Richard Branson

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 4 June 1989

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is ideally suited to speculate on the pleasures and perils of island life, owning, as he does, his own island. He's Richard Branson, tycoon and entrepreneur, who made his first million while still in his teens, having left school at 15. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his family, his business philosophy and also his daredevil exploits with power boats and hot air balloons.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Kirstie Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive.
0:05.0	For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.
0:08.0	The program was originally broadcast in 1989,
0:11.0	and the presenter was Sue Lolly. My castaway this week is a tycoon, still only 38 he owns among other things an airline, a publishing firm,
0:37.0	nightclubs and appropriately for this program a private island.
0:41.0	As if this were not challenging enough, he also enjoys being a daredevil.
0:46.0	He's twice made an unusual crossing of the Atlantic, first in a powerboat, second in a hot-air
0:51.3	balloon.
0:52.3	When he was at school, his headmaster told him he would either go to prison or make a million.
0:58.0	He has done the latter, using his instinct, flare and courage to become the epitome of Britain's modern self-made man.
1:06.2	He is Richard Branson.
1:08.0	Richard, you have, as I mentioned there, an advantage over most other castaways, because you know what it's like to have an island of your own.
1:15.0	Do you relish that ownership?
1:17.0	Oh, very much so. I mean, it's a little gem in the Virgin Islands and if you are a recognizable face it's wonderful to have a place to slip away and bring your family and friends and not be recognized occasionally.
1:31.0	Your company is of course called Virgin is it pure coincidence that you
1:34.4	bought an island in the Virgin Islands? Yes no I was in New York in my early
1:41.0	20s and somebody said did I name Virgin after the Virgin Islands and I
1:46.0	had never heard of the Virgin Islands and pulled out a map and thought I might pop down
1:50.1	and have a look at them so there was it wasn't a complete coincidence but there
1:53.7	was an element of coincidence in it. So how will you pass your time on our desert
1:58.2	island? What will you do with yourself? I love things like fishing. I love all sorts of
2:02.3	sports, swimming. I'm not very practical and my father is extremely practical and I'm
	...

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