Chapter 745 Mutual Appreciation
"Oh my! What a misunderstanding!" Xiao Peng said with a smile as he sat in the villa's living room. "It turns out to be Sir Branson! I've heard so much about you!"
Branson actually has a title, which was conferred by the Queen of England herself.
There are four types of peerages in the UK. One is hereditary, for descendants of aristocrats; another is conferred for being too famous, such as former Manchester United manager Ferguson; the third is for being too rich, such as the Duke of Westminster, the largest landowner in the UK. Even the Queen of England is just a "tenant" of his family. Because he is too rich, he was conferred a peerage. Branson also belongs to this category.
The fourth one is the most interesting: you can buy it with money. And anyone can buy it with just a little money, and it's very simple.
He can go directly to a website that specializes in buying and selling titles, spend tens or hundreds of pounds to buy a small piece of land in the UK, and after obtaining a land purchase certificate, a map of the purchased land and the surrounding environment, and the purchase number, he can obtain the title of "Lord".
The British honors system has a strict selection process and criteria. The process for obtaining a true peerage is generally as follows: The Queen can confer peerages upon the Prime Minister's recommendation. There are two investiture ceremonies each year: one on New Year's Day and one on the Queen's birthday. Furthermore, peerages are generally not hereditary.
However, although they have strict selection criteria, they do not have a complete and comprehensive legislation. There is only the "Prevention of Abuse of Honorary Titles Act 1925" passed in 1920 to prevent nobles from selling titles in exchange for benefits and to protect the honor of the royal family.
However, it was this law that allowed later generations to exploit loopholes, because it did not restrict honorary titles for manor owners.
In particular, in 1999, Scotland introduced a new policy stipulating that the sale of micro-land did not need to be registered with state agencies, and there were no legal restrictions on micro-land. From then on, the business of buying and selling titles was born.
A person only needs to buy a piece of land, even if it is only half a square meter, and he can get a stamp from the land registration office to become a "manor owner" and obtain the "manor owner title".
Of course, this title is different from the regular title. In China, it should be called "landlord", and in English it is also a different word, but it also means "sir" when translated into Chinese.
Moreover, the formal title is placed before the name. For example, Branson was granted the title of "Earl", so the title should be: "Earl Branson". If it is a title obtained by buying land, it should be called "Sir Branson".
But the buyers don't care about these things. There are many people who buy such titles, and more than half of them are Chinese. There are even fans of a young idol in the entertainment industry who bought such a "title" for their idol and called their idol a "noble."
After hearing what Xiao Peng said, Branson looked a little bit unconvinced: "Xiao, do you really know me? Isn't this just a courtesy?"
After all, Xiao Peng just pointed at him and called him a "naked old man".
Xiao Peng nodded without hesitation. "It's true. I came here from Dover, and to be honest, it wasn't a very pleasant memory. As a result, I don't like the British very much. But you are an exception. After all, you are 'the smartest man in Britain', right? The last true hippie in the world."
Branson finally smiled. "Forget the first title, but I really like the second one. If someone with severe dyslexia were to be called 'the smartest person in Britain'? That would undoubtedly be the biggest insult to Britain, but... I like it!"
Branson's life is legendary. He is not talking nonsense. He has severe dyslexia. When he was in school, he could not understand simple mathematical operations and could not learn anything. He was regarded as an idiot and a moron by people around him.
But it was this "idiot" and "moron" who used four pounds to publish a magazine called "Student" in the basement.
How could he possibly launch a magazine with only four pounds? He'd need advertising, but who would invest in a magazine that didn't make any sense? How did Branson solve this problem?
He called the Coca-Cola representative and said, "Pepsi has booked an ad with me, but the back is blank. Would you like to try it?" After hanging up with Coca-Cola, he called Pepsi again and said the same thing...
He used this method to repeatedly call the giants in the same industry that were competitors, and finally got full-page advertisements from nine major companies! This was something that no other magazine of the time could do - not even Playboy could do it!
Although the magazine had a large circulation after it was published, it was still difficult to pay employees' salaries and attract talent. Branson had an idea and found a group of beautiful girls to come over, providing them with free lunch, cigarettes and music. From then on, countless boys came to him looking for jobs...
He really made his fortune by running a record company. Although Branson had never been to school, he had a great vision. He discovered the newcomer Mike Oldfield, and his album "Tubular Bells" sold 1,300 copies. To this day, it is still the eleventh best-selling album in British history. He then signed the infamous "Sex Pistols", the "only representative of true punk music".
Shortly after signing the deal, the Sex Pistols were arrested for calling the Queen a Nazi at a concert. Everyone thought Branson was done for. But the band became a global sensation, and big-name bands and musicians like the Rolling Stones, Phil Collins, and Boy George signed with Virgin Records, making the company a true industry giant. And Branson became a truly wealthy man.
Led by this dyslexic eccentric, the Virgin Group now encompasses a wide range of businesses. A typical British life can be described as: 'Growing up drinking Virgin drinks, buying records played on Virgin Radio at Virgin Records, watching movies at Virgin Cinemas, finding a girlfriend through the Virgin dating network, going on vacation with her on Virgin Airlines, even going to space on a Virgin Space spacecraft, enjoying Virgin Holidays' meticulous service, having a grand wedding with Virgin Weddings, drinking Virgin vodka and using tons of Virgin umbrellas while making love, and finally ending up in a Virgin graveyard with a Virgin pension fund.'
Xiao Peng smiled and said, "Although I didn't recognize you, I do know your story. To be honest, Branson, I've always wanted to be like you."
"Oh? You mean originally? What about now?" Branson asked curiously.
Xiao Peng spread his hands: "We can only be ourselves, no one can be someone else."
Branson also laughed: "Xiao, actually I have heard of you, as well as Pascal and Fabian. To be honest, I have also thought about living like you."
"Oh? What about now?"
Branson imitated Xiao Peng's hand-spreading gesture and tone and said, "We can only be ourselves. No one can be someone else."
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