Richard Branson is the most shameless name-dropper I've come across in the history of this column (and this writer has come across a fair number of this type, business gurus being the way they are).

That said, Branson does poke fun at himself for this tendency, albeit in the manner of an aristocrat who might comically yell 'Get orrf my land!' across a field - bellowed in an exaggerated yokel-farmer accent, to both humour and impress visitors to his country mansion. The message is clear - it's still his land, and he wants you to know it. And so it is with Branson. He'll get his hubris across, even with the pretence of having his tongue in his cheek.