The 25 Most Absurd Photos Of Eccentric Billionaire Richard Branson

Sir Richard Branson is the quintessential self-made, idealistic, and off-the-wall entrepreneur. He's never stopped doing things differently over his 40-plus-year career, from dropping out of high school to run a magazine to buying his own island in the British Virgin Islands - not to mention starting a commercial airline from scratch and kite-surfing across the English Channel in his 60s.

Today he's worth an estimated $5 billion and is the chairman of the eclectic Virgin Group of businesses, which is most recently expanding into the hotel market.

In his new book "The Virgin Way: Everything I Know About Leadership," Branson writes that his love of a crazy marketing stunt or world record attempt is just an extension of the way he runs his businesses. "The problem is that being told 'You'd have to be pretty crazy to even think about doing that' has to me always been like the proverbial red flag to a bull," he writes.

To celebrate his huge personality - and unparalleled marketing savvy - we've collected some of Branson's most outlandish photo ops.