Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English businessman and investor. He is best known as the founder of
Virgin Group, which comprises more than 400 companies.
[4]
At the age of sixteen his first business venture was a magazine called
Student.
[5] In 1970, he set up a mail-order record business. In 1972, he opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records, later known as
Virgin Megastores. Branson's Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s, as he set up
Virgin Atlantic and expanded the
Virgin Records music label.
According to the
Forbes 2014
list of billionaires, Branson is the
seventh richest citizen of the United Kingdom, with an estimated net worth of US$4.9 billion.
[2]
Early life
Branson was born in
Blackheath, London, the eldest of three children born to
barrister Edward James Branson (1918 – 2011), and
Eve Branson (born 1924), a former ballet dancer and air hostess.
[6][7] Branson has two younger sisters.
[8] His grandfather, the
Right Honourable Sir George Arthur Harwin Branson, was a judge of the
High Court of Justice and a
Privy Councillor.
[9] Branson was educated at
Scaitcliffe School, a
prep school in Berkshire, before briefly attending Cliff View House School in Sussex.
[10] Branson attended
Stowe School, an
independent school in Buckinghamshire until the age of sixteen.
[10] Branson has
dyslexia and had poor academic performance as a student, and on his last day at school, his headmaster,
Robert Drayson, told him he would either end up in prison or become a millionaire.
[10]
Branson's parents were supportive of his endeavors from an early age.
[11]
Career
Record business
Branson started his record business from the crypt of a church where he ran
The Student magazine.
Branson interviewed several prominent personalities of the late 1960s for the magazine including
Mick Jagger and
R. D. Laing.
[12] Branson advertised popular records in
The Student and it was an overnight success.
[13] Trading under the name "Virgin", he sold records for considerably less than the "High Street" outlets, especially the chain
W. H. Smith. Branson once said, "There is no point in starting your own business unless you do it out of a sense of frustration." The name "Virgin" was suggested by one of Branson's early employees because they were all new at business.
[14] At the time, many products were sold under restrictive marketing agreements that limited discounting, despite efforts in the 1950s and 1960s to limit so-called
resale price maintenance.
[15]
Branson eventually started a record shop in
Oxford Street in London. In 1971, Branson was questioned in connection with the selling of records in Virgin stores that had been declared export stock. The matter was never brought before a court and Branson agreed to repay any unpaid tax and a fine. Branson's mother,
Eve, re-mortgaged the family home to help pay the settlement.
[14]
Earning enough money from his record store, Branson in 1972 launched the record label
Virgin Records with
Nik Powell and bought a country estate north of
Oxford, in which he installed a residential
recording studio,
The Manor Studio.
[16] He leased out studio time to fledgling artists, including multi-instrumentalist
Mike Oldfield, whose debut album
Tubular Bells (1973) was the first release for Virgin Records and became a chart-topping best-seller.
[17]
Virgin signed such controversial bands as the
Sex Pistols, which other companies were reluctant to sign. It also won praise for exposing the public to such obscure avant-garde music as
Faust and
Can. Virgin Records also introduced
Culture Club to the music world. In 1982, Virgin purchased the gay nightclub
Heaven. In 1991, in a consortium with
David Frost, Branson made an unsuccessful bid for three
ITV franchisees under the
CPV-TV name. The early 1980s also saw his only attempt as a producer—on the novelty record, "
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep", by Singing Sheep in association with Doug McLean and Grace McDonald. The recording was a series of sheep baa-ing along to a drum-machine-produced track and reached number 42 in the UK charts in 1982.
[18]
In 1992, to keep his airline company afloat, Branson sold the Virgin label to
EMI for £500 million.
[19] Branson said that he wept when the sale was completed because the record business had been the very start of the Virgin empire. In 1996 he created
V2 Records to re-enter the music business, owning 5% himself.
[20]
Business ventures
Branson formed
Virgin Atlantic Airways in 1984, launched
Virgin Mobile in 1999, and
Virgin Blue in Australia (now named
Virgin Australia) in 2000. He was ninth in the
Sunday Times Rich List 2006, worth slightly more than £3 billion. Branson wrote in his autobiography of the decision to start an airline:
My interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them ... from the perspective of wanting to live life to the full, I felt that I had to attempt it.
In 1993, Branson took what many saw as being one of his riskier business exploits by entering into the railway business.
Virgin Trains won the franchises for the former
Intercity West Coast and Cross-Country sectors of
British Rail.
Virgin acquired European
short-haul airline Euro Belgian Airlines in 1996 and renamed it
Virgin Express. In 2006, the airline was merged with
SN Brussels Airlines forming
Brussels Airlines. It also started a national airline based in Nigeria, called
Virgin Nigeria. Another airline,
Virgin America, began flying out of
San Francisco International Airport in August 2007. Branson has also developed a
Virgin Cola brand and even a
Virgin Vodka brand, which has not been a very successful enterprise. As a consequence of these lacklustre performers, the satirical British fortnightly magazine
Private Eye has been critical of Branson and his companies (see
Private Eye image caption).
[21]
A series of disputes in the early 1990s caused tension between Virgin Atlantic and
British Airways, which viewed Virgin as an emerging competitor. Virgin subsequently accused British Airways of poaching its passengers,
hacking its computers, and leaking stories to the press that portrayed Virgin negatively. After the so-called campaign of "dirty tricks", British Airways settled the case, giving £500,000 to Branson, a further £110,000 to his airline, and had to pay legal fees of up to £3million . Branson distributed his compensation (the so-called "BA bonus") among his staff.
[22]
On 25 September 2004, Branson announced the signing of a deal under which a new
space tourism company,
Virgin Galactic, will license the technology behind
Spaceship One—funded by
Microsoft co-founder
Paul Allen and designed by legendary American aeronautical engineer and visionary
Burt Rutan—to take paying passengers into
suborbital space. Virgin Galactic (wholly owned by Virgin Group) plans to make flights available to the public with tickets priced at US$200,000 using
Scaled Composites White Knight Two.
[23] Branson plans to take his two children, 31-year-old Holly and 28-year-old Sam, on a trip to outer space when they ride the SpaceShipTwo rocket plane on its first public flight planned for 2014.
[24]
Branson's next venture with the Virgin group is
Virgin Fuels, which is set to respond to
global warming and exploit the recent spike in fuel costs by offering a revolutionary, cheaper fuel for automobiles and, in the near future, aircraft. Branson has stated that he was formerly a global warming sceptic and was influenced in his decision by a breakfast meeting with
Al Gore.
[25]
On 21 September 2006, Branson pledged to invest the profits of Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Trains in research for environmentally friendly fuels. The investment is estimated to be worth $3 billion.
[26][27]
On 4 July 2006, Branson sold his
Virgin Mobile company to UK cable TV, broadband, and telephone company NTL/
NTL:Telewest for almost £1 billion. A new company was launched with much fanfare and publicity on 8 February 2007, under the name
Virgin Media. The decision to merge his Virgin Media Company with NTL was to integrate both of the companies' compatible parts of commerce. Branson used to own three-quarters of Virgin Mobile, whereas now he owns 15 percent of the new Virgin Media company.
[28]
In 2006, Branson formed
Virgin Comics and Virgin Animation, an entertainment company focused on creating new stories and characters for a global audience. The company was founded with author
Deepak Chopra, filmmaker
Shekhar Kapur, and entrepreneurs
Sharad Devarajan and
Gotham Chopra. Branson also launched the
Virgin Health Bank on 1 February 2007, offering parents-to-be the opportunity to store their baby's
umbilical cord blood
stem cells in private and public stem-cell banks.
In June 2006, a tip-off from Virgin Atlantic led US and UK competition authorities to investigate price-fixing attempts between Virgin Atlantic and British Airways. In August 2007, British Airways was fined £271 million over the allegations. Virgin Atlantic was given immunity for tipping off the authorities and received no fine—a controversial decision the Office of Fair Trading defended as being in the public interest.
[29]
On 9 February 2007, Branson announced the setting up of a new global science and technology prize—The
Virgin Earth Challenge—in the belief that history has shown that prizes of this nature encourage technological advancements for the good of mankind. The Virgin Earth Challenge will award $25 million to the individual or group who are able to demonstrate a commercially viable design that will result in the net removal of anthropogenic, atmospheric greenhouse gases each year for at least ten years without countervailing harmful effects. This removal must have long-term effects and contribute materially to the stability of the Earth's climate. Branson also announced that he would be joined in the adjudication of the prize by a panel of five judges, all world authorities in their respective fields:
Al Gore,
Sir Crispin Tickell,
Tim Flannery,
James E. Hansen, and
James Lovelock.
In July 2007, Branson purchased his Australian home,
Makepeace Island, in
Noosa.
[30] In August 2007, Branson announced that he bought a 20-percent stake in Malaysia's
AirAsia X.
[31]
On 13 October 2007, Branson's Virgin Group sought to add
Northern Rock to its empire after submitting an offer that would result in Branson personally owning 30% of the company and change the company's name from Northern Rock to
Virgin Money.
[32] The Daily Mail ran a campaign against his bid and
Vince Cable, financial spokesperson for
Liberal Democrats', suggested in the
House of Commons that Branson's criminal conviction for tax evasion might be felt by some as a good enough reason not to trust him with public money.
[33]
On 10 January 2008, Branson's Virgin Healthcare announced that it would open a chain of health care clinics that would offer conventional medical care alongside homoeopathic and complementary therapies, a development that was welcomed by
Ben Bradshaw, the UK's health minister.
[34]
Plans where GPs could be paid for referring National Health Service (NHS) patients to private Virgin services were abandoned in June 2008. The BMA warned the plan would "damage clinical objectivity", there would be a financial incentive for GPs to push patients toward the Virgin services at the centre.
[35] Plans to take over an NHS Practice in Swindon were abandoned subsequently, in late September 2008.
[36]
In February 2009, Branson's Virgin organisation were reported as bidding to buy the former Honda Formula One team. Branson later stated an interest in Formula One, but claimed that, before the Virgin brand became involved with Honda or any other team, Formula One would have to develop a more economically efficient and environmentally responsible image. At the start of the 2009 formula one season on 28 March, it was announced that Virgin would be sponsoring the new
Brawn GP team,
[37] with discussions also under way about introducing a less "dirty" fuel in the medium term.
[38] After the end of the season and the subsequent purchase of Brawn GP by Mercedes Benz, Branson invested in an 80% buyout of Manor Grand Prix,
[39][40] with the team being renamed
Virgin Racing.
Branson and
Tony Fernandes, owner of
Air Asia and
Lotus F1 Racing, had a bet for the
2010 F1 season where the team's boss should work on the winner's airline during a charity flight dressed as a stewardess. Fernandes escaped as the winner of the bet, as Lotus Racing ended tenth in the championship, while Virgin Racing ended twelfth and last. Branson kept his word after losing the bet, as he served his duty as a stewardess on an
Air Asia flight between Perth and Kuala Lumpur on 12 May 2013.
[41]
In 2010, Branson became patron of the UK's
Gordon Bennett 2010 gas balloon race, which has 16 hydrogen balloons flying across Europe.
[42]
In April 2010, Branson described the closure of large parts of European airspace owing to volcanic ash as "beyond a joke". Some scientists later concluded that serious structural damage to aircraft could have occurred if passenger planes had continued to fly.
[43]
In July 2012, Branson announced plans to build an
orbital space launch system, designated
LauncherOne.
[44] Four
commercial customers have already contracted for launches and two companies are developing standardised
satellite buses optimised to the design of LauncherOne, in expectation of business opportunities created by the new
smallsat launcher.
[45]
In August 2012, the franchise for the West Coast Main Line, managed by Virgin Rail since 1997, came to an end. The contract was awarded to FirstGroup after a competitive tender process overseen by the Department for Transport. Branson had expressed his concerns about the tender process and questioned the validity of the business plan submitted by FirstGroup. When Virgin Rail lost the contract, Branson said he was convinced the civil servants had "got their maths wrong". In October, after an investigation into the bidding process, the deal was scrapped. The Transport Secretary announced there were "significant technical flaws" in the process and mistakes had been made by transport staff. Virgin Rail continue to operate the West Coast line.
[46]
World record attempts
A 1998 attempt at an around-the-world balloon flight by Branson, Fossett, and Lindstrand ends in the Pacific Ocean on 25 December 1998.
Branson made several world record-breaking attempts after 1985, when in the spirit of the
Blue Riband he attempted the fastest Atlantic Ocean crossing. His first attempt in the "Virgin Atlantic Challenger" led to the boat capsizing in British waters and a rescue by RAF helicopter, which received wide media coverage. Some newspapers called for Branson to reimburse the government for the rescue cost. In 1986, in his "Virgin Atlantic Challenger II", with sailing expert Daniel McCarthy, he beat the record by two hours.
[5] A year later his
hot air balloon "Virgin Atlantic Flyer" crossed the Atlantic.
[47]
In January 1991, Branson crossed the Pacific from Japan to Arctic Canada, 6,700 miles (10,800 km), in a balloon of 2,600,000 cubic feet (74,000 m
3). This broke the record, with a speed of 245 miles per hour (394 km/h).
Between 1995 and 1998 Branson,
Per Lindstrand and
Steve Fossett made attempts to circumnavigate the globe by balloon. In late 1998 they made a record-breaking flight from Morocco to Hawaii but were unable to complete a global flight before
Bertrand Piccard and
Brian Jones in
Breitling Orbiter 3 in March 1999.
In March 2004, Branson set a record by travelling from
Dover to
Calais in a
Gibbs Aquada in 1 hour, 40 minutes and 6 seconds, the fastest crossing of the
English Channel in an
amphibious vehicle. The previous record of six hours was set by two Frenchmen.
[48] The cast of
Top Gear,
Jeremy Clarkson,
James May and
Richard Hammond, attempted to break this record in an amphibious vehicle which they had constructed and, while successfully crossing the channel, did not break Branson's record. After being intercepted by the Coast Guard and asked what their intentions were, Clarkson remarked "..our intentions are to go across the Channel faster than 'Beardy' Branson!". The Coast Guard wished them good luck and left.
[49]
In September 2008, Branson and his children made an unsuccessful attempt at an Eastbound record crossing of the Atlantic ocean under sail in the 99 feet (30 m)
sloop Virgin Money.
[50] The boat, also known as
Speedboat, is owned by
NYYC member Alex Jackson, who was a co-skipper on this passage, with Branson and Mike Sanderson. After 2 days, 4 hours, winds of
force 7 to 9 (strong gale), and seas of 40 feet (12 m), a 'monster wave' destroyed the
spinnaker, washed a ten-man life raft overboard and severely ripped the mainsail. She eventually continued to
St. George's, Bermuda.
[51]
Television, film and print
Branson has guest starred, usually playing himself, on several television shows, including
Friends,
Baywatch,
Birds of a Feather,
Only Fools and Horses,
The Day Today, a special episode of the comedy
Goodness Gracious Me and
Tripping Over. Branson made several appearances during the nineties on the
BBC Saturday morning show
Live & Kicking, where he was referred to as 'the pickle man' by comedy act
Trev and Simon (in reference to
Branston Pickle).
[52] Branson also appears in a cameo early in
XTC's "Generals and Majors" video. He was also the star of a reality television show on
Fox called
The Rebel Billionaire: Branson's Quest for the Best (2004), in which sixteen contestants were tested for their entrepreneurship and sense of adventure. It did not succeed as a rival show to
Donald Trump's
The Apprentice and only lasted one season.
His high public profile often leaves him open as a figure of satire—the
2000 AD series
Zenith features a parody of Branson as a
super villain, as the comic's publisher and favoured distributor and the Virgin group were in competition at the time. He is also caricatured in
The Simpsons episode "
Monty Can't Buy Me Love" as the tycoon Arthur Fortune, and as the ballooning
megalomaniac Richard Chutney (a pun on Branson, as in
Branston Pickle) in
Believe Nothing. The character Grandson Richard 39 in
Terry Pratchett's Wings is modelled on Branson.
He has a
cameo appearance in several films:
Around the World in 80 Days (2004), where he played a hot-air balloon operator;
Superman Returns, where he was credited as a 'Shuttle Engineer' and appeared alongside his son, Sam, with a
Virgin Galactic-style commercial suborbital shuttle at the centre of his storyline. He also has a cameo in the
James Bond film
Casino Royale. Here, he is seen as a passenger going through
Miami Airport security check-in and being frisked – several Virgin Atlantic planes appear soon after. British Airways edited out Branson's cameo in their in-flight screening of the movie.
[53] He makes a number of brief and disjointed appearances in the cult classic documentary
Derek and Clive Get the Horn which follows the exploits of
Peter Cook and
Dudley Moore recording their last comedy album. Branson and his mother were also featured in the documentary film,
Lemonade Stories. In early 2006 on
Rove Live,
Rove McManus and Sir Richard pushed each other into a swimming pool fully clothed live on TV during a "Live at your house" episode.
Branson is a
Star Trek fan and named his new spaceship
VSS Enterprise in honour of the famous
Star Trek ships, and in 2006, reportedly offered actor
William Shatner a ride on the inaugural space launch of Virgin Galactic. In an interview in Time magazine, 10 August 2009, Shatner claimed that Branson approached him asking how much he would pay for a ride on the spaceship. In response, Shatner asked "how much would you pay
me to do it?"
In August 2007, Branson announced on
The Colbert Report that he had named a new aircraft Air Colbert. He later doused political satirist and talk show host
Stephen Colbert with water from his mug. Branson subsequently took a retaliatory splash from Colbert. The interview quickly ended, with both laughing
[54] as shown on the episode aired on
Comedy Central on 22 August 2007. The interview was promoted on
The Report as the
Colbert-Branson Interview Trainwreck. Branson then made a cameo appearance on
The Soup playing an intern working under
Joel McHale who had been warned against getting into water fights with Stephen Colbert, and being subsequently fired.
In March 2008 he launched
Virgin Mobile in India and during that period, he even played a cameo performance in
Bollywood film,
London Dreams.
[55] In July 2010, Branson narrated Australian sailor
Jessica Watson's documentary about her solo sailing trip around the world. It premiered on
ONEHD on 16 August 2010.
[citation needed]
In April 2011 Branson appeared on
CNN's Mainsail
[56] with
Kate Winslet. Together they re-enacted a famous scene
[57] from the 1997 film
Titanic for the cameras. On 17 August 2011, he was featured in the premier episode of
Hulu's first long-form original production entitled,
A Day in the Life.
[58]
At the 2012
Pride of Britain Awards broadcast on
ITV on 30 October, Branson, along with
Michael Caine,
Elton John,
Simon Cowell and
Stephen Fry, recited
Rudyard Kipling's poem
If— in tribute to the 2012 British
Olympic and
Paralympics heroes.
[59]
Humanitarian initiatives
In the late 1990s, Branson and musician
Peter Gabriel discussed with
Nelson Mandela their idea of a small, dedicated group of leaders, working objectively and without any vested personal interest to solve difficult global conflicts.
[60] On 18 July 2007, in
Johannesburg, South Africa, Mandela announced the formation of a new group,
The Elders, in a speech he delivered on his 89th birthday.
Kofi Annan serves as Chair of The Elders and
Gro Harlem Brundtland as Deputy Chair. The other members are
Martti Ahtisaari,
Ela Bhatt,
Lakhdar Brahimi,
Fernando Henrique Cardoso,
Jimmy Carter,
Hina Jilani,
Graça Machel,
Mary Robinson and
Ernesto Zedillo.
Desmond Tutu and Mandela have been Honorary Elders. The Elders is independently funded by a group of donors, including Branson and Gabriel. The Elders use their collective skills to catalyse peaceful resolutions to long-standing conflicts, articulate new approaches to global issues that are causing or may cause immense human suffering, and share wisdom by helping to connect voices all over the world.
In 1999, Branson became a founding sponsor of the
International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children ("ICMEC"), the goal of which is to help find missing children, and to stop the exploitation of children, as his mother Eve became a founding member of ICMEC's Board of Directors.
[61][62]
Branson's other work in South Africa includes the
Branson School of Entrepreneurship, set up in 2005 as a partnership between
Virgin Unite, the non-profit foundation of Virgin, and entrepreneur
Taddy Blecher, the founder of
CIDA City Campus, a university in Johannesburg. The school aims to improve economic growth in South Africa by supporting start-ups and micro-enterprises with skills, mentors, services, networks and finance arrangements.
[63][64] Fundraising activity to support the school is achieved by the
Sunday Times Fast Track 100, sponsored by
Virgin Group, at its yearly event, where places to join Richard Branson on trips to South Africa to provide coaching and mentoring to students are auctioned to attendees. In 2009, Jason Luckhurst and Boyd Kershaw of
Practicus, Martin Ainscough of the Ainscough Group and
Matthew Riley of Daisy Communications helped raise £150,000 through the auction.
[65]
In March 2008, Branson hosted an environmental gathering at his private island,
Necker Island, in the Caribbean with several prominent entrepreneurs, celebrities, and world leaders. They discussed global warming-related problems facing the world, hoping that the meeting would be a precursor to future discussions regarding similar problems. Former British Prime Minister
Tony Blair, Wikipedia co-founder
Jimmy Wales, and
Larry Page of
Google were in attendance.
[66]
On 8 May 2009, Branson took over
Mia Farrow's
hunger strike for three days in protest of the Sudanese government expulsion of aid groups from the
Darfur region.
[67] In 2010, he and the Nduna Foundation (founded by
Amy Robbins), and Humanity United (an organization backed by Pam Omidyar, the wife of
eBay founder
Pierre Omidyar) founded Enterprise Zimbabwe.
[68]
Branson is a signatory of
Global Zero (campaign), a non-profit international initiative for the elimination of all nuclear weapons worldwide.
[69] Since its launch in Paris in December 2008,
[70] Global Zero (campaign) has grown to 300 leaders, including current and former heads of state, national security officials and military commanders, and 400,000 citizens worldwide; developed a practical step-by-step plan to eliminate nuclear weapons; launched an international student campaign with 75 campus chapters in eight countries; and produced an acclaimed documentary film,
Countdown to Zero, in partnership with
Lawrence Bender and
Participant Media.
[71]
Since 2010, Branson has served as a Commissioner on the
Broadband Commission for Digital Development, a UN initiative which promotes universal access to broadband services.
[72] In 2011, Branson served on the
Global Commission on Drug Policy with former political and cultural leaders of Latin America and elsewhere, "in a bid to boost the effort to achieve more humane and rational drug laws."
[73]
In December 2013 Branson urged companies to boycott
Uganda because of its "anti-homosexuality bill." Branson stated that it would be "against my conscience to support this country...governments must realize that people should be able to love whoever they want."
[74]
In 2014, Branson joined forces with
African Wildlife Foundation and partner WildAid for the "Say No" Campaign,
[75] an initiative to bring public awareness to the issues of wildlife poaching and trafficking.
Politics
In the 1980s, Branson was briefly given the post of "litter Tsar" by
Margaret Thatcher—charged with "keeping Britain tidy".
[76][77] In 2005 he declared that there were only negligible differences between the two main parties on economic matters.
[78] He has frequently been mentioned as a candidate for
Mayor of London, and polls have suggested he would be a viable candidate, though he has yet to express interest.
[79][80][81] He supports continuing British membership of the
European Union and opposes having a
referendum on the issue.
[82]
Controversies and criticism
Tax
Branson's business empire is owned by a complicated series of
offshore trusts and companies.
The Sunday Times stated that his wealth is calculated at £3 billion; if he were to retire to his Caribbean island and liquidate all of this, he would pay relatively little in tax.
[83] Branson has been criticised for his business strategy, and has been accused of being a
carpetbagger.
[84][85][86][87] Branson responded that he is living on Necker for health rather than tax reasons.
[88]
Profiting from SeaWorld
Branson has been criticized by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation organization for profiting from selling trips to
SeaWorld and similar themed parks that hold dolphins, whales and other sea life in captivity for entertainment purposes.
[89][90]
Honours and awards
Branson at a conference in San Diego, California, on 8 July 2013.
In 1993, Branson was awarded an honorary degree of
Doctor of Technology from
Loughborough University.
In the New Years Honours list dated 30 December 1999,
Elizabeth II signified her intention to confer the honour of
Knight Bachelor on him for his "services to entrepreneurship".
[91][92] He was knighted by
Charles, Prince of Wales on 30 March 2000 at an investiture in
Buckingham Palace.
[93]
Also in 2000, Branson received the '
Tony Jannus Award' for his accomplishments in commercial air transportation.
Branson appears at No. 85 on the 2002 list of "
100 Greatest Britons" (sponsored by the
BBC and voted for by the public). Branson was also ranked in 2007's
Time Magazine "Top 100 Most Influential People in the World". In 2009, Branson was voted the UK's "Celebrity Dream Boss" in an opinion poll by
Cancer Research UK.
[94]
On 7 December 2007, United Nations
Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon presented Branson with the
United Nations Correspondents Association Citizen of the World Award for his support for environmental and humanitarian causes.
[95]
On 24 January 2011, Branson was awarded the German Media Prize (organised by "
Media Control Charts"), previously handed to former US president
Bill Clinton and the
Dalai Lama.
On 14 November 2011, Branson was awarded the ISTA Prize by the International Space Transport Association in The Hague for his pioneering achievements in the development of suborbital transport systems with "Virgin Galactic".
[96]
On 11 February 2012, Branson was honoured with the
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences' President's Merit Award for his contributions to the music industry. The event took place the night before the
54th Grammy Awards.
[97]
On 2 June 2013, Branson received an honorary degree of
Doctor Honoris Causa from
Kaunas Technology University in
Kaunas, Lithuania.
[98]
On 15 May 2014, Branson received the 2014 Business for Peace Award, awarded annually by
the Business for Peace Foundation in Oslo, Norway.
[99]
On 21 September 2014, Branson was recognized by
The Sunday Times as the most admired business person over the last five decades.
[100]
On 9 October 2014, Branson was named as the number one LGBT ally in the Outstanding allies rankings.
[101]
Personal life
Branson has a daughter named Holly and a son named Sam. He stated in an interview with
Piers Morgan that he and his wife Joan had a daughter named Clare Sarah who died when she was just four days old in 1979.
[102] The couple wed—at their daughter Holly's suggestion when she was eight years old—in 1989 at
Necker Island, a 74-acre (30 ha) island owned by Branson in the
British Virgin Islands.
[103]
In 1998, Branson released his autobiography, titled
Losing My Virginity, an international best-seller.
[104]
Branson was deeply saddened by the disappearance of fellow adventurer
Steve Fossett in September 2007; the following month he wrote an article for
Time magazine, titled "My Friend, Steve Fossett".
[105]
Influences
Branson has stated in a number of interviews that he derives much influence from non-fiction books. He most commonly names Nelson Mandela's autobiography,
Long Walk to Freedom, explaining that Mandela was "one of the most inspiring men I have ever met and had the honour to call my friend."
Owing to his interest in humanitarian and ecological issues, Branson also lists Al Gore's best-selling book,
An Inconvenient Truth, and
The Revenge of Gaia by
James Lovelock amongst his favourites. According to Branson's book,
Screw It, Let's do It. Lessons in Life, he is also a huge fan of works by
Jung Chang.
[106] In terms of fiction, Branson has long held an admiration for the fictional character
Peter Pan,
[107] and in 2006 he founded
Virgin Comics LLC, stating that Virgin Comics will give "a whole generation of young, creative thinkers a voice."
[108]
