Nick Hewer is renowned as Lord Alan Sugar’s former right-hand man on BBC 1’s The Apprentice. His facial expressions, borne of a wonderfully dry sense humour and a lifetime’s business experience, were often the highlight of the show.
Hewer’s PR firm was selected to represent Amstrad in the eighties and soon became responsible for media handling of all Alan Sugar’s business and charitable activities. For over 20 years, Nick played an integral part in Amstrad’s management structure. He also built up a long and impressive client list, including the Secretariat of HH the Aga Khan and the wife of the ruler of Dubai, the late Sheikh Maktoum.
After selling the business, Nick retired early to his house in south west France; but having become firm friends with Alan, he was called back to help negotiate with the producers of The Apprentice. The tables were turned when Sugar persuaded Nick to take an onscreen role and promised to negotiate his fees. “I fought hard against it”, he says, “but he cajoled me – in a muscular sort of way.” Nick and his original opposite number Margaret Mountford became surprising stars of the hit reality show. After putting off his own retirement, Nick has encouraged others of a certain age in The Town That Never Retired. He went on to lend a calm authority as the host of Channel 4’s Countdown up to 2021.
A consummate awards host, erudite business speaker and entertaining after dinner speaker, Nick brings his sardonic style along with a whistle-stop look at his varied and often surprising career in business and broadcasting.
“Nick was fantastic!” Amy Aldred, Membership Manager, MPA UK Concrete 2025
“Nick was a real hit with our attendees … [He] was amazing and had time for everyone.” Lucy Childs, Essex Chamber Festival of Business
“Nick Hewer was fantastic. He had great wit, charm and intelligence.” Aeolus
“Very entertaining and interesting speaker, he tailored his speech to our event” Haydock Finance
“Nick excelled our expectations. In the build up to the event Nick ensured that he had gleaned what we wanted from us. And he was very thorough in ensuring that we would be happy with the tone/level of response and content of his speech. The audience were amused, gripped and genuinely interested in what Nick had to say. I don’t think they expected him to be a humorous as he was.” BII
“Nick was brilliant. Engaging storytelling and fascinating (and indiscreet) insights into the world of Sir Alan and The Apprentice. Nick’s Q&A went particularly well. The audience loved him and he took time to speak to everyone, sign autographs and pose for photos.” Doncaster Chamber
“We are writing to thank you for attending the official opening day of the Think Tank. We hope that you enjoyed it as much as we did! We have had some fantastic feedback on the workshop you conducted, and we hope to speak to the businesses involved to see how your advice inspired and encouraged them to push their businesses forward. The media coverage on the day also exceeded our expectations, and we are positive this could not have been achieved without you support and confidence that this project will succeed. Once again we thank you for being an exceptional guest on such an important day, and for making the event such a success.” Think Tank Innovation Centre
“As I said he was fantastic on the night, took time to speak to people and nothing seemed to be too much trouble. I have also received many positive comments about his after dinner speech, in particular the question and answer session. Everyone seemed fascinated by his tales of the Apprentice and Sir Alan and with just the right amount of humour Nick was perfect for the occasion.” Newark Business Awards
“Nick was excellent. He liaised with the guests prior to the dinner, was a pleasure during the meal, delivered an excellent speech and smoothly awarded the prizes. The guests thoroughly enjoyed the speech and his sense of humour was appreciated. It was commonly shared amongst the guests, that his presence prior to the meal, during the photographs taken and subsequently at after dinner drinks, was delightful. He was accessible to all.” Gatwick Diamond Business Awards
“He was amazing, the crowd loved it. Hopefully we can work together again soon.” Incisive Media Services / Cont…
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“The guests all thought Nick was great!” Powwow Events
“Nick was a pleasure to meet – I have not had a guest speaker who has put themselves out so much. His speech was very well received and I have had comments that he was one of our best speakers so far – the Q&A session could have gone on for a lot longer! Nick mingled with all the guests after the event which those present thoroughly enjoyed.” Jersey Funds Association
“Just wanted to say a big thank you on behalf of ABTOF for entertaining us at the conference and joining us for the gala dinner and mixing with the delegates. I hope you enjoyed it and your timing in Lille too. Once again thank you very much. I would most certainly recommend you.” CEO Association of British Tour Organisers to France
“Nick had a very dry sense of humour which went down brilliantly with the audience. He mingled with guests and stayed for the whole evening. A good story teller with a great story to tell!!!! I wouldn’t hesitate recommending him to others. Thanks Nick.” ncjMedia Ltd
“I would like to send a heartfelt thank you from all at Visit Kent for making Kent 2020 such a huge success for us this year. Your address was excellent, you inspired us with your wit and wisdom and for fans of the show (including top fans like me!) it was brilliant fun!” Visit Kent
“Nick was fantastic, he arrived early, was extremely supportive of the event and seemed well prepared. He fit well with the audience we had – all showing a passion for business in the UK. He delivered exactly what we wanted – an interesting and entertaining and witty speech focusing on his experiences within British enterprise. The feedback we have had from our guests about Nick’s speech has been superb. We were also delighted that Nick took the time to join us for dinner and stayed to chat to and have photos taken with our guests after the event. On behalf of ourselves and our guests, we would like to thank Nick for an excellent evening.” Trade Association Forum (TAF)
“Just wanted to drop you a line to thank you for your excellent contribution to yesterday’s successful awards event. Your insightful and engaging address followed by the Q&A session was very well received – a number of attendees specifically commented to me how much they enjoyed it. Thanks also for joining us in the photos at the end and also your willingness to informally chat and sign autographs. A great success all round.” Lloyds TSB
“Thank you so much for being such a pleasure to work with over the past 3 days. We really enjoyed our time with you and the feedback from the delegates has been great” Peninsula Enterprise / Business Link
“The feedback is quite literally ‘awesome’ and I know that the Student Union shop were both stunned and overwhelmed by you popping in there too.” Kingston University
“I thought that your contribution to the success of our evening was outstanding. Thank you for taking the trouble to talk individually to the majority of our guests and for your patience with the endless photographs. Your after dinner speech gave us a glimpse behind the scenes of `The Apprentice’ and was enjoyed by all of us.” The Co-operative Financial Services
“Thank you for attending our business conference and making it such a success. We really appreciated your input!” Havering College F&HE
“Your speech went down really well with our guests. The feedback we’ve had from the whole event has been extremely positive. It was lovely to meet you.” OneSource
“Nick was easy to work with and spent time getting to know about the subject and come up to the venue the night before for a run through. He stayed within the brief we gave him but added some lighthearted bits to the proceedings to keep the audience interested and engaged with the session. He was also very patient with the queue of people trying to talk to him” Brandon Hill Communications
“Immense thanks to you for supporting our Business Breakfast event yesterday. Employers and in particular the young people were thrilled at your attendance and we also received very positive press coverage in the local media which as you know, is always most welcome!” Forward Swindon
“Excellent. Really took the time to prepare, understand it all, mingle with guests etc.” Energise Events
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“From start to finish Nick was a pleasure to deal with and as I was advised, he provided our guests with a wonderful insight into the Apprentice, his life and Lord Sugar! He was funny, wise, intelligent and quick witted – a perfect combination for an after dinner speaker and tailored his talk to the audience in the room perfectly. Our guests have given us some fantastic feedback about our choice of speaker and I would be delighted to work with him again where possible!” The Event Crew Ltd – on behalf of Reading Retail Awards
“I just wanted to say a big thank you for your excellent contribution to the TSA Conference, it was a great success for all concerned! It was a pleasure working with you and hopefully our paths will cross again in the not too distant future. Thanks again and take care.” Lipfriend Rodd International Limited on behalf of Telecare Services Association (TSA)
“It was a great success and Nick was very well received, his presentation was pitched exactly right and we had many compliments from happy delegates. Please pass on our warmest thanks to him for helping to make our event a success” Destination Basingstoke
“Nick Hewer was exceptionally brilliant. He delivered a good performance as our co-host. He was interesting to listen to and entertained our guests the way we expected. They were very pleased to have Nick present their award ceremony and to have their photo taken with him. Nick took the time to mingle and have a drink with our guest before the dinner which was very nice of him to do.” Peugeot Citroen Retail
“We managed to have a catch up with the client regarding the event and they have had great feedback with everyone being really positive about Nick’s involvement as well as receiving emails from schools saying that the kids had, had a great time and loved the fact that they had meet Nick Hewer” Coca-Cola Enterprises’ Real Business Challenge
“Thanks for a great speech at last week’s Dinner and for joining us afterwards. I’ve received fantastic feedback from the guests about you, and your willingness to stay on afterwards, to chat and have photos taken was really well received. Why aren’t there more people like you on the dinner circuit??! Thanks very much again – it was a pleasure meeting you.” ICAEW
“How well did the speaker/artist/presenter meet your objectives? – Nick has been a delight to work with. He added some fun to our production and was also the gel between Jack and Michael. How would you describe the audience reaction? – Delighted and ecstatic.” Heavy Entertainment Ltd
“Nick was easy to work with and very professional. We took a different approach to the event this year, opting not to use a comedian. As expected, the event had a more refined – but still entertaining feel to it. The audience were positive and engaged throughout – which isn’t always easy to be sure of.” Institution of Chemical Engineers
“Just to say that I have just had an email from the client regarding yesterday’s event and they were delighted with Nick, the audience loved his presentation and Nick was wonderful to deal with. So please pass on my thanks to Nick and thanks again to you guys for all your help with this event for this.” Power to Achieve
“He was fab … Great choice. Brilliant. Intelligent, witty & insightful. Could have happily listened to him all day. A class act … Awesome! Thoroughly enjoyable and very entertaining” Callidus Software Inc.
“Entertaining and informative. Combined storytelling with relevant subject matter and delivery was good.” The Rubicon Project
“Nick met all our objectives and was a real asset at our big event. He was a good ambassador of our brand and a pleasure to work with. Everyone loved Nick Hewer. They found him engaging and entertaining and liked the fact he was so approachable. He made a real effort to network with our audience and get to know their businesses.” Citation Holdings Ltd
“His contribution was central to the success of the day, for which we have received a wealth of thanks and compliments, and was very much appreciated.” UKWA
“Nick was great and the client was thrilled.” Iris PR Limited
Wikipedia: Nick Hewer