Chris Ryan

At the age of 16 he attached himself unofficially to ‘C’ Squadron of 23rd Special Air Service, the territorial regiment based at Prudhoe, in Northumberland. Over the next seven years he covered hundreds of miles of moor and mountain on training exercises.  In 1984 he joined 22nd SAS, the regular Regiment, and completed three tours, which took him to many parts of the world on operations and exercises. He also worked extensively in the counter-terrorist field, serving as an assaulter, sniper and finally Sniper Team Commander on the Special Projects team.

Chris was part of the SAS eight-man team chosen for the Bravo Two Zero mission.  The men were dropped behind Iraqi enemy lines during the Gulf War in 1991. Three of the team were killed in action and four were captured.  Only Chris escaped.

He trekked across the desert for eight days, often in full view of enemy patrols. This harrowing but heroic experience was recounted later in his book The One That Got Away which became an immediate best seller in 1995.  Chris was awarded the Military Medal for his dramatic escape from Iraq. He subsequently left the SAS in 1994.

The author of a number of best sellers, his famous action adventure novels have cultivated him a loyal following of fans.

Chris was the co-devisor and military consultant for Ultimate Force, a military action series for ITV1 starring Ross Kemp. The six-part series, followed the exploits of a crack SAS troop.

Among other successful television programmes, the series Strike Back was based upon Chris’s novel of the same name. It received great acclaim, solidifying Chris’s success in both print and on screen.

Chris was also the military consultant to Codemasters’ stealth-based first-person computer game - IGI 2: Covert Strike.

He is a successful public speaker, much in demand for talks on leadership, team-building and to share his incredible stories from his time as part of the SAS.