Chris Ryan

Chris Ryan is a Best Selling Author, Broadcaster, Motivational Speaker and Former SAS Soldier

Chris Ryan was born in 1961, in a village near Newcastle.

At the age of 16, Chris Ryan 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, Chris Ryan 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 Ryan was a member of the SAS eight-man team chosen for the ‘Bravo Two Zero’ mission. The team were dropped behind Iraqi enemy lines during the 1st Gulf War in 1991. The mission was to report on enemy positions and call in aircraft to take out any worthwhile targets, as well as destroying fibre-optic communication lines.

The patrol’s signaller was initially given the wrong codes for the radio, making it useless. Their emergency TACBE radio devices which were thought to be able to communicate with coalition aircraft in extreme circumstances were in fact almost 250 miles out of their operational range. During their second day in the observation post, their position was compromised by a local farmer driving a bulldozer. Throughout the ensuing few days, in their attempt to escape, several fire fights with the enemy occurred. The patrol remained intact and without casualties until they were inadvertently split into two groups when they lost sight of each other during the night.

Out of the initial eight SAS soldiers, three of the team were killed in action, and four were captured. Only Chris escaped.

During his escape, Chris Ryan trekked over 200 miles in eight days on foot, in both the freezing cold and baking sun, and often in full view of enemy patrols. He suffered sleep deprivation, starvation, diarrhea, severe dehydration and other such physical ailments. 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 Ryan made history with the “longest escape and evasion by an SAS trooper or any other soldier”. This achievement was recognised by the award of the Military Medal.

Chris Ryan spent his final two years in the SAS training and finding potential recruits. He subsequently left the SAS in 1994.

Since leaving the SAS Chris Ryan has become a best selling author.

Books include:

The One That Got Away, Strike Back, Ultimate Weapon, Blackout, The Increment, Greed, Ultimate Survival Guide, Land of Fire, The Watchman, The Hit List, Chris Ryan’s SAS Fitness Book, Tenth Man Down, The Kremlin Device, Zero Option, Stand By, Stand By.

Chris is also the author of the highly popular ‘Alpha Force’ and ‘Code Red’ series for teenagers.

Brodcaster and Keynote Speaker:

Chris was the co-devisor and military consultant for ‘Ultimate Force’, a military action series for ITV1 starring Ross Kemp.

In 2010, his book Strike Back was turned into a prime time series for SKY 1.

As a broadcaster, Chris has presented:

• Hunting Chris Ryan
• How Not To Die
• Terror Alert: Could You Survive?
• Britain’s Toughest Families

As an inspirational motivational speaker, Chris can focus on topics such as teamwork, leadership, and motivation.