00:30Whether you consider him a business genius or an over-the-top showman,
00:34there's no doubt flamboyant Sir Richard Branson is one of the world's most successful entrepreneurs.
00:41Inspired by his mother and aunt, who started up successful ventures from scratch,
00:46Branson entered the business world aged just 16.
00:54Five years later, he opened the record store chain Virgin Megastores
00:58and then launched record label Virgin Records.
01:03During the 1980s and 90s, Branson built up the Virgin Group to include Virgin Atlantic Airlines,
01:11Virgin Mobile Phones, Virgin Trains, and now Virgin Galactic, a new space tourism company.
01:21Once his business empire was established, Branson was able to indulge in another great passion,
01:27pursuing boating and aviation records.
01:38In a canny marketing move, his record attempts have been closely tied to the Virgin brand,
01:43generating millions of dollars in free publicity every time he hits the headlines.
01:57But he says he has a purer motive.
02:01As an airline, being able to develop a plane that is capable of flying around the world,
02:06using the latest technology and the latest composites,
02:11we believe could be pioneering aviation for the future.
02:16This plane will fly around the world, if it's successful, only using nine tons of fuel.
02:21Our other planes would use about one and a half thousand tons of fuel.
02:25So it shows the enormous leap forward in technology.
02:29But Branson admits he wasn't always an environmentalist.
02:33I think that the real worry about global warming is something which has only really lit up in the last couple of years.
02:43I mean, you know, I'm guilty of it. I hadn't fully appreciated the dangers until, you know, the last 12 months, 18 months.
02:50Now I realize the dangers. I know we've got to do something about it.
02:53We've got to spend money investing in alternative fuels.
02:56And in the meantime, we've got to cut our CO2 emissions as dramatically as we possibly can.
03:02Branson is known for his humanitarian efforts, starting his first charity aged 17.
03:09He recently founded the Branson School of Entrepreneurship in South Africa.
03:14Africa is a wonderful place. And it's been through so much misery and a lot of it so unnecessary
03:22and so much affliction. And I mean, Taddy said something wonderful earlier.
03:27I mean, he mentioned all these hands out handouts from America.
03:32But he actually ended by saying, you know, empires, empires do not last forever.
03:37And maybe in 50 or 60 or 70 years time, America will be coming hat in hand to South Africa.
03:46However, in between the worthy causes, Branson finds plenty of time to have fun.
03:52Well, it's strange for me being, you know, a businessman, a bleak entrepreneur.
03:56I've had some some wonderful invites to appear in, you know, in different different films.
04:04I've been in the Bond film this year. Also did the Superman film.
04:08We took we took off in a Virgin Galactic spaceship and we were attacked by the baddie.
04:16And then my son and I were flying flying the spaceship.
04:21And then, you know, the little spots and things like friends and Baywatch and only fools and horses.
04:26And so I suppose I spend a lot of my life in a sense, you know, being the front man for Virgin,
04:31doing a bit of acting so that it's quite fun to actually do some real acting for a change.
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