Do you get tired of Richard Branson?

[Jamie (K)]

I think that every ESL textbook from Britain has Richard Branson in it somewhere. And in the business ESL books he is the first big face you see, and they usually make the picture of him REALLY BIG!

Why do they do this? Is Richard Branson the only entrepreneur in the UK? (Maybe he's the only British entrepreneur who hasn't moved to America? ) Why is he the only one they use?

Is there any person who shows up in ESL books whom you're tired of seeing? Maybe Mr. Branson, or Martin Luther King Jr.? Sally Ride used to show up in a lot of American ESL books, which would say that she was the first woman astronaut. I guess that's true, but the first woman in space was Valentina Terezhkova. However, she wasn't the first woman astronaut, but the first woman cosmonaut.

[Yankee]

[Jamie (K)]

[NinaZara]

Or maybe they think that ESL students should know at least these prominent figures, just my guess.

UK: Richard Branson.
US: Bill gates.

No?

[MrPedantic]

I'm not familiar with the books in question; but in the case of Richard Branson, could it be his unusual appearance and multiplicity of business interests that attract the authors?

He gives you the opportunity to discuss houseboats, the Sex Pistols, in-flight entertainment, and severe disruption on the West Coast Main Line, for instance; not to mention the biosynthesis of red hair pigments.

MrP