In 1997 Virgin took over Britain’s two most run-down rail franchises and engaged in a £2-billion fleet replacement program to create one of the most modern rail networks in the world. The combined sales of the different Virgin holding companies exceeded £3.5 billion in 1999.
In addition to his own business activities, Branson is a trustee of several charities, including the Healthcare Foundation. His help in the initial funding of Charity Projects helped that organization to raise over £27 million in 1989 alone through campaigns such as Comic Relief.
Since 1985, Branson has been involved in a number of world-record-breaking attempts. In 1986 his boat Virgin Atlantic Challenger II rekindled the spirit of the Blue Riband trophy by crossing the Atlantic Ocean in the fastest time ever recorded. This feat was followed a year later by the epic hot-air balloon crossing of the same ocean in "Virgin Atlantic Flyer," which was not only the first hot-air balloon to cross the Atlantic, but, at 2.3 million cubic feet capacity, was the largest ever flown. It reached speeds in excess of 130 miles per hour (209 k/ph).
In January 1991, Branson crossed the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Arctic Canada, the distance of 6,700 miles again breaking all existing records with speeds of up to 245 miles per hour, in a balloon of 2.6 million cubic feet. Between 1995 and 1998, Branson, Per Lindstrand and Steve Fossett (who joined the team after the sad death of Alex Ritchie) made a number of attempts to circumnavigate the globe by balloon. In late 1998 they made a record-breaking flight from Morocco to Hawaii, but their dream of a global flight was shattered by bad weather before a Swiss team successfully circumnavigated the globe in early 1999.
In December 1999 Branson was awarded a knighthood in the Queen’s millennium New Years honors list for “services to entrepreneurship.”
Branson currently lives in London and Oxfordshire. He is married with two children.
