9. Richard Branson

9. RICHARD BRANSON Richard Branson was born in 1950 and educated at Stowe School. It was here that he began to set up Student Magazine when he was just 16. By 17 he'd also set up Student Advisory Centre, which was a charity to help young people. In 1970, he founded Virgin as a mail order record retailer, and not long after he opened a record shop in Oxford Street, London. In 1972, a recording studio was built in Oxfordshire, and the first Virgin artist, Mike Oldfield, recorded 'Tubular Bells' which was released in 1973. This album went on to sell over 5 million copies! Branson's Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s - as he set up Virgin Atlantic Airways and expanded the Virgin Records music label. Richard Branson is the 236th richest person according to Forbes' 2008 list of billionaires with an estimated net worth of $7.9 billion. The eldest and only boy of three children, his sisters are Lindi and Vanessa. His father Ted was a barrister, and mother, Eve, worked in the theatre, as a glider pilot instructor and as a flight attendant. Branson has has dyslexia and thus fared poorly in his studies. Branson is married to his second wife, Joan Templeman, with whom he has two children: Holly, a doctor, and Sam Branson. The couple wed in 1989 at Necker Island, a 74 acre island in the British Virgin Islands that Branson owns. He also owns real estate on the Caribbean island of Antigua and Barbuda. In 1998 Branson released his autobiography entitled Losing My Virginity and in Business Stripped Bare. Branson has guest starred, usually playing himself, on several television shows, including Friends, Baywatch, Birds of a Feather, Only Fools and Horses, and The Day Today. Sir Richard Branson, wife Joan and daughter Holly arrive at the dinner in honour of Nelson Mandela | Photograph: Getty Images Also read: World's 10 best hotels