Nick Hewer
Nick Hewer was the host of Channel 4’s Countdown for nearly a decade and spent the previous ten years as Lord Sugar’s right-hand man on The Apprentice. Nick’s wry looks and deadpan comments became a favourite part of the show and earned him a special place in the nation’s heart.
In the 1980s Nick’s PR firm was selected to represent Amstrad 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 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, as well as a number of British and international companies. After selling the business, Nick withdrew to his house in south west France; but having become firm friends with Alan, he was called to negotiate on his behalf with the Apprentice producers. The tables were turned when Sugar persuaded Nick to take an on-screen 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 took to television like a duck to water, amassing a string of credits from Have I Got News For You and Farm Fixer to Would I Lie to You? and being appointed host of Channel 4’s teatime institution Countdown. He also reunited with Margaret Mountford to look at The Town That Never Retired and The Trouble with Our Trains, and ask Too Many Immigrants?
Nick’s first book MY ALPHABET: A LIFE FROM A TO Z had a major serial in the Daily Mail and was published by Simon & Schuster in 2018.
“I always knew he was quite creative, but I had no idea he was so reckless” (Lord Sugar)
“Nick Hewer, the thinking woman’s Bakewell Tart, shows he is not the schoolmasterly puritan we first met on The Apprentice, but that underneath lurks a humorous all round good bloke. This delightful meander through his work with life in between is witty, interesting and underpinned by a sharp intellect.” (Jo Brand)
For all speaking engagements please contact JLA.