Why I owe my life to Alan being annoying...

AS Lord Sugar’s right-hand man, Claude Littner’s stare alone can reduce the most confident of Apprentice candidates to gibbering wrecks.

But Claude insists he is “gentler” this series – and part of his serenity is appreciating how lucky he has been to beat cancer... a battle sparked by a rare boardroom argument with Lord Sugar.

The row was so infuriating, it made Claude take the day off and get checked out at the doctor’s for a nagging pain.

“How lucky was that?” he said. “My little decision to take that day off meant that I was diagnosed with cancer.

“I won’t tell Alan I owe him my life but, yes, that’s the truth.”

Former Spurs chief executive Claude, who has chaired several Sugar companies, was given six months to live with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

He survived after three years of chemotherapy and a pioneering stem cell transplant from his sister Tina.

His close shave has had a profound impact on his outlook. “Inwardly I have tried to do the right thing and be a little more gentle,” he said.

This year, for the first time, he said sorry to a candidate after a cutting remark. “I was quite mean and I did apologise off-camera,” he admitted.

Now he loves to spend time off with his grandchildren by his two sons Anthony, 37, and Alex, 36.

“They show me a terrible lack of respect, though,” he said. “I like to be called grandpa but they call me Baldy. We have great fun together though.”

He is celebrating 40 years of marriage to wife Thelma, with whom he says he has never had an argument.

“Nobody could have endured me the way she did,” he said. “She knows that if I get into a state and she starts shouting, that’s not going to be the right way to handle me.”

He is a reluctant celebrity. “I was approached by Strictly Come Dancing this year,” he laughed. “I said no because I can’t dance and I’d look like a fool. Ed Balls is being very brave.”