Full timeline of Sir Richard Branson’s life and businesses as he goes to space

Sir Richard is born Richard Charles Nicholas Branson in Blackheath, London – to mum Eve (pictured), a flight attendant, and dad Edward, a barrister.

When Richard was 16 years old, he launched his first project: a magazine for young people named, aptly, Student.

It started with just £100, given to him by his mum, and eventually became a mail-order record business.

He also started the Students Advisory Service.

It started as a record shop on Oxford Street in 1970, eventually becoming a fully-fledged label by 1972.

We don’t know much about Branson’s first wife, Kristen Tomassi, other than that she is believed to be a designer. 

By 1973, Virgin Records had a hit number one song – Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield – which stayed on the charts for over a year. He then went on to sign the likes of the Sex Pistols and Paula Abdul.

He became a millionaire for the first time at 23 years old, reports say.

It’s believed that Branson met Glasgow-born Joan Templeman sometime between 1976 and 1978.

It’s believed Richard had separated from Kristen when they began ‘courting’ around 1978.

Famously, Richard bought his famous island and now home, Necker, for around £130,000 ($180,000) – way less than the $6million asking price. He got it for such a discount after agreeing to build a resort there.

In a blog post on virgin.com, he revealed he bought the island to impress future wife Joan, and admitted he was intrigued to buy one of the British Virgin Islands – given the name of his company.

We don’t know when Richard and Kristen separated exactly, but we do know their divorce was finalised around 1979.

Tragically, Richard and Joan lost their firstborn child, Clare Sarah Branson, when she was just four days old.

The couple welcomed daughter Holly in November 1981. Holly is now almost 40, and is the chair of Virgin Unite, the company’s foundation.

The famous airline launched in 1984, with its first flight departing from London Gatwick to New York that June.

The launch of Virgin Holidays followed shortly after.

Joan and Richard’s first son, Sam, was born in August 1985. He’s now 35, and has his own content production company.

Guinness World Records rightly describes Richard as a ‘serial record chaser’.

And in July 1987, he added a record to his belt: he and Swedish adventurer Per Lindstrand became the first people to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a hot-air balloon.

11 years after they began dating, Richard and Joan tied the knot in a ceremony on Necker Island.

It was just two years later that, at age 41, Richard was officially classed as a billionaire, according to Forbes.

To help save a struggling Virgin Atlantic, Richard sold Virgin Records to EMI for £500million.

He reportedly cried after signing the deal to give away the first of his Virgin businesses. In 1996, he opened another record label.

It would go on to become Britain’s longest-running rail franchise, according to Sky News.

Two years later, Virgin Mobile was started.

Richard was made a Sir at Buckingham Palace in 2003, for ‘services to entrepreneurship’, his humanitarian work and his contribute to music, travel and retail.

In 2004, Richard launched Virgin Galactic.

The aim? Create an opportunity for commercial space flight, for tourists to head into space on holiday. the company operates in California, US.

NTL:Telewest purchased Virgin Mobile, for a reported £962million.

Richard’s Virgin Group company gained a 10% stake in NTL:Telewest as a result.

This time it was Makepeace Island in Australia.

Separately, he bought Moskito Island, near Necker. He plans to open it as a luxury holiday resort for the public later in 2021.

In 2014, Guinness World Records granted Richard three records.

He was dubbed the ‘richest presenter on reality television’ and the most-followed person on LinkedIn. He became the oldest person to cross the English Channel by kiteboard, too.

The railway company completed almost 500 million journeys in its 12-year run, Sky News reports.

Virgin Atlantic was hit hard by the pandemic, with thousands of staff losing their jobs.

Billionaire Richard came under fire for using the UK government’s furlough scheme in early 2020 – and in September, secured a £1.2Billion rescue package to keep the airline afloat. 

Richard embarks on a space mission as part of a July test flight with Virgin Galactic.