And you know, I've had great fun turning quite a lot of different industries on their head and making sure those industries will never be the same again, because Virgin went in and took them on.

The balloons only have one life and the only way of finding out whether they work is to attempt to fly around the world.

Confidence breeds confidence and negativity breeds negativity. Treat those around you with respect and dignity and they will thrive.

In the same way that I tend to make up my mind about people within thirty seconds of meeting them, I also make up my mind about whether a business proposal excites me within about thirty seconds of looking at it. I rely far more on gut instinct than researching huge amounts of statistics.

You see, it's essential that one of us stays awake during the flight [ballon]. So, rather than using the comfortable Virgin seats which we used to cross the Atlantic, we've asked British Airways for two of theirs.

Just start. You will learn so many lessons just by doing.

Play fair, be prepared for others to play dirty, and don't let them drag you into the mud.