but, after five decades in business reinventing whole industries, sir richard branson has been tested as never before, both financially and emotionally. the pandemic left the 72 year old fighting to save his empire and his reputation. he faced questions over how he has used women to promote his brand, and sceptics have asked why someone who campaigns on climate change is sending rockets into space. the original rebel entrepreneur continues to grab the headlines and confound his critics. i ve come to miami to hear the whole story. sir richard branson, thank you so much for speaking to me and to the bbc. how are you? i m good. i always think sitting down to do interviews like this is a bit like i ve never been a psychiatrist s chair, but it s a bit like being in a psychiatrist s chair. of course i m nervous. we ll see how you are in an hour. just to be clear, you have not seen or approved of the questions in advance. nothing is off the table, right? i m afraid that s the case
gonein the elysee palace in paris and has gone in for dinner with president macron. thank you for your company, you are watching the bbc news. stay with us. now on bbc news amol rajan interviews: richard branson. oh, yes, hello. oh, my goodness, hello! the shy schoolboy who became a global celebrity. sir richard branson is a very british bundle of contradictions. the dyslexic who set up a student magazine. the record label founder who didn t listen to music. the 60s hippie who became a multibillionaire. today he s got his own island, and his brand has dozens of companies to its name, from virgin atlantic to galactic. but, after five decades in business reinventing whole industries, sir richard branson has been tested as never before, both financially and emotionally. the pandemic left the 72 year old fighting to save his empire and his reputation. he faced questions over how he has used women to promote his brand, and sceptics have asked why someone who campaigns on climate
come bouncing back. someone who i spoke to who you worked with said, if you hadn t called the company virgin you might have called it phoenix, because like a phoenix from the ashes, you have bounced back. and you flew into space. three, two, one, release. fire fire. in a life full of extraordinary experiences, where did that sit? i have had a lot of pinch me moments in my life, but that definitely culminated them all. that incredible moment where you just unbuckle, and you just drift out of your seat and float up to the ceiling, and look down and there are other young people just going swimming through the air beneath you. and then beneath them is earth, and that spectacular view through those spectacular windows. and obviously, look, we had 18 years to get to that point. we had tears, but this was definitely a day ofjoy,
going forward was not going to be prohibitive. it s interesting, given your very interesting relationship with the media over 50 years, that you should say you ve never had such a sort of negative coverage. do you think that s just because you re the face of your airline in a way that british airways doesn t have a face? do you think that s why they say, let s go after richard? i think there s an element of that. i would say that 99% of the coverage i ve had in my lifetime has been fair. i mean, i ve occasionally had criticisms, but i would say they were fair criticisms, and it s quite rare to have had a major knock. but i think. i remember sir freddie laker once saying to me the way to deal with press backlash is prove them wrong. and so basically what we ended up doing was just getting on and proving that our teams were good enough to come bouncing back. someone who i spoke to who you worked with said, if you hadn t called the company virgin you might have called it phoenix, because