IN HIS OWN WORDS: Alan Sugar

Seeking a new business partner in The Apprentice (9pm, BBC1), the nation’s favourite billionaire business tycoon, 71, has a nice line in words of wisdom…

On the early years: ‘I’ve been in business since I was a 12-year-old schoolkid, really. If there was an opportunity and a demand, I’d be there… My parents did their best, but not being able to have what I wanted made me determined to do something for myself – to be self-sufficient.’

On changing times: ‘Kids today aren’t as hungry as I was. They don’t understand how tough my generation was.’ On having a nose for business: ‘You can’t make someone into an entrepreneur, just like you can’t make someone a pop singer or an artist. It has to be in-built; it’s a kind of a nose for things, a smell for things, and then an instinct to do it and a focus.’

On playing the game: ‘Let your opponent win something… I realised that it’s no good boxing people into a corner; if you really want to succeed, you need to let them win a little and leave them with a nice way out.’ On being honourable: ‘I’ve always been an honest trader. I come from a school of traders where there was honour in the deal. No contracts, just a handshake and that’s it, done. That’s the way I prefer to do business, but it’s not always possible these days, sadly.’ On telling it like it is: ‘I don’t make enemies, it’s just that I’m not afraid to speak my mind, which can sometimes mean people don’t like what I am saying.’ And finally…: ‘Money is all right, but once you have it, you learn it’s not the be-all and end-all.’