Richard's Blog - April 2012

Gorillas in Gabon

As promised, here are some photos of the gorillas we flew to Gabon, thriving in the African bush.   This baby gorilla is named Waly. Her parents were sadly killed by poachers but now she is thriving at the Aspinall Foundation, who protect some of Africa’s most incredible wildlife.…

Congratulations #dontforgetyour... toothbrush winner!

Congratulations #dontforgetyour... toothbrush winner @kasssabanana! You can see her winning photo above. Her tweet was: "@richardbranson What's the best time to take a flight? Tooth hurty! Buh bum. #dontforgetyour http://pic.twitter.com/CkMOHvsX" Well, you can't beat a cheesy joke every now and then! And love the toothbrush Virgin plane too. We're sending @kasssabanana on a holiday to London, she'll be flying with Virgin Atlantic and enjoying the new Clubhouse at JFK tomorrow - have a great t…

In Washington DC

brightcove.createExperiences(); In Washington DC to join Secretary Clinton at the inaugural Global Impact Economy Forum. You can watch the Forum live here. Secretary Clinton speaks from 10.30am EST (3.30pm BST); I will speak from 11am (4pm BST). More later...…

World Malaria Day

I'm on my way to Washington for an event on impact investing with Hillary Clinton and have been looking at a note about today also being World Malaria Day. Ending malaria would be a profound "impact investment" in human capital, especially in Africa where the disease wreaks havoc. Most of the 200 million people afflicted with malaria - which kills 600,000 every year - are on the African continent. It just takes a single mosquito bite to spread malaria, but the World Health Organization and o…

The best crew in the industry

Virgin Atlantic flight VS27 had an emergency landing last week due to an alarm going off in flight. The incident has been investigated, and fortunately it turned out to be a false alarm. The plane was brand new and the aircraft manufacturers are taking a look at the alarm system. The Captain took the only appropriate decision to evacuate the aircraft for the safety of our passengers. The cabin crew are obviously trained to assume the worst and on the face of it behaved in an exemplary…

Introducing Turtle Boy

Hi all, Sam here! Just wanted to share some exciting news with you, and what better place than on my pap's blog! I have been hard at work developing a production company called Current Sponge, which is dedicated to taking a fresh look at the world we live in and inspiring people to have a positive impact. Finally, I am pleased to announce the our first television documentary, Turtle Boy, will be aired on Channel 4 at 10pm on April 25th. It is an incredibly exciting time for us here at Current …

Claire Squires

It is wonderful to see so many people contributing to Claire Squires’ Samaritans appeal. Our sincere condolences to Claire’s family and friends.   As she was so close to the finish line, we have asked the London Marathon organiser to send Claire’s family her medal. We would also like an extra medal to be given that could be hung at the Samaritans’ head office as a tribute to Claire.   The Samaritans do a fantastic job in saving lives, helping people who are…

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