Charles on… anything that comes along

Seasoned readers (I mean really seasoned) will know that I’ve got a long history involving Alan Sugar, which actually goes right back to the first Amstrad IBM-compatible PCs, as it happens. (I also wrote a long piece about Amstrad for Business magazine in 1989.)

That said, I don’t have any animus against him - let’s make that clear. And I must say that I’m enjoying the BBC2 show The Apprentice, which is the UK remake of the US original with Donald Trump, enormously. Every week is completely compelling, because the people in it are so horrible that it’s clear cooperation for them comes next to capitulation.

This week’s task involved the two teams cooking up soups from raw ingredients to sell at market stalls - which Sugar must have enjoyed tremendously, as he got his start in business selling boiled vegetable (I think it was rhubarb) off a market stall. Funny he didn’t mention this as he grilled the losers.

(And ask yourself: how would you do it? How would you work it so that you set up a market stall and make the maximum profit? The answers are obvious if written down here, but not if you’re just standing there, unless you’ve got experience of making stuff to sell.)

The unasked question though over the whole thing is quite what the winner (lucky? unlucky?) will do in Amstrad. Design videophones? Negotiate with rock-hard Chinese equipment suppliers?

Anyway, there must be at least four more episodes to go. I’ll have to interview him just to find out quite how much he enjoyed it. Or perhaps I’ll drop him an email.

These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
• Browsers, and search terms (28 April 2005; score: 56.29%)
• Oh god, The Apprentice is *so* compulsive (2 April 2008; score: 28.55%)
• Why I didn't commission anything ahead of Terminal 5's opening (30 March 2008; score: 11.61%)