Richard Branson is unique among today's folk heroes. Which other self-made British billionaire could lay claim to the highest esteem of our school children? Which other company chairman could be referred to by former BA Chairman Lord King as a 'pirate', having launched an airline largely on the profits of a pop song, and then go on to strike terror into the hearts of Coca-Cola and Pepsi by repackaging a branded cola? Only Branson. He is the everyman entrepreneur of our times: half marketing genius, half motivational wizard. 'Virgin King' explains how Branson started a mail-order record business in 1969 and ended up with a corporate conglomerate and riches beyond his dreams today. In the first fully independent, unauthorised account of one of the great success stories of our time, Tim Jackson reveals how a public-school drop-out has found the key to presenting aggressive business acumen with a friendly face. 'Virgin King' is the compelling history of both a private business empire and the man at its centre.
