Necker Island (British Virgin Islands) would survive their castaway adventure for at least three weeks, but as McCullin later recounted, "because of our gathering weakness ... out of temper, and out of water, we hoisted the red flag and were taken off in the early hours of the fifteenth day". According to McCullin, there was nothing idyllic about the desert island: "The mosquitos and other insects were more venomous and persistent than any I had encountered in Vietnam or the Congo." Richard Branson's "Extreme Tech Challenge" has been hosted annually at Necker Island since 2015. Described as one of the largest technology competitions in the
Jacques Necker of the assembly, which determined to support him. Necker warned the king that unless the privileged orders yielded, the States-General would collapse, taxes would not be paid, and the government would be bankrupt and helpless. On 17 June 1789, the first act of the new National Assembly in revolutionary France declared all existing taxes illegal. Necker had legitimate reasons to be concerned about the implications of this unprecedented decision. On 23 June the king proposed to the royal council the dissolution of the Assembly. On the 11th of July, Necker received a note from the king enjoining him to leave