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Branson first achieved notoriety with Virgin Records, a record label that started out with multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield and introduced bands like the Sex Pistols and Culture Club to the world music scene. Known for his wacky exploits used to promote his businesses, Branson is keen on playful antagonisms, exemplified by his "Mine is bigger than yours" decals on the new Airbus A340-600 jets used by his airline. He has also made several unsuccessful attempts to fly in a hot air balloon around the world.
The hot air balloon, called the "Virgin Atlantic Flyer," was the first hot air balloon ever to cross the Atlantic Ocean, and was the largest ever flown at 60.513 m³ (2,137,000 ft³) volume, reaching speeds in excess of 130 mph (209 km/h).
In 1991, Branson crossed the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Arctic Canada, a distance of 7,672 km (4,767 miles), but their track took them a claimed 10,885 km. This again broke all existing records with speeds of up to 245 mph in a balloon measuring 60.513 m³.
He formed Virgin Atlantic Airways in 1984This page is about the year 1984. For other uses of 1984, see 1984 (disambiguation). 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday (link shows calendar). Events January January 1 Brunei becomes a fully independent state January 1 AT&T is broken up into 22 indepe, launched Virgin MobileVirgin Mobile plc is a virtual cellular phone service provider operating in the UK, US and Australia, and preparing to launch in Canada. The company does not maintain their own network, and instead has contracts to use the existing network of other provid in 1999For the album by Prince, see 1999 (album 1999 is a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the UN. Events Kosovo War Former child star Gary Coleman files for bankruptcy Y2K prep, and later failed in a 2000This page is about the year 2000. See 2000 AD for the UK comic book, Number 2000 for other uses. 2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar), and also the International Year for a Culture of Peace''. Events Y2K passes without the seri bid to handle the National LotteryThe National Lottery is the United Kingdom's state lottery. It is operated by Camelot, who were awarded the franchise in 1993 and had it renewed in 2002. Several games operate under the National Lottery brand Games Lotto Six numbers are drawn from a range. He has also started a European short-haul airlineAn airline is an organization providing aviation services to passengers and/or cargo. It owns or leases airliners with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for reasons of mutual benefit. Airline service, Virgin ExpressVirgin Express is an airline within the Virgin Group. It operates cheap short-haul flights in Europe from their hub at Brussels Zaventem ( Brussels National). Ticket sales are mainly through the Internet, but contrary to many other low-fares airlines, Vir.
In October 20032003 : January February March April May June July August September October November December A timeline of events in the news for October, 2003. See also Japan general election Iraq timeline Liberian crisis North Korea crisis Hutton Inquiry Bloody Sunday, he announced he would be teaming up with balloonist Steve Fossett to attempt to break the record for a non-stop flight around the world. A new aircraft, the GlobalFlyer, will be built specially for the attempt by Scaled Composites.
In 1993 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Technology from Loughborough University.
He became Sir Richard Branson when he was knighted by the Queen in 1999 for his business prowess and exuberance for the spirit of the United Kingdom.
On September 25, 2004 he announced the signing of a deal under which a new space tourism company, Virgin Galactic, will license the technology behind SpaceShipOne to take paying passengers into suborbital space.
He has guest starred, playing himself, on several television shows, including Friends, Baywatch and Only Fools and Horses. He also is the star of a new reality television show on Fox called The Rebel Billionaire where sixteen contestants will be tested for their entrepreneurship and their sense of adventure.
Sir Richard appears at No. 85 on the 2002 List of " 100 Greatest Britons" (sponsored by the BBC and voted for by the public). Branson's high public profile often leaves him open as a figure of satire - the 2000AD series Zenith featured a parody of Branson as a supervillian as at the time the comic's publisher and favoured distributor and the Virgin group were in competition.
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