By Travelmail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 11:08 EST, 9 March 2014 | UPDATED: 11:08 EST, 9 March 2014

Sir Richard Branson has revealed that the inspiration for his commercial space flight venture came during a phone-in on a children's TV show in the 1980s.

The Virgin boss said he first had the idea for the ambitious project when a viewer suggested it on the BBC Saturday morning show Going Live in 1988.

What's got into him? The businessman seemed to be having a laugh-a-minute on the show

Mr Branson made his confession while being interviewed on Jonathan Ross ITV chat show.

He said: You never know what sparks things off in your mind but as a result of that show we registered the name Virgin Galactic Airways.

Over the next decade I started travelling around the world meeting technicians and engineers to see if we could find a genius who could build a spaceship that could take you and me into space.

Sir Richard said the idea was the beginning of a whole new era of space travel and was the most ridiculously exciting thing that I've done in my lifetime.

He said: 'People will become astronauts, theyll be able to experience zero gravity. Theyll be able to check the world is really round and theyll have the ride of a lifetime.'

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Sir Richard Branson admits he got idea for space flight from children's TV phone-in