Richard Branson talks U2, Richard Glossip & more

In the capital to oversee the launch of Virgin Media in Ireland, as UPC undergoes a "total transformation", Richard Branson rolled into the RDS while hanging off the side of a Virgin Media truck and quickly kicked off his appearance by "trouncing" Magnus Ternsjö, formerly of UPC and now CEO of Virgin Media in Ireland, in a faux game show hosted by RTÉ's Sinead Kennedy. He then went on to jokingly promise Ireland would win the Rugby World Cup and couldn't help but pick up Kennedy for a selfie – and this was all before the press conference.
Though he very much wanted to stick to details of Virgin Media's arrival in Ireland at said conference, politely batting away an opening question about Jeremy Corbyn, he did stray from the script a number of times.
Having fondly recalled the time back in 1987 when his hot-air balloon crash landed in Limavady and the Irish hospitality that awaited him, he went on to said it was "great to be back in Ireland" in a business sense, after "iTunes put paid" to the Dublin Virgin Megastore and record shops he once had over here.
What did he get up to in Dublin last night?
"I had a lovely night in your city last night," he said, revealing that he'd attended The Night Alive in The Gaiety Theatre. "It really was a good play. Had a wonderful dinner and I actually celebrated the fact that U2 formed 39 years ago last night. So we had a few drinks with Bono. He's a good friend and we've done good things together over the years.
"He's always very supportive of anything we do, and we're always very supportive of anything he does."
They were also celebrating the fact that Richard Glossip, who was convicted twice of orchestrating a murder in Oklahoma but has strongly maintained his innocence, was granted a stay of execution.
"A guy called Richard, who was about to be executed yesterday in America. We're all absolutely convinced he's innocent. He got a 40 day reprieve [actually 37 – November 6]. We've been campaigning the Governor to try and get a reprieve. So it gives us 40 more days to try to make sure that an innocent man doesn't get executed.
"A lot of my time is spent on issues like that. Lots of campaigning on things that we feel strongly about and that we feel are injustices being done in the world. Obviously Bono is like-minded so we spend a lot of time talking about lots of things: connectivity in the world, what's going on in Africa and so on. And we had a few fun drinks as well!"
Asked for his best business advice, Branson said that he never criticises the people with whom he works.
"If you praise people, they flourish."