Richard Branson
Early Life:
Branson was born in Blackheath in London England. His parents were named: Edward James Branson (1918-2011) and Eve Branson (1924-presenr day). Richard was the first born child and he had two younger sisters. He also lived with his grandfather. His grandfather was the right honourable of Sir George Arthur Harwin Branson and he was a judge of the High Court of Justice and a Privy Councillor.
Furthermore, Branson was educated at Scaitcliffe School in Berkshire. Then when he moved to high school he attended Stowe School. This school was an independent school in Buckinghamshire. This school had no six form and therefore his school went up to the age of sixteen. Unfortunately, Branson had dyslexia and a terrible academic knowledge as a pupil. When he was in year eleven on his last day (which was at the end of his Buckinghamshire career) his headmaster named Robert Drayson said very meaningful words to him.” Richard, you are either going to end up in prison or become a millionaire.” Obviously he wanted to become a millionaire. As a consequence of this his parents were very supportive endeavours from this point onwards. Of course they were supportive from a young age but not as supportive as they were. When he finished secondary school.
Career:
Richard first real taste of business was a magazine named ‘The Student Magazine’. He started this organization in his local church. What he did in this magazine would interview prominent personalities. He started this in the late 1960s. He interviewed people like Micker Jagger and R.D. Laing. Branson advertised popular records in his magazine and this is how it became an overnight success. Now he was trading under the name Virgin. Richard sold records for considerably low prices compared to High street outlet prices especially W.H.Smith. Branson once stated, “There is no point in starting your own business unless you do it out of a sense of frustration.”The name Virgin was created by Branson. It was based on his previous employees due to the fact that they were all new to the business. At the time, many products were being sold under restrictive marketing negotiations.
Furthermore, in the year of 1971 Branson started a record shop on Oxford street. There was controversy over whether Virgin stores had been declared export stock and that they were not paying tax. The company was fined. Thankfully, Richard Grandmother, Eve, paid off the settlement. In the year of 1972 Branson launched the record label Virgin Records with Nik Powell. Together they purchased a Manor house in the north of Oxford. The two installed a recording studio. They named this place Manor studio. The studio's first success was a debut album by Mike Oldfield called the Tubular bells. This was released in 1973. it was the first record for Virgin Records and this album became a chart topping best seller. Also, the company signed controversial bands like the Sex Pistols and Faust and Can. The records also introduced Culture Club to the music industry. Moreover, in 1982 Virgin purchased a gay nightclub named Heaven. They did this in a consortium with David Frost.
In order for Branson to keep his airline company running he sold the Virgin label to EMI for £500 million. Branson said that his record business was just the start of his Virgin Empire. In 1996 Richard created V2 Records to re-enter the music industry. He owned five percent of the company.
Here is a list of all the different
branches of the the company Virgin;
AirAsia X, V festival, Virgin Active, Virgin America, International Airport, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Virgin Australia Holdings: Virgin Australia, Virgin Australia Airlines (NZ), Virgin Australia Regional Airlines- Tigerir Australia, Virgin Samoa, Blue Holidays. Virgin Balloon Flights, Virgin Books, Virgin Care, Virgin Connect, Virgin Earth Challenge, Virgin Experience Days, Virgin Galactic, Virgin Green Fund (Virgin Fuels), Virgin Healthy Bank, Virgin HealthMiles, Virgin Holidays: Virgin Holiday Cruises, Travel City Direct, travel City Direct Cruises. Bales Worldwide Ltd, Virgin Hotels: Virgin Hotels Chicago. Virgin Life Care, Virgin Limited Edition: Kasbah Tamadot, Lady B, The Lodge, Natirar, Necker Island, Necker Island, The Roof Gardens and Babylon, Ulusaba. Virgin Limobike, Virgin Mobile: Virgin Mobile South Africa, Vrigin Mobile Chile, Virgin Mobile Colombia, Virgin Mobile India, Virgin Mobile Polska. Virgin Money: Virgin Money UK and Virgin Money South Africa. Virgin Money Giving, Virgin Oceanic, Virgin Racing, Virgin Radio, Virgin Rail Group: Virgin Trains and Virgin Trains East Coast. Virgin Unite, Virgin Vacations and Virgin Voucher.
World Records Attempts:
Richard's first attempt was the Virgin Atlantic Challenger. He was trying to cross the Atlantic ocean as fast as possible. The fist time failed because the boat capsized and a rescue boat saved the crew members. Richard was not satisfied with this and so he tried again. This time he had smashed his previous time by two hours. This was mainly because he had a experienced sailor named Daniel McCarthy. A year later he tried this again only with a hot air balloon. This was called the Virgin Atlantic Flyer.
In January 1991 Richard crossed the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Arctic Canada. He did this in a hot air balloon. His team broke the world record going at a speed of 245 miles per hour.
In March 2004, Richard broke the record for travelling from Dover to Calais in a Gibbs Aquada. His squad did this is 1 hour 40 minutes and 6 seconds.
