Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson

Author:Richard Branson [Branson, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2017-10-10T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 27

Dad

However important business is, family always comes first. Which is why, in early March 2011, I arranged my schedule so as to be able to fly from New York to England, to be there in time for my father’s ninety-third birthday.

The whole family was there for the celebrations at his house in Cakeham, Sussex. And while the weather made for an absolutely beautiful few days down by the sea, what I really remember is sitting around the fire in the evening as Dad regaled us with stories from his youth. He has always been a terrific storyteller, much like my Uncle Charlie, and could send me off to faraway places in my mind within a matter of moments through his wonderful wordplay. Whether it was thrilling me with accounts of landing on the beaches of Salerno during the Second World War, amusing me with tales of his early romances, or moving me with anecdotes about his own childhood, I’m sure I got my own love for sharing stories from him.

Dad’s life, like that of so many, had been shaped by the events of the day. He had a passion for swimming, representing Cambridge University in the pool, and was in line to swim for England when the Second World War broke out. Joining up, he was sent straight to North Africa, later seeing action in tanks in the Middle East, Italy and Germany. When he returned to England, Dad found it tough to get through his studies, but dutifully followed his own father and many generations of Branson men into the legal profession. What he really wanted to do was become an archeologist: while in North Africa he spent a lot of his time collecting fossils in the desert, hiding them before he shipped out for Salerno. Years later, we went back and collected them and I still treasure them.

Given how much he’d supported me over the years in pursuing my own dreams, I was delighted when I got the opportunity to return the favor. One day I got a call from a balloonist in Egypt, where we had launched the first hot-air balloon company flying over the Valley of the Kings.

“I’ve been flying across the Valley,” the balloonist shouted down the line, sounding incredibly excited. “I was about a hundred yards from the bottom, when I saw a ledge. There was a big stone blocking something and I think I could make out hieroglyphics on the wall. Richard, I think it might be an undiscovered tomb!”

I thought he was pulling my leg, but he assured me it wasn’t a joke.

“Get out here quick,” he insisted, “and I’ll show you.”

I immediately made two phone calls. The first was to the British Museum to speak to an expert in ancient Egyptian history. She assured me it was very possible there were undiscovered tombs in the area our balloonist was navigating:

“It could well be Ramesses VIII’s tomb,” she told me. “If so, it could make Tutankhamen’s look like Woolworth’s.”

The next call I made was to my dad.

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