Sir Richard Branson

Richard Branson is born in 1950. In 1970 he founded Virgin as a mail order record retailer, and not long after he opened a record shop in Oxford Street, London. The equity of Virgin Music Group - record labels, music publishing, and recording studios was sold to THORN EMI in 1992 in a US$1billion deal.

Since then Virgin has expanded into air and rail travel, mobile phones, finance, retail, internet, drinks, hotels and leisure, with around 200 companies in over 30 countries.  Virgin Atlantic Airways, formed in 1984, is now the second largest British long haul international airline and operates a fleet of Boeing 747 and Airbus A340 aircraft. In 1999 he was knighted for "services to entrepreneurship."

During 1997 Virgin took over Britain's two most run-down rail franchises, CrossCountry and the West Coast Main Line. Virgin is currently engaged in a £2billion fleet replacement programme. In 2002, the combined sales of the different Virgin holding companies exceeded £4billion.

Sir Richard Branson has been involved in a number of world record-breaking attempts since 1985. In 1986 his boat, "Virgin Atlantic Challenger II" crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the fastest ever recorded time. This was followed a year later by a hot air balloon crossing of the same ocean in "Virgin Atlantic Flyer". In January 1991 Richard crossed the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Arctic Canada. In June 2004, Sir Richard set the record for the fastest crossing of the English Channel by an amphibious vehicle to mark the 20th anniversary of Virgin Atlantic. He and fellow adventurer Steve Fossett also unveiled an aircraft designed to attempt the first solo-piloted non-stop trip around the world without re-fuelling.

In September 2004, Sir Richard signed a £14m contract to have five "spaceliners" built in the US, set to take Virgin passengers into space by around 2008.  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.

On 9 February 2007, Sir Richard 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 which 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.

Sir Richard Branson has recently pledged all profits from his Virgin air and rail interests over the next 10 years to combating rising global temperatures. However, the estimated $3bn will be invested in Virgin Fuels. Much of the investment will focus on biofuels, an alternative to oil-based fuels made from plants.