THE IoS PROFILE: Sir Alan Sugar: You're hired

He has worked for himself since the age of 17, an issue that came up last week when he fired Paul, a property developer, from The Apprentice. Sugar could not understand why a successful businessman who had been his own boss would want to go back to being an underling again. Sugar did have a soft spot for Paul, though; he said that he made him think of himself at the same age. It wasn't an entirely flattering comparison, as Paul's cockiness and unwillingness to admit mistakes had led to many complaints from his peers on the show.

Sugar founded Amstrad in 1968, and is very proud of the countless products the company has come up with over the years. He regrets not keeping the early models, and is slightly touchy about suggestions that some of his products have been cheap and tacky. He prides himself on being in tune with what 'the people' will want, although business analysts say it is ironic that more of his fortune is said to come from property speculation than from Amstrad and his computer firm, Viglen.

The 1990s was the decade that Sugar ran Spurs, and although he made a profit when he sold the club (he retains a 13 per cent stake), he fell out both with the fans and the manager, Terry Venables. He recently described that period as a 'waste of 10 years of my life'. Those involved in the club at the time are still vitriolic about him. 'He used to stand in the boardroom looking out of the window with his back to everyone, not saying a word,' says one. 'The club went backwards during his reign because he knew nothing about football.' No wonder he now says he would have 'done better going down to Hackney Community Centre talking to young kids every Saturday for 10 years'.

Admirers point to his work speaking to budding entrepreneurs at universities, and his support for the Prince's Trust. He has long been courted by politicians. He has dined with the last three prime ministers, as well as with the Queen (he says a corgi tried to relieve itself on his leg " and, unsurprisingly, thought better of it). But Sugar is a private man who prefers spending time with his wife and three children at his homes in Chigwell, Spain and Florida. Not for him the party scene. His extravagances extend to owning four planes (he is a keen pilot), a Rolls-Royce and a Bentley, but not to useless fripperies. Contrary to the image given by the icily impressive boardroom in The Apprentice, Sugar's own office is cluttered and drab, no more than functional.

Before the series started, Sugar claimed that anyone who knew him would say that he was being himself on screen. 'What you see is what you get' would seem to have been the secret of The Apprentice's success " which, naturally, Sugar also predicted.

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