Billionaire tycoon Sir Richard Branson may buy the Borders' UK division.

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.