Letter: Branson shares the spotlight

Sir: In an article that appeared on 27 January, your science correspondent, Charles Arthur, said that many of the 91 sponsors of Richard Branson's project to fly a helium balloon non-stop around the world have found themselves edged out of the media spotlight, to their growing annoyance. This statement is not true.

Although Virgin Atlantic and Phileas Fogg are the principal sponsors and Matthew Harding the patron, Richard Branson and the rest of the team have spent a considerable amount of time in working with and thanking the many smaller sponsors, without whose help this project would not have been possible. This has been fully acknowledged by them.

Yours sincerely,

Jackie McQuillan

Project Co-ordinator

Virgin Global Challenge

London, W8

29 January