Branson's pickle ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I see in the 'paper that Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic is celebrating its 40th birthday. Astonishing to think how quickly all that time has passed, as I well remember the launch and, indeed, won a trip to New York in one of the airline's early promotional competitions. (Took my Dad, caught the Greyhound to Niagara Falls and The White House. Great trip!) Astonishing to see it's still going too, albeit running at a loss, as I look at a picture I shot of Branson in '93. This was at the launch of one of his other projects, Virgin Radio 1215 am, and a quick Google tells me the station lasted until 2008, so it had a decent run before moving to the FM frequency where it's still going strong, although probably more so on the internet and DAB. The shot was taken outside Virgin Records Megastore on Manchester's Market Street, another icon that's long gone. (Records and CDs eh? How retro!) All we need now is a nice, low return fare on Star Trek's Teleporter and Branson'll be buggered for ever ..