Richard Branson
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50 free Richard Branson trivia questions with answers — pop culture quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Richard Branson has spent more than fifty years turning publicity stunts into businesses and businesses into publicity stunts. The founder of the Virgin brand has sold records, flown passengers across the Atlantic, run trains and banks, and chased speed and distance records by sea and by air, usually with a camera pointed at him. These questions collect the best fun facts about him: the schoolboy schemes that came before Virgin, the bands and albums that made the label, the costumes he wore to launch new ventures, the bets he lost, the film and television cameos, and the long road to his own trip beyond the atmosphere. It is pitched for anyone curious about the man behind the brand, whether you want conversation starters, material for a business class or a pub quiz round, or just proof that a billionaire's life can be stranger than fiction. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you pick up the story behind each fact as you play.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What did Richard Branson drive into New York's Times Square in 1998 to launch Virgin Cola in America?
A tank
A tank carried him into Times Square, crushing rival cola cans for the cameras. The drink never caught its giant rivals and was eventually discontinued.
Q 02What did a clean-shaven Richard Branson wear in 1996 to launch his bridal retailer Virgin Brides?
A wedding dress
A wedding dress was his launch-day outfit, with the famous beard removed for the photographers. The chain never took off, and the last Virgin Brides shop closed in 2007.
Q 03After a failed Formula One bet, Richard Branson shaved his legs to work for AirAsia in which job?
A flight attendant
A flight attendant in a red skirt and lipstick, he served a 2013 trip to Malaysia and tipped a tray of drinks over AirAsia's boss, Tony Fernandes, who had won the wager.
Q 04Which fellow billionaire did Richard Branson beat to the edge of space by nine days in July 2021?
Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos had announced his trip first, then watched Branson go up on 11 July before his own Blue Origin rocket followed on 20 July. He sent good wishes ahead of his rival's launch.
Q 05Which uninhabited Caribbean island did Richard Branson buy for $180,000 and turn into his home?
Necker
Necker Island became his after an opening bid of $100,000 was turned down. The sale carried a condition: build a resort within four years or hand the land back.
Q 06Richard Branson's headmaster predicted he would either become a millionaire or end up where?
In prison
In prison or a millionaire was Robert Drayson's forecast on the boy's last day at school. The pupil left at sixteen and overshot the kinder option, becoming a billionaire.
Q 07In which James Bond film does Richard Branson appear as a passenger frisked at airport security?
Casino Royale
Casino Royale gave him the cameo in its Miami airport scenes, with Virgin Atlantic planes appearing soon after. A competing airline cut him out of the version it showed on board.
Q 08In which American sitcom did Richard Branson play a London street vendor who sells a Union Jack hat?
Friends
Friends cast him as the vendor who sells Joey a huge flag-covered hat during the gang's trip to London. Sarah, Duchess of York and Hugh Laurie made cameos in the same episode.
Q 09Richard Branson named Virgin Galactic's first spaceplane after a starship from which sci-fi series?
Star Trek
Star Trek's USS Enterprise lent its name to VSS Enterprise. Branson, a fan of the series, reportedly offered William Shatner a seat on Virgin Galactic's first launch.
Q 10The curvy 1990s Virgin Cola bottle launched by Richard Branson was shaped to resemble which celebrity?
Pamela Anderson
Pamela Anderson, then at the height of her Baywatch fame in Britain, was the model for the curves, and from 1996 the 500ml bottle was marketed as 'The Pammy'.
Q 11Which condition does Richard Branson say made school a struggle before he quit at sixteen?
Dyslexia
Dyslexia left him with poor exam results, and he has also talked openly about having ADHD. Neither stopped him launching a national magazine while still a teenager.
Q 12What was the name of the magazine Richard Branson started at sixteen, his first real business?
Student
Student first appeared in January 1968 and carried his interviews with figures such as Mick Jagger. Its pages later advertised the cut-price records that became his next venture.
Q 13Before starting his magazine, the schoolboy Richard Branson failed to make money breeding which pet birds?
Budgerigars
Q 21Which physicist named VSS Unity, the spaceplane that carried Richard Branson to space in 2021?
Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking picked the name, and his own eye was the model for the logo painted on the craft's side.
Q 22From which US state's Spaceport America did Richard Branson take off for the edge of space in July 2021?
New Mexico
New Mexico put about $200 million of public money into the spaceport, built with Virgin Galactic as its anchor tenant. Branson's whole trip, runway to runway, took roughly an hour.
Q 23After which relative did Richard Branson name VMS Eve, the aircraft that carried his spaceplane aloft?
His mother
Budgerigars were one of two flops before he turned to publishing; the other was a plan to grow and sell Christmas trees.
Q 14Richard Branson ran his magazine and first mail-order record business from which part of a London church?
The crypt
The crypt of St John's Church, off Bayswater Road, was his office. Adverts in the magazine drove the record sales, which undercut high-street chains such as WHSmith.
Q 15Which 1973 album, the first release on Richard Branson's Virgin Records, supplied the theme of The Exorcist?
Tubular Bells
Tubular Bells sold slowly until the horror film borrowed its opening piano motif in December 1973. It was recorded at The Manor, the Oxfordshire country-house studio Branson had set up.
Q 16Which punk band did Richard Branson's Virgin Records sign in 1977 after two other labels had dropped them?
Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols joined Virgin that May, and Branson sat up all night choosing the track list for their only studio album, over the objections of the band and their manager.
Q 17To which music company did a tearful Richard Branson sell Virgin Records in 1992 to keep his airline afloat?
EMI
EMI's money kept Virgin Atlantic flying. Branson said he wept when the deal was done, because records were where his empire had begun.
Q 18A poster for which food gave Richard Branson's Virgin the title Now That's What I Call Music! in 1983?
Danish bacon
Danish bacon was advertised by a 1930s poster of a pig listening to a singing chicken. Branson found it in an antiques shop and gave it to his label boss, Simon Draper.
Q 19Which rival airline paid Richard Branson £500,000 in damages after its 'dirty tricks' campaign?
British Airways
British Airways settled the case and also faced legal fees of up to £3 million. Branson shared his payout among Virgin staff, who knew it as the 'BA bonus'.
Q 20Richard Branson was knighted at Buckingham Palace in 2000 for his services to what?
Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship was the citation in the New Year Honours, and the future King Charles III performed the ceremony that March.
His mother, Eve Branson, a former ballet dancer, gave her name to the craft. She died in January 2021, six months before her son's trip to the edge of space.
Q 24In which country did Richard Branson's record balloon flight across the Pacific from Japan land?
Canada
Canada was the landing place in January 1991: Branson and the Swedish balloonist Per Lindstrand came down far north of their target, on a frozen lake in the Northwest Territories.
Q 25In 2004 Richard Branson set a record for crossing the English Channel in what kind of vehicle?
An amphibious car
An amphibious car, the Gibbs Aquada, took him from Dover to Calais in 1 hour 40 minutes. Three years later the Top Gear presenters built their own and failed to beat his time.
Q 26In which water sport did Richard Branson become the oldest person to cross the English Channel?
Kitesurfing
Kitesurfing brought him a second record in 2014, when he rode a single board with three women aboard, the most people then carried on one.
Q 27Which adventurer flew the GlobalFlyer, sponsored by Richard Branson's airline, solo around the world in 2005?
Steve Fossett
Steve Fossett made the first solo nonstop flight around the globe without refuelling, in about 67 hours. He and Branson had earlier tried to circle the world together by balloon.
Q 28What happened to Richard Branson's powerboat on his first attempt at the transatlantic speed record?
It capsized
It capsized and sank after striking debris close to the finish line off the Isles of Scilly, and a helicopter flew the rescued crew ashore. A year later his second craft, Virgin Atlantic Challenger II, beat the record by two hours.
Q 29Which statesman, born on Richard Branson's birthday, launched The Elders from an idea by Branson and Peter Gabriel?
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela announced the group of veteran leaders in Johannesburg on 18 July 2007, the day he turned 89 and Branson turned 57.
Q 30Which former US vice president persuaded Richard Branson over breakfast to take global warming seriously?
Al Gore
Al Gore's breakfast visit turned a self-described sceptic around. In 2006 Branson pledged the profits of his airline and trains to research into cleaner fuels.