Richard Branson left school at the age of fifteen and, within a few years, had made his first million.
The founder of Virgin Records Richards Branson has now branched out into many areas of the entertainment business. From establishing record shops to record companies, nightclubs, and publishing companies he has now started his own airline.
Richard Branosn recalls his first failed business attempts at the age of 10, first breeding budgerigars and then selling Christmas trees. Aged 15, with the support of his parents, he decided to leave school and set up a magazine for young people called 'Student'.
When later he branched out into the record business multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield was the first artist signed to his label, Virgin Records. The Mike Oldfield album 'Tubular Bells' was released on Virgin Records in 1973 and became a chart success.
Now Richard Branson is moving into air travel. Having spotted a gap in the market for a quality air service he has set up Virgin Airlines offering customers lower priced fares. Now in business for over a year, Virgin Airlines has had around 300,000 passengers flying on its service between London and New York. There are now plans to expand routes to Miami. To the joy of 'The Late Late Show' audience, he announces hopes to open a route to Dublin.
We believe that we could actually fly economically to Ireland for about fifty pounds return.
This episode of The Late Late Show was broadcast on 21 February 1986. The presenter is Gay Byrne.
