Richard Branson: ‘I was so loved-up, I got off a taxiing plane'

Times

4 days ago

Sir Richard Branson, 74, founded Virgin in 1970 as a mail-order record retailer; today it comprises over 40 companies worldwide in more than 35 countries including, of course, an airline, a cruise line, hotels, gyms, telecommunications, a non-profit and more. He was awarded a knighthood in 1999. He lives in the British Virgin Islands with his wife, Joan — they will be celebrating 50 years together early next year and have two children, Holly and Sam.
When I was first dating my now wife, I had to say goodbye to her at Mahon airport in Menorca. We were newly loved-up — I was in my twenties — and I gave her a big hug before getting on the plane. But as it was taxiing out towards the runway I jumped up and told them to stop the plane; I had to get out. The stewardess told me firmly to sit down. And then I said quite loudly, 'I'm in love, I've got to see my lady. I've made a big mistake getting on this plane.' Then everybody on the plane started chanting very loudly: 'Let him out, let him out, let him out!' So the cabin crew went to the cockpit, came back out, stopped the plane, brought the door down and let me out. Everyone cheered and clapped really loudly. It's something you could never do today.
My girlfriend from that moment is still with me nearly 50 years later. We're very lucky. Over the decades she's obviously got used to me doing foolish and mad things … and hopefully romantic things too.
As a really young child, my family would go on holiday to Devon. My grandparents lived near Salcombe, by a beautiful little bay called Bantham. My dad and I would go bass fishing in a ropey little boat; I was very excited about the first fish I caught, but instead of my rod bending downwards towards the sea, it bent over my shoulder. It turned out it was a seagull that had taken the bait and gone for a fly about.
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My daughter has just bought a little cottage in Bantham, completely coincidentally — we never took her to Bantham as a child. And so we were all down there recently and it was lovely; it's still one of the most beautiful coves in England. No sand eel fishing this time, though, because I was playing with the grandkids.
As we got a little bit older, my family went to Mallorca and I fell in love with the quieter side of the island. In particular I loved walking in the Tramuntana mountains, towards the north of the island. Now I own a mountain hotel called Son Bunyola nearby, which has three miles of beautiful, private coastline — the location was inspired by childhood memories.
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I try to forget any mishaps that happen while travelling, but 40 years ago, on my first flight on Virgin to New York, I forgot to bring my passport. And the mayor was on the other side of immigration waiting to greet us. We had to do quite a lot of blabbering to get me through. But somehow because it was the first ever flight they relented and let us in.
Earlier this year I stayed in Ian Fleming's bed at GoldenEye, a collection of villas on Jamaica's north coast. It's very, very nice. I'd been there before, because the owner of the hotel, Chris Blackwell, is an old friend. He used to run Island Records, a rival company to us; he discovered Bob Marley. Obviously when I was asked to appear in a James Bond film — the 2006 Casino Royale — I definitely made sure that I was around for the day. Over the years I've done cameo roles in quite a lot of different things. For a while, when I went to America people would see me in the street and say 'that's that guy from Friends'.
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My favourite restaurant is on Bondi Beach in Australia. It's called Icebergs, with views overlooking the ocean. The food and the atmosphere and the wine is exquisite. I highly recommend it; I've been going there for many years.
Last month I visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan to commemorate the anniversary of the atomic bombs that were dropped on the cities. I went with a wonderful group of people called The Elders, an international organisation that Nelson Mandela set up. We work on global issues, and atomic proliferation is one of the issues we work on. Japan is a country that I've had a lot of dealings with over the years. I love the food. Well, actually, I remember the first time I went there as a teenager sitting looking at this raw food, watching all these eyes on me, and I just couldn't eat raw fish. Funny how your taste buds change — now I just love it.Virgin Hotels London-Shoreditch (virginhotels.com), the first for the brand in the capital, is open now