Is Richard Branson Just Tripping or Did This Happen?

(And, either way, why is everyone not talking about this all the time?)

Daily Telegraph headline, July 31st: Richard Branson is ‘devoured by a whale shark’

Spiritually? Psychically? Metaphysically? No!

Although Sir Richard Branson was delighted with his laser eye surgery — he said that it had him seeing “perfectly” again — he still managed to accidentally swim into the mouth of a whale shark earlier this month.

“I was swimming around one of these gentle giants off Cancun in Mexico — and then, suddenly, I realised I had managed to get myself right inside it,” the 61-year-old tycoon told me over breakfast at the ExCel Centre yesterday before the Virgin Active London Triathlon.

“Whales sharks have got enormous mouths and this one just literally puffed me out. They are gigantic, but gentle. I think the story of Jonah most likely came from a whale shark. I can’t really think of anything else living in the sea that could swallow you without also killing you.”

No, that’s cool. Right on.