World record attempts
Richard Branson has been involved in a number of world record-breaking attempts since 1985, when in the spirit of the Blue Riband he attempted to cross the Atlantic Ocean in the fastest recorded time.
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 Richard Branson to reimburse the British government for the cost of his rescue.
In 1986, his "Virgin Atlantic Challenger II" made a successful crossing, beating previous records by 2 hours. This was followed a year later by the epic hot air balloon crossing of the same ocean in "Virgin Atlantic Flyer". This was not only the first hot-air balloon to cross the Atlantic, but was the largest ever flown at 2.3 million cubic feet (65,000 m³) capacity, reaching speeds in excess of 130 miles per hour (209 km/h).
In January 1991 Branson crossed the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Arctic Canada, the furthest distance of 6,700 miles. Again, he broke all existing records, with speeds of up to 245 miles per hour in a balloon of 2.6 million cubic feet (73,600 m³).
Between 1995 and 1998 Richard Branson, Per Lindstrand and Steve Fossett, made a number of 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 achieved the first circumnavigation in March 1999.
Television, film, and print
Branson has guest starred, 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.
He also was the star of a reality television show on Fox called The Rebel Billionaire, 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 featured a parody of Branson as a super villain, as the comic's publisher and favored distributor and the Virgin groups were in competition at the time. He is also caricatured in The Simpson's episode "Monty Can't Buy Me Love" as the tycoon Arthur Fortune, and as the ballooning megalomaniac Richard Chutney (a pun on Branson) in Believe Nothing. The character Grandson Richard 39 in Terry Pratchett's Wings is modeled 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", alongside his son Sam, with Virgin Galactic-esque commercial suborbital shuttle at the centre of his storyline. He also had a cameo in James Bond film Casino Royale. Branson played a passenger going through airport security. 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. .
In early 2006 on Rove Live, Rove 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, so much that he named his new spaceship VSS Enterprise in honour of the famous Star Trek ships. Branson was prepared to donate $3 million for continuation of the prematurely canceled Star Trek: Enterprise television series.
Politics
Branson was honored by the Conservative government in the 1980s, and was briefly given the post of "litter tsar" by Margaret Thatcher – charged with "keeping Britain tidy." He was again seen as close to the government when the Labour Party came to power in 1997. In 2005 he declared that there were only negligible differences between the two main parties on economic matters. He reputedly considered running for Mayor of London in 2004, but decided not to. Branson has described himself as a libertarian.
Richard Branson has been involved in a number of world record-breaking attempts since 1985, when in the spirit of the Blue Riband he attempted to cross the Atlantic Ocean in the fastest recorded time.
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 Richard Branson to reimburse the British government for the cost of his rescue.
In 1986, his "Virgin Atlantic Challenger II" made a successful crossing, beating previous records by 2 hours. This was followed a year later by the epic hot air balloon crossing of the same ocean in "Virgin Atlantic Flyer". This was not only the first hot-air balloon to cross the Atlantic, but was the largest ever flown at 2.3 million cubic feet (65,000 m³) capacity, reaching speeds in excess of 130 miles per hour (209 km/h).
In January 1991 Branson crossed the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Arctic Canada, the furthest distance of 6,700 miles. Again, he broke all existing records, with speeds of up to 245 miles per hour in a balloon of 2.6 million cubic feet (73,600 m³).
Between 1995 and 1998 Richard Branson, Per Lindstrand and Steve Fossett, made a number of 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 achieved the first circumnavigation in March 1999.
Television, film, and print
Branson has guest starred, 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.
He also was the star of a reality television show on Fox called The Rebel Billionaire, 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 featured a parody of Branson as a super villain, as the comic's publisher and favored distributor and the Virgin groups were in competition at the time. He is also caricatured in The Simpson's episode "Monty Can't Buy Me Love" as the tycoon Arthur Fortune, and as the ballooning megalomaniac Richard Chutney (a pun on Branson) in Believe Nothing. The character Grandson Richard 39 in Terry Pratchett's Wings is modeled 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", alongside his son Sam, with Virgin Galactic-esque commercial suborbital shuttle at the centre of his storyline. He also had a cameo in James Bond film Casino Royale. Branson played a passenger going through airport security. 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. .
In early 2006 on Rove Live, Rove 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, so much that he named his new spaceship VSS Enterprise in honour of the famous Star Trek ships. Branson was prepared to donate $3 million for continuation of the prematurely canceled Star Trek: Enterprise television series.
Politics
Branson was honored by the Conservative government in the 1980s, and was briefly given the post of "litter tsar" by Margaret Thatcher – charged with "keeping Britain tidy." He was again seen as close to the government when the Labour Party came to power in 1997. In 2005 he declared that there were only negligible differences between the two main parties on economic matters. He reputedly considered running for Mayor of London in 2004, but decided not to. Branson has described himself as a libertarian.