He referred to foreigners coming into the Premier League at high wages as "Carlos Kickaballs". Klinsmann retaliated by calling Sugar "a man without honour", and said: Klinsmann re-signed for Tottenham on loan in December 1997. In October 1998, former Tottenham striker
Teddy Sheringham Edward Paul "Teddy" Sheringham (born 2 April 1966) is an English football manager and former player. He played as a forward, mostly as a second striker, in a 24-year professional career. Sheringham was part of the Manchester United team tha ...
released his autobiography, in which he cited Sugar as the reason he left the club in 1997. He said that Sugar had accused him of feigning injury during a long spell on the sidelines during the 1993–94 season. He further stated that Sugar had refused to give him the five-year contract he wanted, as he had not believed Sheringham would still get into the Tottenham team when he was 36. Sheringham returned to Tottenham after his spell at Manchester United and continued to start for the first team until he was released in the summer of 2003, at age 37. Sheringham said that Sugar "lacked ambition" and was hypocritical. As an example, Sugar asked him for recommendations of players; when Sheringham suggested
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
midfielder
Paul Ince Paul Emerson Carlyle Ince (; born 21 October 1967) is an English professional football manager and former player who was most recently manager of Reading. A midfielder, Ince played professionally from 1986 to 2007, starting his career with West ...
, Sugar refused because he did not want to spend £4 million on a player who would soon be 30. After Sheringham left Spurs, Sugar approved the signing of Les Ferdinand, aged 31, for a club record £6 million, on higher wages than Sheringham had wanted. Sugar appointed seven managers in his time at Spurs. The first was Peter Shreeves, who replaced Venables in 1991, followed by the dual management team of Doug Livermore and Ray Clemence in 1992, former Spurs midfielder Osvaldo Ardiles in 1993, and Gerry Francis in 1994. In 1997, Sugar surprised the footballing world by appointing the relatively unknown Swiss manager Christian Gross. Gross lasted nine months as Spurs finished in 14th place in
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
, and began the next season with just three points from their opening three games. Sugar next appointed George Graham, a former player and manager of bitter rivals Arsenal. Although Graham won Spurs' first trophy in eight years, fans never warmed to him, partly because of his Arsenal connection, and disliked the negative, defensive style of football which he had Spurs playing; fans believed it was not the "Tottenham way". In February 2001, after speculation and confirmation on 11 December 2000, Sugar sold his majority stake at Tottenham to leisure group ENIC, selling 27% of the club for £22 million. In June 2007, he sold his 12% remaining shares to ENIC for £25 million, ending his 16-year association with the club. He described his time at Tottenham as "a waste of my life". Sugar later donated £3 million from the proceeds of the sale of his interests in Tottenham Hotspur to the refurbishment of the Hackney Empire in his native East End of London.


''The Apprentice''

Sugar became the host of the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
reality show '' The Apprentice'', which has had one series broadcast each year from 2005, in the same role as
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
in the US version. he fires at least one candidate each week until only one candidate is left. Until 2010, the winner was then employed in his company and since 2011 wins a partnership with Sugar, including his investment of £250,000 to establish their own business. As a condition for appearing in the third series, Sugar placed a requirement that the show be more business-oriented rather than just entertainment and that he should be portrayed in a less harsh light, to counter his somewhat belligerent reputation. He also expressed a desire that the calibre of the candidates should be higher than those who had appeared in the second series (who had come across as manifestly lacklustre) and that the motives of the candidates for participating are scrutinised more carefully, given that certain candidates in previous series had used their successful experience in the show as a springboard to advance their own careers (as occurred with Michelle Dewberry, the winner of the second series, who left Amstrad's employment only eight months after taking up the job). In September 2013, Sugar lost his Employment tribunal counter-claim against Stella English, the 2010 winner of ''The Apprentice''. Sugar has criticised the US version of ''The Apprentice'' because "they've made the fatal error of trying to change things just for the sake of it and it backfired."


''The Celebrity Apprentice Australia''

In September 2020, it was announced that Sugar will be the new CEO on '' The Celebrity Apprentice Australia'' on Australia's
Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...
, replacing former CEO Mark Bouris.


''Young Apprentice''

'' Young Apprentice'' (''Junior Apprentice'' in series 1) was a British reality television programme spin-off in which a group of twelve young people, aged 16 and 17, competed to win a £25,000 prize from Sugar. The six-part series began on BBC One and BBC HD on 12 May 2010, and concluded on 10 June. It featured
Nick Hewer Nicholas Radbourn Hewer (born 17 February 1944) is a retired British television presenter, company director (2010) and former public relations consultant from Swindon, England. From 2005 to 2014, he appeared as Alan Sugar's adviser in the Brit ...
and Karren Brady as Sugar's advisors. Brady made her debut on ''Junior Apprentice''; it aired before she appeared on the adult version. The programme concluded with Sugar awarding the prize fund to 17-year-old Arjun Rajyagor. Tim Ankers finished in second place. The second series started in October 2011, and featured eight episodes and twelve contestants. The series was won by Zara Brownless, with James McCullough as runner-up. Originally proposed in March 2008 and confirmed in June 2009, ''Junior Apprentice'' received mostly positive reviews from critics. Sugar's role under
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...
's government sparked a debate over the BBC's political impartiality regulations in the run-up to the UK 2010 election, resulting in both ''Junior Apprentice'' and the sixth regular edition of ''The Apprentice'' being delayed.


Other television appearances

In May 2008, Sugar made an appearance on ''An Audience Without Jeremy Beadle'' to pay tribute to Jeremy Beadle as they were close friends and both appeared on a celebrity special of '' Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' in 2005. In January 2009, Fiona Bruce presented a
BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...
documentary entitled ''The Real Sir Alan''. Also in 2009, Sugar appeared in television advertisements for investment bank NS&I and The Learning and Skills Council talking about apprenticeships. In May 2011, he presented ''Lord Sugar Tackles Football'', a documentary looking into the financial woes of English
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
. In September 2012, Sugar appeared as himself in a cameo in the ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
'' episode " The Power of Three". Sugar's cameo was filmed on the set of ''The Apprentice''. In November 2012, he appeared as himself in a cameo in a special episode of ''
EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...
'' for ''
Children in Need ''BBC Children in Need'' is the BBC's UK Charitable organization, charity dedicated to supporting disadvantaged children and young people across the country. Established in 1980, the organisation has raised over £1 billion by 2023 through its ...
''.


Other ventures


Amsair

Amsair Executive Aviation was founded in 1993, and is run by Sugar's son Daniel. As with Amstrad, the name Amsair is an acronym taken from the initials of Sugar's name "Alan Michael Sugar Air." Amsair operates a large
Cessna Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufactu ...
fleet, and one Embraer Legacy 650 with the registration G-SUGA, offering business and executive jet charters.


Amsprop

Amsprop is a property investment firm owned by Sugar and is now controlled by his son Daniel. Simon Ambrose, winner of the 2007 series of ''The Apprentice'', started working for Amsprop Estates after the series finished. However, in April 2010, he was reported to be leaving to start his own venture.


Viglen Ltd

Sugar was the owner (and Chairman of the board) of
Viglen Viglen Ltd provides IT products and services, including storage systems, servers, workstations and data/voice communications equipment and services. History The company was formed in 1975, by Vigen Boyadjian. During the 1980s, the company ...
Ltd, an IT services provider catering primarily to the education and public sector. He resigned his position on 1 July 2009. Following the sale of Amstrad PLC to BSkyB, Viglen was Sugar's sole IT establishment until its sale to XMA in 2014.


Amscreen

Sugar is Chairman of Amscreen, a company run by his son Simon, specialising in selling advertising space on
digital signage Digital signage is a segment of electronic signage that uses Electronic visual display, digital display technologies to present multimedia content in both public and private environments. Content may include video, images, text, or interactive me ...
screens that it provides to retailers, medical centres and leisure venues. ''Apprentice'' winner Yasmina Siadatan worked there, selling into the
NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...
. The screens use a Face detection system called OptimEyes to try to identify age and sex of its viewers. In July 2008, Amscreen purchased Comtech M2M, which was founded in September 1992, originally specialising in communications product retailing. This was before entering the M2M market in 1999. On 29 August 2008, Comtech M2M officially changed names to Amscreen Limited.


YouView

On 7 March 2011, Sugar replaced Kip Meek on the board of the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
initiated
IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a Telephone company, telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live telev ...
project known as
YouView YouView TV Ltd is a British media company, a partnership of four broadcasters: the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and 5; and two telecommunications operators, BT Group and TalkTalk Group (formerly also Arqiva). It launched in 2012 the hybrid television ...
(formerly known as Project Canvas) which is also backed by ITV,
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
and Channel 5 and broadband providers including BT and TalkTalk. Sugar was paid £500,000 for chairing YouView for the year ending March 2012.


Political involvement

From 1997 until 2015, Sugar was a member of the Labour Party. In 2001, he was one of Labour's top 50 donors, giving £200,000 to its head office. In February 2009, the ''
Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...
'' journalist Andrew Gilligan reported that Sugar had been approached to be the Labour candidate for
Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current ...
in 2012. Sugar subsequently ridiculed the suggestion in an interview with ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
''. During Prime Minister
Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...
's cabinet reshuffle on 5 June 2009, the BBC reported that he would be given a
life peerage In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...
and had been offered a job as the government's " Enterprise Champion". On 7 June 2009, Sugar sought to clarify the non-political nature of his appointment. He stated that he would not be joining the government, that the appointment was politically neutral, and that all he wanted to do was help businesses and entrepreneurs. On 20 July 2009, he was made Baron Sugar, ''of Clapton, in the
London Borough of Hackney The London Borough of Hackney ( ) is a London boroughs, London borough in Inner London, England. The historical and administrative heart of Hackney is Mare Street, which lies north-east of Charing Cross. The borough is named after Hackney, Lond ...
''. He made his
maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...
in the
House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
on 25 November 2009. In 2011, Sugar donated a total of £69,000 to Labour or to leader
Ed Miliband Edward Samuel Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since July 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for D ...
's office, but the following year he defied party rules to implore the public to not vote for its candidate for London Mayor,
Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English former politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was Local Government Act 1985, abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of Londo ...
. In August 2014, Sugar was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue. According to the BBC in 2015, Sugar had donated £163,827 to Labour since Ed Miliband had become leader in 2010, but on 11 May 2015, four days after the Conservative Party won that year's general election, Sugar announced that he was leaving Labour. He issued a statement to say: From 11 May 2015 to 8 October 2017, he sat in the House of Lords as a non-affiliated peer. Since 9 October 2017, he has sat as a
crossbencher A crossbencher is a minor party or independent member of some legislatures, such as the Parliament of Australia. In the British House of Lords the term refers to members of the parliamentary group of non-political peers. They take their name fr ...
. Before the 2016 London mayoral election, Sugar said that he is popular politically, and repeatedly urged the public to not vote for the eventual winner, Labour candidate
Sadiq Khan Sir Sadiq Aman Khan (, ; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting (UK Parliament constituency), Tooting ...
. In 2016, Sugar endorsed the "Remain" campaign for the referendum on membership of the European Union. In May 2017, Sugar endorsed the Conservative Party at that year's general election. During a June 2017 radio interview with LBC's
Nick Ferrari Nicolo Ferrari (born 31 January 1959) is a British right-wing conservative radio host, television presenter and broadcast journalist. He lives in Lewisham in London. He is best known as the host of the weekday breakfast show on the London-based ...
, Sugar was asked about the general election result. He said, "It's very, very surprising. I think I'd join a lot of people when I say the
Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...
and Conservative campaign was very lacking in what they were going to offer the public." He added that Labour leader
Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...
"did a very good job wooing the young and educated people. I would add that those people who voted for him are quite bright and educated, but also not very experienced in life." On 31 March 2018, after complaints from Labour politicians, Sugar deleted a tweet showing an edited image of Jeremy Corbyn in a car with
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
. The incident occurred after Corbyn said the party "must do better" in resolving the party's problems with antisemitism. Shadow Chancellor
John McDonnell John Martin McDonnell (born 8 September 1951) is a British politician who served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2015 to 2020. He has been the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Hayes and Harlington ...
had urged him to "delete and disown" the tweet. Sugar responded that he was "not the originator" and that "there is no smoke without fire in Labour". On 5 April 2018, Sugar published an
ode An ode (from ) is a type of lyric poetry, with its origins in Ancient Greece. Odes are elaborately structured poems praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. A classic ode is structu ...
critical of Jeremy Corbyn, and in December that year, he announced during a television interview that he would leave Britain if Corbyn became prime minister. Sugar last voted in the House of Lords on 24 October 2017 on an amendment to the Financial Guidance and Claims Bill. He last spoke during a take-note debate on a second Brexit referendum on 25 October 2018: he called for
Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...
and
Michael Gove Michael Andrew Gove, Baron Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician and journalist who served in various Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabinet positions under David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rish ...
to be prosecuted "for the £350 million lie on the red bus", and stated his support for a "vote on the final negotiated terms" because the "public were misled". He has not retired from the Lords: he returned to swear the
Oath of Allegiance An oath of allegiance is an oath whereby a subject or citizen acknowledges a duty of allegiance and swears loyalty to a monarch or a country. In modern republics, oaths are sworn to the country in general, or to the country's constitution. For ...
to King Charles in September 2024, thereby retaining his seat. Sugar endorsed Boris Johnson during the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election, and endorsed the party in that year's general election.


Personal life

Sugar has stated that he is an
atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
, but remains proud of his Jewish heritage. He married Ann Simons, a former hairdresser, on 28 April 1968 at Great Portland Street, London. They have two sons, Daniel and Simon, and a daughter, Louise. The couple formerly lived mainly in
Chigwell Chigwell is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, England. It is part of the urban and metropolitan area of London, and is adjacent to the northern boundary of Greater London. It is on the Central line of the Londo ...
, Essex. Sugar owns a four-seat Cirrus SR22 aircraft and a 13-seat Embraer Legacy 650 jet. During an attempted landing in his Cirrus at the grass airfield Manchester Barton Aerodrome on 5 July 2008, he overshot the runway after touchdown due to poor weather and wet field conditions. No injuries were sustained, although the plane was slightly damaged and consequently grounded. In February 2009, it was reported that Sugar had initiated legal proceedings against ''
The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...
'' newspaper following a report that he had been named on a "hit list" of British Jews in response to Israel's ongoing military operation in Gaza. The threats are alleged to have been made by Glen Jenvey, the source of the original story in ''The Sun'', who posted to a Muslim website under a false identity. On 10 June 2020, he, a pilot since 1975, announced on Twitter that he was taking delivery of a new 2020 Cirrus SR22T single-engine aircraft from the United States where he owns a
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
home and multiple boats, including a refurbished one named ''Little Tub'' and a
superyacht A superyacht or megayacht is a large and luxurious pleasure vessel. There are no official or agreed upon definitions for such yachts, but these terms are regularly used to describe professionally crewed motor or sailing yachts, ranging from to ...
. In 2023, Sugar had an estimated fortune of £1.02 billion. In December 2020, Sugar announced that both his brother and sister had died from
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
. In the 2020s, Sugar relocated to Australia permanently as a
tax exile A tax exile is a person who leaves a country to avoid the payment of income tax or other taxes. The term refers to an individual who already owes money to the tax authorities or wishes to avoid being liable in the future for taxation at what they ...
to help mitigate his UK tax liability. The move backfired when his financial advisers failed to take account of 2010 tax reforms that apply to peers of the realm. As a result, Sugar wrote a cheque for £186m payable to
HMRC His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (commonly HM Revenue and Customs, or HMRC, and formerly Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) is a Departments of the United Kingdom Government, department of the UK government responsible for the tax collectio ...
for tax owed on share dividends that he received from his company Amshold in 2021, amounting to £390m. In February 2022, 70-year-old Patrick Gomes was jailed for three years and six months for sending antisemitic death threats to Sugar, in response to his comments on antisemitism in the Labour Party.


Honours

Sugar was
knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...
in the 2000 New Year Honours "for services to the Home Computer and Electronics Industry". He holds two honorary Doctorates of Science, awarded in 1988 by City University and in 2005 by
Brunel University Brunel University of London (BUL) is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It is named after Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution. It became a university ...
. He is a philanthropist for charities such as Jewish Care and
Great Ormond Street Hospital Great Ormond Street Hospital (informally GOSH, formerly the Hospital for Sick Children) is a children's hospital located in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, and a part of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS F ...
, and donated £200,000 to the British Labour Party in 2001. Sugar was created a
life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...
as Baron Sugar, ''of Clapton in the
London Borough of Hackney The London Borough of Hackney ( ) is a London boroughs, London borough in Inner London, England. The historical and administrative heart of Hackney is Mare Street, which lies north-east of Charing Cross. The borough is named after Hackney, Lond ...
'' on 20 July 2009. On 29 October 2015, Sugar was listed by UK-based company Richtopia at number 5 in the list of 100 Most Influential British Entrepreneurs. In 2017 he ranked number 1 in the ''Essex Power 100'' list and was named the most powerful person in Essex.


Controversies


Sex discrimination law

Sugar has been accused of having an "outdated" attitude towards women. Regarding the 1970s UK law which states that it is discriminatory and hence illegal for women to be asked at interview whether they plan to have children,Section 6 o
the Act
determines general illegality of discrimination against women in obtaining employment.
Sugar is quoted as saying "These laws are counter-productive for women, that's the bottom line. You're not allowed to ask, so it's easy – just don't employ them. It will get harder to get a job as a woman."


Tweets

On 30 September 2013, Sugar tweeted a picture of Chinese child crying 'because he was told off for leaving production line of
iPhone 5 The iPhone 5 is a smartphone that was developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the List of iPhone models, 6th generation iPhone, succeeding the iPhone 4s, and preceding both the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c. It was formally unveiled as part of ...
'. The message was investigated by the Merseyside police force's specialist hate crime investigation team, who decided that it should be classed as a "hate incident" although no crime had taken place. On 20 June 2018, he tweeted a picture of the
Senegal national football team The Senegal national football team (French language, French: ''Équipe de football du Senegal''), nicknamed ''Les Lions de la Teranga'' (meaning: ''The Lions of Teranga''), represents Senegal in men's international association football and is op ...
edited next to images of fake handbags and sunglasses, claiming that some of the players looked just like hawkers he had encountered in Marbella. He later defended his tweet as a joke before taking it down, after accusations of racism.


Autobiography

* '' What You See Is What You Get: My Autobiography'' (2011), Sugar's autobiography


References


Further reading

* David Thomas, "''Alan Sugar – the Amstrad Story''" (1991), paperback . * Alan Sugar, "''The Apprentice: How to get hired not fired''" * Alan Sugar, "'' What You See Is What You Get: My Autobiography''" (2010), hardback .


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sugar, Alan 1947 births Living people 20th-century British businesspeople 21st-century British businesspeople 21st-century British autobiographers 20th-century atheists 21st-century atheists Amstrad BBC television presenters British atheists British aviators British billionaires British people of Russian-Jewish descent British people of Polish-Jewish descent British businesspeople in real estate British secular Jews British television personalities Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Conservative Party (UK) people English football chairmen and investors Jewish atheists Jewish British politicians Knights Bachelor Labour Party (UK) donors Labour Party (UK) life peers Life peers created by Elizabeth II New Labour People associated with Brunel University London People from Hackney, London The Apprentice (British TV series) Tottenham Hotspur F.C. directors and chairmen Television personalities from the London Borough of Hackney