Richard's Blog - March 2012

The Global Entrepreneurship Congress

The Global Entrepreneur's Congress is a worldwide celebration of innovation, aspiration and above all thriving entrepreneurship, right here in the UK. So what better way to travel to the event in Liverpool than by bringing together an inspirational group of businesspersons on a special Virgin Train - the Entrepreneur Express! Today, as well as meeting with Virgin Unite's international 24902 Community of forward-thinking entrepreneurs, I am keen to talk to our Virgin Media Pioneers young entrepr…

The day I was arrested for saying the words 'Venereal Disease'

Here is a letter I have sent in to the Telegraph in reply to a recent article they ran... You say I was arrested when I was nineteen years old (1969) for “illegally advertising remedies for Venereal disease.” Not so. But since truth is often stranger (and more fun) than fiction let me tell you what actually happened. We ran a Student Advisory Centre to help young people with problems and successfully got one man acquitted of a drug offence who claimed he had been planted with drugs …

Silent cinema surprise

Seen any good films at the cinema lately? I got a silent surprise when I went recently - and it had nothing to do with The Artist.I went to see The Iron Lady and asked the assistant manager in the cinema why I couldn’t hear the words on the screen. “Don’t worry,” she says. “We turn the sound down during the adverts so that people can talk. Will turn it up for the film.” The adverts were for Virgin Media and Virgin Trains!! Image by neoCine on Flickr…

The War on Drugs : Versus Debate

Looking forward to taking part in The War on Drugs : Versus Debate, the first ever livestreamed, global debate via a Google+ Hangout.You can watch the whole event live on YouTube on March 13th at 7pm GMT/2pm EST, when a whole host of experts, politicians, entrepreneurs and celebrities will debate the motion ‘It’s time to end the war on drugs’.Russell Brand, Emily Maitlis, Mischa Glenny, Julian Assange, Lord Ian Blair and President Cardoso are among the other people taking par…

Our first Lemur 'grandchild'

Delighted to introduce our first Lemur ‘grandchild’ on Necker. In our attempt to save the lemurs, this is our first wonderful success. We've named him Mort, after the loveable baby lemur in the film Madagascar. There are 101 species of lemur left in the world, there used to be 140 species. Some of them are in really serious peril because of their habitat in Madagascar being destroyed. We are trying to give them an alternative island to breed on. Some lemurs have difficulty bree…

Ask Richard 17

From advice for young entrepreneurs to dealing with criticism, the one thing I can't do without to a hotel on the moon, here are more answers to your questions. @incognital What is the one thing you couldn't do without?@omarseashepherd Hi Richard, how do you deal with criticism when you feel you are right but everyone else says no?@zibkids Hi @richardbranson, #askrichard rocks. What advice would you give all the 8-12 year old #entrepreneurs on #zibkidsDeborah Calvert on Facebook: So what did …

Protecting the polar bears

Always enjoy visiting Canada and dropped by yesterday with Virgin Unite and WildAid to lend my support for polar bears as that’s where 2/3 of the world’s 25,000 polar bears live. There are 19 small populations of polar bears in the world, and 13 of those populations are in Canada. American hunters used to go to Canada to shoot the polar bear and bring back stuffed ones. Fortunately the Endangered Species Act was passed three years ago which stopped people doing that - which has help…

#KobeSystem Level 7 - Success At Success

A trip to the US always reminds me of Kobe's sage advice...

Just spotted something at the airport

Waiting for my flight out of the US and what's playing on TV? Well done Virgin Mobile USA. Tell us what you think! 

The Secret Policeman's Ball

It was a great pleasure performing at the Secret Policeman's Ball in New York last night to celebrate Amnesty International's 50th birthday (I heard there would be cake). But seriously, what the charity has achieved in the past 50 years is incredible and it is vital we all keep supporting its work. This was the first time the event has been held in the US and it was a blast. Both the UK and US comics certainly exercised their freedom of speech during last night's unprintable sketches! The whol…

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