Does anybody know if it's true that Necker Island, one of the British
Virgin islands, was donated to the SES at some stage? And who sold
it to Richard Branson?
Necker Island
According to Richard Branston's autobiography Losing My Virginity, which I was reading last month, the estate agent who sold it to him said the owner was a "British lord who's never been there". Branson bought it for 180,000 pounds. The seller isn't named but apparently wanted to construct a building somewhere in Scotland with the money.
Where did you hear that it was previously donated to the SES?
Where did you hear that it was previously donated to the SES?
Necker Island
Richard Branson bought Necker Island from Lord Cobham in the late 1970's.
See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necker_Isl ... in_Islands)
See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necker_Isl ... in_Islands)
Necker Island
Here's the reference to Necker Island, it's taken from the chapter about the SES in William Shaw's 1994 book "Spying in Guru Land". You can read the whole chapter on Dialogue Ireland's website.
"In 1984 two journalists from the Evening Standard, Peter Hounham and Andrew Hogg, published a stinging expose of the publicity shy School of Economic Science in a book called Secret Cult. They traced the network of properties owned by the cult. As well as the huge Oxfordshire mansion, Waterperry, where MacLaren now lives, the school also owns a gigantic mansion called Sarum Chase in Hampstead, Preston Brinscall Hall in Manchester, the two houses in Queen’s Gate, and numerous smaller buildings around the country. The properties are worth millions, and have been amassed through donations. One of the gifts, curiously, was Necker Island, one of the Virgin Islands, which was later bought by Richard Branson to become his hideaway."
Can anyone illuminate this further?
"In 1984 two journalists from the Evening Standard, Peter Hounham and Andrew Hogg, published a stinging expose of the publicity shy School of Economic Science in a book called Secret Cult. They traced the network of properties owned by the cult. As well as the huge Oxfordshire mansion, Waterperry, where MacLaren now lives, the school also owns a gigantic mansion called Sarum Chase in Hampstead, Preston Brinscall Hall in Manchester, the two houses in Queen’s Gate, and numerous smaller buildings around the country. The properties are worth millions, and have been amassed through donations. One of the gifts, curiously, was Necker Island, one of the Virgin Islands, which was later bought by Richard Branson to become his hideaway."
Can anyone illuminate this further?
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