Lo, there do I see my mother, and my sisters, and my brothers, Lo, there do I see the line of my people, back to the beginning, Lo, they do call to me, they bid me take my place among them, In the halls of Valhalla, where the brave may live forever

William Henry Gates III, KBE (born 28 October 1955),[2] commonly known as Bill Gates, is an American entrepreneur, software executive, philanthropist, the world's third richest man (as of 2008),[1] and chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software architect, and remains the individual shareholder with the most shares, with more than 9 percent of the common stock.[3]

Gates was born in Seattle, Washington and excelled in school early on. He enrolled at Harvard College in 1973, where he met Steve Ballmer and who would later become CEO of Microsoft. After reading the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics, Gates contacted Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems and provided them with the Altair BASIC, and thus Microsoft was formed. This led to a partnership with IBM that required Microsoft to make the BASIC interpreter for the IBM PC. Later on, Gates struck another deal with IBM, allowing IBM to package Microsoft's PC-DOS software with IBM's personal computers in exchange for a fee paid to Microsoft for every computer sold. This deal established Microsoft as a major player in the software industry.

Richard Branson has been involved in a number of world record-breaking attempts since 1985, when in the spirit of the Blue Riband he attempted to cross the Atlantic Ocean in the fastest recorded time. His first attempt in the "Virgin Atlantic Challenger" led to the boat capsizing in British waters and a rescue by RAF helicopter, which received wide media coverage. Some newspapers called for Richard Branson to reimburse the British government for the cost of his rescue. In 1986, he made a successful crossing in his "Virgin Atlantic Challenger II" with sailing expert Daniel McCarthy, beating previous records by two hours. This was followed a year later by the epic hot air balloon crossing of the same ocean in "Virgin Atlantic Flyer". This was not only the first hot-air balloon to cross the Atlantic, but was the largest ever flown at 2.3 million cubic feet (65,000 m³) capacity, reaching speeds in excess of 130 miles per hour (209 km/h).
In January 1991, Branson crossed the Pacific Ocean in a balloon from Japan to Arctic Canada, the farthest distance of 6,700 miles (10,800 km). Again, he broke all existing records, with speeds of up to 245 miles per hour in a balloon of 2.6 million cubic feet (74,000 m³).

Between 1995 and 1998 Branson, Per Lindstrand and Steve Fossett, made a number of attempts to circumnavigate the globe by balloon. In late 1998 they made a record-breaking flight from Morocco to Hawaii but were unable to complete a global flight before Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones in Breitling Orbiter achieved the first circumnavigation in March 1999.

In March 2004, Branson set another world record by travelling from Dover to Calais in a Gibbs Aquada, breaking all previous records for fastest time in crossing the English Channel in an amphibious vehicle. The crossing was performed in 1 hour, 40 minutes, and 6 seconds. The previous record was set by two Frenchmen at 6 hours.[

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela IPA: [xolíɬaɬa mandéːla] (born 18 July 1918) is a former President of South Africa, the first to be elected in fully representative democratic elections. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist and leader of the African National Congress and its armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe. He spent 27 years in prison, much of it on Robben Island, on convictions for crimes that included sabotage committed while he spearheaded the struggle against apartheid.

Among opponents of apartheid in South Africa and internationally, he became a symbol of freedom and equality, while the apartheid government and nations sympathetic to it condemned him and the ANC as communists and terrorists.

Following his release from prison in February 11, 1990, his switch to a policy of reconciliation and negotiation helped lead the transition to multi-racial democracy in South Africa. Since the end of apartheid, he has been widely praised, even by former opponents.

Mandela has received more than one hundred awards over four decades, most notably the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. He is currently a celebrated elder statesman who continues to voice his opinion on topical issues. In South Africa he is often known as Madiba, an honorary title adopted by elders of Mandela's clan. The title has come to be synonymous with Nelson Mandela.

Mandela has frequently credited Mahatma Gandhi for being a major source of inspiration in his life, both for the philosophy of non-violence and for facing adversity with dignity.

Losing My Virginity: The Autobiography (ISBN 1-8522-7684-3) is a 1998 autobiography by Richard Branson. A paperback version (ISBN 0-7535-1020-0) was released in 2002. The book features Richard Branson's story from rags to riches. A later version was released in 2005 in hardback and paperback expressing Branson's views on 9/11 and how it has affected his business, especially his airline Virgin Atlantic.

In 1992, to keep his airline company afloat, Branson sold the Virgin label to EMI, a more conservative company which previously had rescinded a contract with the Sex Pistols, for $1 billion . Branson is said to have wept when the sale was completed since the record business had been the genesis of the Virgin Empire.[citation needed] He later formed V2 Records to re-enter the music business.

Virgin Records' first release was Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, which was a best-seller and British LP chart topper. The company signed controversial bands such as the Sex Pistols, which other companies were reluctant to sign. It also won praise for exposing the public to obscure avant-garde music such as the krautrock bands Faust and Can. Virgin Records also introduced Culture Club to the music world. In the early 1980s, Virgin purchased the gay nightclub Heaven. In 1991 in a consortium with David Frost, Richard Branson had made the unsuccessful bid for three ITV franchisees under the CPV-TV name.