Michael Asher (explorer)

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This article is about the British author and explorer. For the American conceptual artist, see Michael Asher (artist).

Michael Asher is an author, historian and desert explorer who has covered more than 20,000 miles on foot and camel. He spent three years living with a traditional nomadic tribe in the Sudan.[1]

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[edit] Biography

Michael Asher was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire,in 1953, and is a graduate of the University of Leeds[2] and the former Leeds Polytechnic. After leaving school he served in the ranks of the 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment, seeing active service in Northern Ireland during the height of the Troubles there. He later served in B Sqn. 23 SAS Regiment (V)and in the Special Patrol Group Anti-Terrorist unit of the RUC. In 1979, disillusioned with life in Ulster, he went out to the Sudan as a volunteer English teacher, and became fascinated by the life of the traditional nomads there. In his first year, he travelled with camel-herders along the ancient 'Forty Days Road' caravan route to Egypt, which became the subject of his first book 'In Search of the Forty Days Road.' Later, he gave up teaching to live with a traditional nomad tribe, the Kababish, as one of them. He remained with the Kababish for three years, travelling with a traditional salt caravan, and accompanying the nomads on their migrations. In 1986-7 Michael Asher and his wife, Italian-born photographer and Arabist, Mariantonietta Peru, made the first ever west-east crossing of the Sahara desert by camel and on foot. Travelling without back-up or modern technology they covered 4500 miles from Mauretania to Egypt in 9 months. Following this trek, Asher worked for UNICEF, heading up the joint UNICEF/WHO Nutrition Support Project among the Beja nomads of the Red Sea Hills. Michael Asher has won the Ness Award of the Royal Geographical Society and the Mungo Park Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society for exploration.[3]. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1996, he is the author of 18 books,[1] including the best-selling 'The Real Bravo Two Zero' and the critically acclaimed 'Lawrence, the Uncrowned King of Arabia' and 'Khartoum, The Ultimate Imperial Adventure.' He also wrote the first and most celebrated biography of his mentor, explorer Wilfred Thesiger. He has written four novels. His books have been translated into 12 languages including Arabic and Chinese. Asher has presented three TV documentaries for Channel 4 TV, including 'Death, Deceit & The Nile' - about Burton and Speke, the Bafta award-winning 'In Search of Lawrence, ' and the controversial 'The Real Bravo Two Zero,' shot in Iraq. He has also directed two short TV documentaries about the 'war on terror' -'Survivors' and 'Paradise is Burning.' He is currently employed as a consultant for UNEP in Darfur. Asher lives in Nairobi, Kenya, with his wife and two childrern, from where he also runs small scale camel-treks in the Sudan and Morocco [2].

[3]

[edit] Books

Asher has written several books [4]

Four of his books are novels:

  • The Eye of Ra (1999)
  • Firebird (2000)
  • Rare Earth (2002)
  • Sandstorm (2003)

Non-Fiction:

  • In Search of the Forty Days Road: Adventures with the Nomads of the Desert (1984)
  • A Desert Dies (1986)

Impossible Journey - Two Against th Sahara (1988)

  • Shoot to Kill: A Soldier's Journey Through Violence (1990)
  • Thesiger (1994)
  • The Last of the Bedu: In Search of the Myth (1996)
  • Lawrence: The Uncrowned King of Arabia (1998)
  • The Real Bravo Two Zero: The Truth Behind Bravo Two Zero (2002)
  • Get Rommel: The British Plot to Kill Hitler's Greatest General (2004)
  • Khartoum: The Ultimate Imperial Adventure (2005)
  • Sands of Death: Betrayal, massacre and survival deep in the Sahara: An Epic Tale of Massacre and Survival in the Sahara (2007)
  • The Regiment: The Real Story of the SAS (2007)

Sahara (with Kazoyoshi Nomachi) 1996 Phoenix Rising - The UAE Past, Present & Future (with Werner Forman) 1996

[edit] References

  1. ^ Michael Asher - Penguin UK Authors - Penguin UK
  2. ^ Arts | Who's been here | About the University | University of Leeds
  3. ^ Lawrence av Michael Asher » Bokkilden

[edit] External links