Richard's Blog - July 2012

Happy 94th Birthday Madiba!

Happy 94th Birthday Madiba! Congratulations on 94 years filled with love, compassion and wisdom. Thanks for all you’ve done for the world - how lucky we are to have you as a shining light of hope and moral courage. Every July 18th for many years Nelson Mandela has called me to wish me a happy birthday. For somebody of his stature to take the trouble and time to do so, especially on his own birthday, is just another example of what an extraordinary human being he is.I’d like to tak…

Lemurs ‘most threatened mammal species in the world’

Very disturbing to read that lemurs have been named the most threatened mammal species in the world.A new study by The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission revealed many of the 103 lemur species in Madagascar are on the brink of extinction.91% of the world’s lemur species have been upgraded to ‘Critically Endangered’, ‘Endangered’ or ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.This is mainly due to…

Buying back Virgin Records

Looking into buying back Virgin Records - a wonderful opportunity to recreate a dynamic independent label...

Hangout in an underwater space station with an OceanElder

Sylvia A. Earle, who I have the privilege of being an OceanElder alongside, is going to hold a live Google+ Hangout at the Undersea Laboratory, Aquarius, in Florida.Watch the live conversation on Monday, July 16th at 1pm ET (5pm UTC)and post your questions to National Geographic to get involved in advance.Sylvia was a force of nature herself at the Rio+20 meetings last month, and is a real inspiration when it comes to protecting the oceans.She said: “More than ever before, nations are awak…

Rhino relocation & birth success

Delighted to share some great news regarding critically endangered rhinos. The Aspinall Foundation has successfully translocated three black rhinos from Kent to Africa.Virgin helped support the translocation of the rhinos - two females named Grumeti and Zawadi and one male named Monduli – to Mkomazi National Park in northern Tanzania.They are settling into their new home well, which is fantastic for everyone who cares about the conservation of this beautiful species.The threat of poaching …

True democracy in Burma/Myanmar?

I may be naïve but what is going on in Burma/Myanmar excites me and should, I believe, be welcomed by the international community. The world knows that Aung San Suu Kyi, the wonderful former honorary Elder, was released from house arrest and allowed to run for Parliament. But what is less well known is that the President of Burma/Myanmar - appointed by the military - seems to be rapidly moving the country towards a true democracy. Therefore Mr Thein Sein should be given the benefit of the…

Around the world in 80 minutes

Looking back on Virgin Galactic’s groundbreaking announcements this week - what a breathtaking few days. It is incredible that satellites carried to space by the full-sized version of our new LauncherOne vehicle in the photo above will soon be travelling around the world in 80 minutes*!LauncherOne can travel at 25 times the speed of sound (Mach 25) at 18,000mph, and will place the satellites in orbit after being released from WhiteKnightTwo at an altitude of 50,000 feet above mean sea lev…

Professor Brian Cox & the less beautiful lemur

Delighted to find Brian Cox out in the depths of the Madagascan jungle recently. He was there using the aye-aye lemurs to illustrate a point about evolution in his new TV series. This particular species of lemur has one finger that has grown three times longer than the others so that it can stick its fingers into holes in trees and vibrate the finger to attract bugs. Out of the 101 species of lemurs the aye-aye must rank as the least beautiful - unlike Brian Cox. We had to drag our gir…

Meet the man who turned me away from the Roof Gardens

When I turned up at the Roof Gardens 31 years ago, the man on the door turned me away because I was dressed in jeans and scruffy shoes. Later that year I bought the club.The man who turned me away was Alfredo Fernandez. He was on the door again the first time I visited the club as its owner – he turned me away again, until somebody whispered in his ear that I was now his boss!Of course, no grudges were held, and Alfredo has gone on to be one of our most brilliant and loyal employees. He …

Necker animals - Babe hanging on

Here's another great photo of our lemurs on Necker: Babe hanging on to his mother. Look out for a special lemur photo with a certain handsome physicist later this week... Necker animals - Scarlet Ibis success Necker animals - Feeding time! Necker animals - Mort, our baby lemur Necker animals - another baby lemur born on Necker Necker animals - Crested Anole Necker animals - first Flamingo egg of the season Necker animals - White-Cheeked Pintail Necker animals - Flamingos Necker animals…

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