(1950– )
an English businessman who became very rich through the successful Virgin companies he created. He set up the Virgin record company in 1970 and sold it to Thorn-EMI in 1992. In 1984 he started the airline Virgin Atlantic and his company Virgin Trains runs many trains in Britain. He is also well known for being the first person to cross the Atlantic (1987) and the Pacific (1991) by balloon. He was made a knight in 2000.