- Sir Alan Sugar spent Saturday in Jersey, his first visit in 58 years
- During his visit he kept his 4.33 million followers updated with regular tweets. Read them below
- The Apprentice star jetted in on his private plane and enjoyed lunch at St Brelade’s Bay
- Remember when The Apprentice came to Jersey? Re-live the occasion below
JERSEY may be enjoying exposure across the globe thanks to the NatWest Island Games, but its main publicity this weekend came from an unlikely source – Lord Alan Sugar.
The multi-millionaire businessman and TV star took to social media on Saturday to inform his 4.33 million Twitter followers that he was taking his private jet to Jersey.
The 68-year-old, who according to this year’s Sunday Times Rich List has an estimated fortune of £1.04 billion, touched down in the morning and soon found his way to St Brelade’s Bay.
He told his followers that it was his first visit to the Island in 58 years.
The former Amstrad owner currently stars in the popular BBC television programme The Apprentice, on which his catchphrase is ‘You’re fired!’
During his visit, he tweeted a picture of St Brelade’s Bay with the caption ‘wonderfull bay in Jersey’ – with an incorrect spelling of the word wonderful.
Lord Sugar later tweeted about the ‘very good’ meal that he had at the Oyster Box, a Jersey Pottery Restaurants business.
However, he copied in the wrong Oyster Box on the tweet, instead tweeting that he was at The Oyster Box in Durban, South Africa.
He is not the first celebrity to tweet about Jersey. Last month DJ Chris Evans spoke fondly of Jersey on social media after the Island featured on the BBC’s Countryfile.
- Having left school in Hackney aged 16, Alan Sugar started selling electric goods out of a van he bought for £50.
- In 1968, he founded Amstrad and now, over 45 years later, he has an estimated worth of £900 million and was ranked 110th in the 2014 Sunday Times Rich List. He sold his Amstrad empire to Sky in July 2007.
- He was the former chairman of Tottenham Hotspur FC from 1991 until 2001.
- His other companies include Amscreen, the UKs largest digital media owner and property investment firm Amsprop. Until earlier this year he was chairman of Viglen, a manufacturer specialising in computers, networks and solutions.
- In 2000, he was knighted for his services to business and he holds two honorary Doctorates of Science degrees, awarded by City University and Brunel University respectively.
- Having previously sat on the Business Council for Britain and fronted a campaign promoting the benefits of apprenticeships, he was named as the governments Enterprise Champion in 2009 and appointed to the House of Lords as Baron Sugar of Clapton in the London Borough of Hackney.
- Lord Sugar is a philanthropist for a number of charities including Great Ormond Street Hospital and Jewish Care.
- He married his wife Ann, who he met aged 17, in April 1968 and has two sons, Simon and Daniel, and a daughter, Louise.
IN December 2010, Jersey’s tourism industry received a big boost when the Island was transported into an estimated seven million viewers’ homes as part of smash hit television series The Apprentice.
A trio of winning businessmen and women headed to the Island for a treat at the Michelin-starred Ocean Restaurant at the Atlantic Hotel after winning their task set by Lord Alan Sugar to sell London bus tours to tourists.
The six remaining candidates were battling it out to win the prize of a £100,000-a-year job with Lord Sugar.
As their reward, the winning team were whisked off in style to Jersey by private jet in a treat organised by Lord Sugar for a day of gastronomic decadence, which included a seven-course meal.
First they headed to the Grouville Bay to taste oysters with the Jersey Oyster Company, then visited Faulkner’s Fisheries at L’Etacq to meet local fishermen bringing in their catch.
They ate oysters on the beach before selecting fresh crab and lobster for their lunch.
The Atlantic Hotel’s head chef Mark Jordan then prepared their seafood for the team, who toasted their victory in the restaurant.
Patrick Burke, the owner and managing director of the Atlantic Hotel, said at the time that he was delighted that Jersey had been chosen as the ultimate treat for the final task of the series.
‘We had great fun with the candidates and crew and enjoyed spoiling them at the hotel and making their time in the Island so memorable,’ he said. ‘This was not just about the Atlantic Hotel, but an Island-wide tourism effort and Jersey Tourism were great.
‘It was the hardest thing keeping it a secret as we would have so loved to let everybody know so they could watch it but we couldn’t be happier with the coverage.’
