Losing My Virginity: The Autobiography - Softcover

Aus dem Klappentext

'Having come so close to dying over the Atlas Mountains, I thought that I should write this book now, in case my guardian angel ever deserts me. I also realised that my children, Holly and Sam, who are still young, would not really know what I had done and why I had done it.

So this autobiography is for Holly and Sam, the best thing I've created in the last eighteen years (though I can't take all the credit). But most especially for their mother, my wife Joan, who's seen me through most of the highs and the lows. I have also written this book to show how we made Virgin what it is today. Rather like our balloon flights, these years have been all about survival. If you read carefully between the lines you will, I hope, understand our vision and where we are going. Some people say that this vision breaks all the rules and is wildly kaleidoscopic; others say that Virgin is set to become one of the leading brand names of the next century; others analyse it and write academic papers on it.

As for me and the wonderful team around me, we just pick up the phone and get on with it - and have one hell of an adventure in the process.' Richard Branson

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It was now completely quiet. I could not see all the cables without leaning over the capsule railings. Standing amid the swirling white cloud, I felt an overwhelming sense of dizziness. The cables looked intact so I squeezed back inside the hatch. Whatever I did in the next ten minutes would lead to my death or survival. I was on my own. We had broken the record but I was almost certainly going to die. Per, with no survival suit, was either dead or trying to swim on. I had to get somebody to find him. I had to survive. I cleared my mind and concentrated on the options in front of me. I hadn't slept for over 24 hours and my mind felt fuzzy. I decided to take the balloon up high enough so I could parachute off the capsule. I blasted the burners and then found my notebook and scrawled across the page, 'Joan, Holly, Sam, I love you.' I waited until the altimeter showed 8,000 feet and then climbed inside."