Chris Ryan was born in 1961 in a village near Newcastle. In 1984 he joined the SAS. During his ten years in the Regiment, he was involved in overt and covert operations and was also Sniper team commander of the anti-terrorist team. During the Gulf War, Chris was the only member of an eight-man team to escape from Iraq, of which three colleagues were killed and four captured. It was the longest escape and evasion in the history of the SAS. For this he was awarded the Military Medal. During Ryan's last two years in the Regiment he selected and trained potential SAS recruits. He left the SAS in 1994. He is a bestselling author of thriller titles for the adult market and his ALPHA FORCE series for younger readers has also proven very successful. He also appears regularly on TV with series such as HUNTING CHRIS RYAN, PUSHED TO THE LIMIT (toughest families), TERROR ALERT (Sky TV, 2004) and HOW NOT TO DIE (Sky, 2005).