1. Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar was born on 24 March 1947 and is a British business magnate, media personality, author, politician, and political adviser.
52 Facts About Alan Sugar
1. 2.
Alan Sugar is the host and "Boss" of the BBC Television reality competition series The Apprentice, which has been broadcast every year, with the exception of 2020 and 2021, since 2005.
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Alan Sugar assumed the role for The Celebrity Apprentice Australia for Australia's Nine Network in 2021 and 2022.
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Alan Sugar was elevated to the House of Lords 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.
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Alan Michael Sugar was born on 24 March 1947 in Hackney, East London, into a Jewish family.
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Alan Sugar's father, Nathan, was a tailor in the garment industry of the East End.
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Alan Sugar's maternal grandparents were born in Russia, and his paternal grandfather was born in Poland.
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Alan Sugar's paternal grandmother, Sarah Alan Sugar, was born in London to Polish parents.
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Alan Sugar attended Northwold Primary School and then Brooke House Secondary School in Upper Clapton, Hackney, and made extra money by working at a greengrocers.
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Alan Sugar achieved lower production prices by using injection moulding plastics for hi-fi turntable covers, severely undercutting competitors who used vacuum-forming processes.
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In 1992, Alan Sugar was the only representative of the then "big five" who voted in favour of Sky's bid for Premier League television rights.
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In 1994, Alan Sugar financed the transfers of three players of the 1994 FIFA World Cup: Ilie Dumitrescu, Gica Popescu, and Jurgen Klinsmann, who in his first season in English football, was named FWA Footballer of the Year.
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Alan Sugar appeared on television holding the last shirt Klinsmann wore for Spurs and said he would "not wash his car with it".
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Alan Sugar referred to foreigners coming into the Premier League at high wages as "Carlos Kickaballs".
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Alan Sugar 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.
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Alan Sugar next appointed George Graham, a former player and manager of bitter rivals Arsenal.
17.
Alan Sugar described his time at Tottenham as "a waste of my life".
18.
Alan Sugar became the host of the BBC reality show The Apprentice, which has had one series broadcast each year from 2005, in the same role as Donald Trump in the US version.
19.
In September 2013, Alan Sugar lost his Employment tribunal counter-claim against Stella English, the 2010 winner of The Apprentice.
20.
In September 2020, it was announced that Alan Sugar will be the new CEO on The Celebrity Apprentice Australia on Australia's Nine Network, replacing former CEO Mark Bouris.
21.
In September 2012, Alan Sugar appeared as himself in a cameo in the Doctor Who episode "The Power of Three".
22.
Alan Sugar's cameo was filmed on the set of The Apprentice.
23.
Amsprop is a property investment firm owned by Alan Sugar and is controlled by his son Daniel.
24.
Alan Sugar was the owner of Viglen Ltd, an IT services provider catering primarily to the education and public sector.
25.
Alan Sugar is Chairman of Amscreen, a company run by his son Simon, specialising in selling advertising space on digital signage screens that it provides to retailers, medical centres and leisure venues.
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On 7 March 2011, Alan Sugar replaced Kip Meek on the board of the BBC initiated IPTV project known as YouView which is backed by ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 and broadband providers including BT and TalkTalk.
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From 1997 until 2015, Alan Sugar was a member of the Labour Party.
28.
In February 2009, the Evening Standard journalist Andrew Gilligan reported that Alan Sugar had been approached to be the Labour candidate for Mayor of London in 2012.
29.
Alan Sugar subsequently ridiculed the suggestion in an interview with The Guardian.
30.
On 7 June 2009, Alan Sugar sought to clarify the non-political nature of his appointment.
31.
Alan Sugar 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.
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Alan Sugar made his maiden speech in the House of Lords on 25 November 2009.
33.
In 2016, Alan Sugar endorsed the "Remain" campaign for the referendum on membership of the European Union.
34.
In May 2017, Alan Sugar endorsed the Conservative Party at that year's general election.
35.
On 31 March 2018, after complaints from Labour politicians, Alan Sugar deleted a tweet showing an edited image of Jeremy Corbyn in a car with Adolf Hitler.
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Alan Sugar responded that he was "not the originator" and that "there is no smoke without fire in Labour".
37.
On 5 April 2018, Alan Sugar published an ode 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.
38.
Alan Sugar last voted in the House of Lords on 24 October 2017 on an amendment to the Financial Guidance and Claims Bill.
39.
Alan Sugar has not retired from the Lords: he returned to swear the Oath of Allegiance to King Charles in September 2024, thereby retaining his seat.
40.
Alan Sugar endorsed Boris Johnson during the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election, and endorsed the party in that year's general election.
41.
Alan Sugar has stated that he is an atheist, but remains proud of his Jewish heritage.
42.
Alan Sugar married Ann Simons, a former hairdresser, on 28 April 1968 at Great Portland Street, London.
43.
Alan Sugar owns a four-seat Cirrus SR22 aircraft and a 13-seat Embraer Legacy 650 jet.
44.
In February 2009, it was reported that Alan Sugar had initiated legal proceedings against The Sun 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.
45.
In December 2020, Alan Sugar announced that both his brother and sister had died from COVID-19.
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Alan Sugar was knighted in the 2000 New Year Honours "for services to the Home Computer and Electronics Industry".
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Alan Sugar holds two honorary Doctorates of Science, awarded in 1988 by City University and in 2005 by Brunel University.
48.
Alan Sugar was created a life peer as Baron Alan Sugar, of Clapton in the London Borough of Hackney on 20 July 2009.
49.
On 29 October 2015, Alan Sugar was listed by UK-based company Richtopia at number 5 in the list of 100 Most Influential British Entrepreneurs.
50.
Alan Sugar has been accused of having an "outdated" attitude towards women.
51.
On 30 September 2013, Alan Sugar tweeted a picture of Chinese child crying 'because he was told off for leaving production line of iPhone 5'.
52.
Alan Sugar later defended his tweet as a joke before taking it down, after accusations of racism.