Necker Island is a small island in the British Virgin Islands just north of Virgin Gorda. All of the land on the island is owned by Sir Richard Branson, famous for his Virgin brand, and it is part of the Virgin Limited Edition portfolio of luxury properties. The island was named after the 17th century Dutch squadron commander Johannes de Neckere, although it remained uninhabited until the late 20th century. Don McCullin and Andrew Alexander ran a survival test on the island in 1968. They were on the island for 14 days and chopped down most of the palm trees on the island for use as shelter. Sir Richard first became aware that some of the islands in the British Virgin Islands were up for sale in 1979. In 1978 Richard Branson went to the British Virgin Islands for a holiday in order to investigate the prospective real estate. On first observing the islands, Branson envisioned using them to put up rock stars for his record label. Upon arrival, they were given a luxury villa and travelled around islands for sale by helicopter. The final island he saw was Necker Island, and after climbing the hill and being stunned by the view and wildlife, fell in love with the island. After making a lowball bid of ??100,000 for the ??5 million island, however, he was turned down and evicted from the island. A while later, the owner, Lord Cobham, in need of short-term capital, eventually settled for ??180,000 after Richard Branson had offered his final price of ??175,000 three months before the actual sale took place. However, the Government imposed a relatively common restriction on alien landholders; that the new owner had to develop a resort within five years or the island would revert to the state. Branson committed, determined to build a resort on his tropical dream island, notwithstanding his relatively modest capital at that time in his career. When Branson bought the 74-acre (300,000 m2) island, it was uninhabited. He purchased the island at the age of 28, just six years aft...