What You See Is What You Get: My Autobiography (103 page)

The problem with digital signage up till then was that if you had a screen, for example in a shopping mall, you would also need some sort of internet phone line connection. Comtech's technology simply relied upon a mobile phone module and a SIM card. As long as there was a mobile signal, data could be sent to the screens, so they could be installed wherever you wanted. This looked an interesting proposition. With this, we could try to capitalise on digital advertising, something we'd given up on too quickly with our email phone.

We acquired a majority shareholding in the company and started to invest heavily in a new design for a fully integrated screen with all the mobile rocket science built in. The objective was to strategically locate these screens where advertisers would be happy to place adverts. We could no longer use the name Amstrad, so we changed the name of this company to Amscreen.

It had been a long time since I'd been involved in anything to do with the advertising industry. I soon realised how, with the advent of the internet and hundreds of new TV channels, things had changed dramatically. Internet advertising, which had not been that successful up till now, was starting to grow and advertisers were beginning to use various avenues, such as viral adverts, to promote their brands. Newspaper circulations had dropped dramatically - younger people were no longer interested in buying papers to read the news, as there was far easier access to whatever they wanted on the internet. On top of this, advertisers needed more and more convincing that the medium could deliver - they wanted concrete proof it was working. The technology employed at Amscreen enabled us to tell our advertisers how many eyes had seen the advert. It was only on that basis that they were prepared to advertise.

We decided to go into this business in the hope that financial rewards would follow in the long haul. We slowly and systematically placed screens in strategic locations throughout the whole country, choosing places like petrol-station checkouts, where they would be seen by a constant flow of customers. Similarly, in the medical market, our screens were placed in
doctors' surgeries, where pharmaceutical companies could advertise to a captive audience.

Two of the winners of
The Apprentice
were assigned to work for this company: Lee McQueen, who won series four, and Yasmina Siadatan, who won series five. Lee was there at the very start of our acquisition of Amscreen and has seen it grow steadily.

The technology opens up a whole new world. Perhaps it will be the next blockbuster event in my business life. It makes tremendous sense. The revenues which can be made from advertising income really stack up, but it was clear to me that a lot of patience would be needed, something I don't have. Therefore I tend to keep myself out of it, occasionally pulling the team together to check they're still on the right lines.

I will have to wait and see where this company goes.

*

Another era came to an end when we moved out of our Brentwood House office block, which we acquired back in 1984. Now, twenty-four years later, it was time to move - the building was very tired and was becoming a maintenance nightmare, and Amstrad was occupying just three of the ten floors. Daniel, now heavily involved in the property business, arranged for them to move their whole operation to the building opposite and got them a very good deal. He also managed to convince a budget hotel group to take over Brentwood House, subject to us completely refurbishing it. It's quite strange to see our old headquarters functioning as a hotel and to consider that my offices on the tenth floor are now used as bedrooms. Rumour has it, they charge a little bit extra for the top-floor rooms and have named them 'the Alan Sugar Suites'!

A Journey from Clapton to Clapton

2008-10

Even a seasoned poseur like Piers Morgan said to me, 'I've been to a lot of bashes in my time, but this one's the best.' The mere fact that he didn't mention his dying grandmother when he was invited meant I knew our party would be a success!

In May 2008, Ann and I celebrated our fortieth wedding anniversary with a fantastic party at Bramstons. Tony Page, who had arranged so many of our previous functions, organised it brilliantly. We built a massive marquee which incorporated a stage, a backstage area and artists' dressing rooms.

We invited all our family and friends and acquaintances old and new. All seven of my grandchildren were there as well as former colleagues such as Bob Watkins and David Pleat, and people from the TV world. Bruce Forsyth was the master of ceremonies and the evening started with the famous Jewish-American comedian Jackie Mason, who had the audience in hysterics, particularly when he was insulting me. There was a surprise for Ann when Daniel's oldest son Alex, who was six, went up onto the stage and sang a rendition of the famous Elton John song 'Daniel' - the lyrics were adjusted to reflect his own father's antics. He performed it with great confidence and he brought the house down.

Next on stage was the cast of
Jersey Boys,
who'd come to London the previous year and had been a great hit. I managed to persuade them to appear, even though they'd never played a private function before. Ann must have seen
Jersey Boys
about six times, so I knew she'd appreciate it.

The evening was rounded off by a spectacular performance by Elton John, who arrived by helicopter, landing in the field next to my house. We had tried to keep the celebrity cabaret a secret from the guests, but
unfortunately one of the national newspapers got hold of the story and blew it the day before, which was a bit of a shame.

As you can imagine, everybody had a wonderful evening. My old friends Geoff, Steve, Tony and Malcolm were there with their wives - they'd never had the opportunity to see three star acts like this
live.
It was an amazing night and one which people tell me they will never forget. Apart from Piers, maybe - I don't think he saw too much of it. His poor young lady, Celia, had to drag him home, as he was blind drunk. She thanked me for a great evening, then glanced at Piers and shook her head, as if to say, 'Look at him!'

Nick Hewer gave a speech, which was quite humorous. I think he too might have had rather a lot of the superb red wine. In my response speech, I included all the expected cliches one can imagine about being married for forty years. I concluded by saying to all the young people present that there was a lesson to be learned here. 'Look around the room and you'll see my family -
they
are my greatest wealth. The material things youngsters seem to target are meaningless. The biggest achievement in my life, together with Ann, was ensuring our children grew up to be the decent human beings they are. And I'm thankful that we can already see the same culture coming through in our grandchildren.'

*

I had been pestering the BBC for at least two years to consider a junior version of
The Apprentice,
but they'd always claimed they lacked the budget. I don't think the BBC executives believed in it, plus there was a bit of the 'not invented here' syndrome. They'd had great success with the main series and could not really see the benefits of a junior version. The thing is, despite the sophisticated way the BBC and other TV channels measure their audience, I personally thought the biggest
Apprentice
audience was kids. I believe in the old adage 'seeing is believing' and while statistical data and all that stuff is great, the fact was that wherever I went, I was (and still am) surrounded by kids between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, wanting their picture taken with me or an autograph. I don't know why they love
The Apprentice
so much. Maybe the authoritative way in which I conduct the show reminds them of being at school, or maybe they just like my straightforward manner - who knows? Whatever the reason, they certainly are, in my mind, our biggest fans. This is in stark contrast to the people I described earlier as the closet male followers of
The Apprentice,
in the thirty-five to fifty age group. I'm convinced there'll be a big market for plain, brown-paper covers for this book, so that these chaps can disguise what they're reading on the plane or the beach.

When the time came to discuss the possibility of a sixth series of
The Apprentice,
Talkback and the BBC could see a slight reluctance on my behalf to do it. Sometimes they mistakenly categorise me with people they deal with on a day-to-day basis who derive their income solely from TV. Such people, quite rightly, are eager to take on more and more work and it's normally the TV company that decides when a programme has reached its sell-by date.

I kind of rolled the dice one more time and told them that for me to be interested in doing another series of
The Apprentice,
I would want to do
The Junior Apprentice,
even if it was just as an experiment. It's fair to say that I did slightly hint that if this were not agreed, then I'd seriously consider whether I wanted to do another senior series. However, I despise any form of commercial blackmail, so I'd therefore like to make it very clear that there were no 'take it or leave it' demands from me, as I wouldn't do that - and neither would the BBC stand for it. After much discussion, the BBC finally agreed to commission a cut-down, six-episode version of
The Junior Apprentice.
One of the things I like about doing
The Apprentice
is that I get to learn how TV works. Getting things done with the BBC, with their strict guidelines, is a bit like taking part in the Grand National. There are so many obstacles to overcome before you have a chance of finishing, let alone winning.

We were in new territory now. I'm sure Michele Kurland and I have become experts on the rules about using kids in a TV production. There aren't enough pages in this book to explain them all, save to say that the regulations are tortuous - some quite rightly so, but others are a bloody joke, dating back to when they sent kids up chimneys! There were restrictions on the time the kids could be available for filming. If we wanted to go for fourteen- to seventeen-year-olds, permission had to be granted by each kid's local education authority - and you can imagine all these jobsworths chucking their two-pennyworth in. There was a massive debate on what the prize should be and what it would be used for. After checking all the BBC guidelines, we ended up agreeing that the winner would get the benefit of a PS25,000 fund for them to draw upon in furthering their careers or business ventures. I would preside over the fund and dish it out as and when required, if the request was appropriate.

Over 28,000 kids applied and the logistics of narrowing them down to a final group were handled with military precision, taking into account BBC guidelines on the need to be fair from a regional point of view. As part of the process we came across parents who, understandably, wanted to know the ins and outs of a duck's arse. Actually, the parents were quite fascinating. On the one hand, some of them were desperate for their little Johnny to be on TV; on
the other hand, once their child was put on the shortlist as a contender, the penny dropped with the parents that something might happen and they started putting in all sorts of demands and questions. To take account of this, we chose more contenders for the final batch than we needed, in anticipation of some parents changing their minds and withdrawing their children.

It took
months
before we finally got through all this stuff and selected the prospective ten candidates (five boys and five girls). And we hadn't rolled one bloody camera yet! In light of the grief we had, you can imagine how frustrated I got when trying to explain to the BBC executives how hard it had been to organise, only to get a simple reply like, 'Oh really? That's a shame . . . Anyway, when are you going to start filming?' You get close to whacking them, but that would breach another BBC guideline I expect.

Michele recruited the services of Tom McDonald, who was involved in the third main series and, later, Michael Jochnowitz joined, another person with experience of the main series and who knew the format well. Michele also appointed Sue Davidson, who had experience working at the BBC but was new to the format of
The Apprentice.

As Margaret Mountford no longer wanted to take part, I recruited Karren Brady, whom I'd known for over sixteen years from my Spurs days. She and I had had some run-ins when she was managing director of Birmingham City - she was the youngest-ever director of a public company and one very shrewd lady. Plus, of course, she'd had a bit of first-hand experience as the girls' team leader on
The Celebrity Apprentice.

Nick was excited about this new venture and, like me, saw it as a refreshing challenge. But being the worrier he is, he wondered whether he could adapt to dealing with youngsters; whether he'd be able to treat them correctly.

In the end, the final candidates were aged between sixteen and seventeen because the regulations made it untenable to work with under-sixteens, as I'd originally wanted. I was conscious, from certain media coverage, that my reputation of being a bit tough on contestants in the main series would be a major concern to the BBC and the public at large. But having spoken to thousands of kids over the years in my Q&As at schools, I was confident I could pull off the fine balance of care mixed with a bit of authority. However, the old adage 'seeing is believing' applies again and I don't think the BBC executives were convinced until they saw the early versions of the episodes that Talkback produced.

There was one big spanner in the works that no one expected. As I will explain later in the chapter, there was interference from none other than the then Shadow Tory Secretary for Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt,
which resulted in the decision that I must
not
be seen on the BBC during an election period. The original transmission date was set for January 2010, and that's what we'd promised the kids. They were so disappointed when they heard about the delay. Finally, we got it away in May 2010, between the end of the election period and the beginning of the World Cup, which would have drowned out our viewership. I emailed all the kids personally with the good news about the transmission date.