Chris Ryan was born in 1961 in a village near Newcastle. At the age of sixteen 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 famous Bravo Two Zero mission during the 1991 Gulf War. He was the only member of the unit to escape from Iraq, where three of his colleagues were killed and four captured. This was the longest escape and evasion in the history of the SAS, and for this he was awarded the Military Medal. Chris wrote about his experiences in his book The One That Got Away, which was adapted for screen and became an immediate bestseller. Since then he has written four other books of non-fiction, over 20 bestselling novels and three series of children's books. Chris's novels have gone on inspire the Sky One series Strike Back. In addition to his books, Chris has presented a number of very successful TV programmes including Hunting Chris Ryan, How Not to Die and Chris Ryan's Elite Police.