Richard Branson

Profession: Entrepreneur
Place/Date of Birth: Shamley Green, Surrey, 18 July 2020

Virgin chief throws channel launch party - Sept 27 2007
Sir Richard Branson opened the gates to his country home to launch a new Virgin TV channel.

Guests at the event in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, were treated to a fairground-themed party in the property's grounds.

The event, held today (Thursday) featured screenings of two shows - The Riches and The Sarah Connor Chronicles - which will run on the new entertainment channel.

Virgin 1 launches on Monday (October 1). It will be available on Freeview, Virgin Media and digital satellite.

The channel's director of programming, Celia Taylor, said ahead of the launch: "Virgin 1 is set to trigger your adrenal and pleasure glands with the best of British and heavy-hitting US drama imports that we know our viewers will be as passionate about as we are."

The launch event at Sir Richard's Oxfordshire home was attended by Virgin 1 staff, media and celebrities.

Branson ’mile-high club’ member - July 30 2007
Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson has described how he became a member of the mile-high club.

Sir Richard, whose airline was the first to introduce double beds on its planes, said he remembered having to remove handprints from the toilet mirror following the tryst.

He told GQ magazine: "I was sitting in economy on a Freddie Laker flight, next to this very attractive lady, as we headed to LA.

"We got chatting and it went a bit further. And it was every man’s dream, to be honest. I was about 19, I think.

"I remember getting off the plane and she turned to me and said, ’Look, it’s slightly embarrassing but I am meeting my husband at arrivals, would you mind holding back a bit...’. But it was a memorable flight.

"The problem with plane loos generally is that they are very small, and the acrobatics can’t take too long because there’s no room and people start banging on the door.

"What I remember vividly is seeing four handprints on the mirror as we finished, and thinking I’d better wipe them off."

Asked if he thought the woman knew he was now a famous multi-millionaire airline boss, the 57-year-old said: "I am absolutely certain she doesn’t. It was quite nice being anonymous, now I think about it."

In the interview with former Mirror editor Piers Morgan, the entrepreneur also admitted trying cocaine, ecstasy, Tantric sex and Viagra.

The interview appears in the September issue of GQ.

Branson sells out - June 04
Richard Branson is to sell hundreds of Virgin record stores.

The tycoon is planning to sell around a third of his record shops after losing out to internet retailers. It will mainly be the Virgin Xpress shops that face the chop as Branson plans to open bigger stores in their place. This is part of a £90m strategy which will streamline the entertainment arm of Virgin.

Presenter Branson - 17/06/03
Holland Park based businessman Sir Richard Branson is to front an edition of the new Five series Extreme.

Each week the programme will feature a different celebrity who will focus on ill-fated adventures. Sir Richard will be describing his own transatlantic ballooning attempt and a terrifying skydiving near miss.

He recounts how two experienced skydivers saved his life in 1986 when he pulled the wrong ripcord and lost his parachute.

The series will be aired on the channel beginning in September.

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Biography

Born in Surrey’s Shamley Green in 1950, Richard Charles Nicholas Branson was educated at the private Scaitcliffe School in Egham followed by the prestigious Stowe but thanks to his dyslexia struggled to find his footing as a student. However Richard’s head for business saw him setting up two ventures by the age of fifteen - one growing Christmas trees, the other selling budgies.

At sixteen, while most of his classmaes were planning their university careers, Richard left education and headed for London where he set up the successful Student magazine. Just a couple of years later he began to sell discounted records through mail order, drastically undercutting high street retailers. Eventually he set up a a store on London’s Oxford Street named after his company - Virgin. The success of this new store was soon followed by a record label to which Mike Oldfield was signed, releasing Tubular Bells (which was recorded at Branson’s country estate) in 1973 to chart success. Virgin was not a consistent success and Richard soon found himself in trouble with the taxman over the sale of export stock - his mother remortgaged her home to pay the bill which kept her son out of jail.

Despite this hiccup, the entreperneur found great success throughout the 80s, signing acts such as The Sex Pistols, Culture Club and Can to his label and purchasing gay nightclub Heaven. Meanwhile in 1984 Virgin Atlantic Airlines was formed, cementing Branson’s status as one of Britain’s biggest businessmen. Since the 80s several other Virgin companies have been launched, selling everything from cola to cosmetics, via mobile phonelines and trainlines. Meanwhile Richard’s adventurous streak has kept the public interested in the man himself. In 1986 his boat, Virgin Atlantic Challenger II broke the record for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic, followed closely by an attempt at the same journey by hot air balloon - another record made. He has also attempted to become the first person to circumnavigate the globe by balloon, but was beaten to it in 1999.

The Virgin brand has made further leaps in business and travel since 2000, not only has a short haul airline been purchased but Virgin Galactic plans to corner the space tourism market. Meanwhile Branson has purchased NTL, started working towards Virgin Fuel, and launched stem cell company Virgin Health Bank. And it’s not all for profit - The Sunday Times Rich List’s number 9 has also pledged to invest the profits of his train and plane companies in research on environmental fuels.

Married to Joan Templeman since 1989, Branson has two children, Sam and Holly. He lives in Oxford and London.
September 2007

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