Zimbabwe

"The 1960s were a period of consolidation as well as expansion of Rupert’s tobacco and cigarette interests. The takeover of Carreras and Rothmans led to expansion in other parts of the world. Using Rothmans as his flagship, he created a stir with his philosophy of industrial partnership in various countries where he embarked on new initiatives. Partnership companies were established on a bilateral basis in Australia and New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Canada, Jamaica, Northern and Southern Rhodesia (now Zambia and Zimbabwe) and Nyassaland (now Malawi) − eventually even beyond the Iron Curtain in Russia and China."

"Seeing the world from a helicopter is phenomenal. You’re like a voyeur, looking over the neighbour’s fence, and then you come down and mix with locals. From 500 feet, you gain a grasp of the landscape and the geography. Then as you cover more ground, I think I’ve been to 130 countries so far, you get a real understanding of the earth. The first thing you realise is that it’s nonsense when people worry that the earth won’t be able to feed a growing human population. I’ve flown over millions and millions of acres of unused or underused productive land, particularly in the Ukraine and Russia, South America and Africa, where the most obvious example is in Zimbabwe. And the world’s certainly not crowded."