susan abraham
Recently, the bookseller Borders, announced its withdrawal from the United Kingdom to concentrate on its American chains. With a price tag of £50 million, there's a strong possibility of Branson stepping in. Click on Retail Week to read their scoop from Katie Kilgallen and still hot off the oven.
Personal anecdote: Travelled once on a Virgin Blue flight enroute Sydney to Melbourne. A morning of thunderstorms. Flights delayed, cancelled. Airport a crowded mess. Branson showed up, took the same flight as me, - flights had been switched all round - then soothed frays of irate businessmen and women who spotted harried I-have-to-go-somewhere-urgently expressions; by making us playing toilet paper games and other childlike entertainment. He turned the aisle I was seated in, into a proper party. The end result was a waiting press at Tullamarine airport, Melbourne and a planeload of smiles! No one could have done it better.
Smooth, cool maverick. Top-class charmer! No pretensions. None whatsover.