What do we know about Richard Branson?
Well, he founded the Virgin Group and is worth billions. He was knighted in 2000. He is involved in numerous humanitarian projects. And he is very shaggadelic baby, yeah.
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Wait, what was that last one?
Yes you heard correctly. Prior to all of the aforementioned accomplishments, Branson was locked in ongoing battle with an evil overlord, driving underwater cars and making women very, very randy indeed.
That's right, Richard Branson is Austin Powers. Or at least that is the theory of a small subsection of the Internet. Now you might think, 'there's no way that could be true, they look completely different'. Well, that's where you're mistaken. When you picture Branson you no doubt picture white hair and a little goatee, but that's him now.
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Take a look at a picture of him in his youth and you will find the evidence is compelling:
That noise is me, resting my case.
Now does it seem like pure coincidence that Branson started to enter your stream of consciousness shortly after the final Austin Powers film, Goldmember? Indeed, in the final film, released in 2002, there is a scene where Powers is knighted - perhaps the footage was taken directly from the real thing a couple of years previous.
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Further theories supporting the 'Richard Branson is Austin Powers' theory have been shared on Reddit.
One person said: "Richard Branson is really Austin Powers. He used his time machine to become a billionaire."
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Another said: "His company name, Virgin, was meant to be taken ironically."
Another went one further and said: "Many people don't know that Austin Powers was actually a documentary about Richard Brandon's life. The whole business thing was a cover for all his espionage and that's the true reason he was knighted."
All of this put together had many convinced and one person said it was 'too much to be coincidence'.
However, others have quashed the theory, arguing that everyone basically in England used to be Austin Powers during this period.
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One person said: "Half of the British population looked like this in the late 60s. The rest were women."
Another added: "Every man in England looked like this..."
Another agreed: "Can confirm, my dad also looked like this."
Also, it's hard to get past the fact that Austin Powers is the fictional protagonist in a spy comedy spoof film series, rather than a real living person. Still, good fun.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: virgin, Richard Branson