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Get Ahead is a BBC Television programme that ran from 1958 to 1962 and offered a prize of £5,000 (equivalent to £148,000 in 2023) to a contestant's idea for an entrepreneurial project for a profitable business. It was an early forerunner of programmes such as Dragons' Den on BBC Two.

The programme was sponsored by the News Chronicle [1] as a form of indirect advertising to skirt the Television Act 1954. [2]

The programme was presented by Kenneth Horne and Peter West. A panel of senior business experts judged the merit of the award and included Sir Miles Thomas, who had been chairman of BOAC [3] and the British offshoot of Monsanto, the American chemical company at the time.

References

  1. ^ Radio Times
  2. ^ "The Contemporary Review". A. Strahan. 1960. p. 413.
  3. ^ Thomas, Sir Miles (1964). "Out on a Wing"", an autobiography. London: Michael Joseph. p. 370.