Chris Ash

Chris Ash grew up in the Shetland Isles and studied at Aberdeen University. After a brief and undistinguished dalliance with the British Army (Lovat Scouts and Gordon Highlanders), he drove his Land Rover to South Africa and decided to stay. Since then, he has worked in oil and mineral exploration all over Africa and the Middle East. His interest in South African history was sparked by watching Zulu and Breaker Morant as a child, ameliorated by countless drunken arguments over the years. He is a regular speaker on the remarkable life of Dr Leander Starr Jameson, the subject of his first book, The If Man. His second book, Kruger, Kommandos & Kak, continues to fuel Boer War controversy. Away from work and history, Ash enjoys cricket, rugby, upsetting the politically correct, J&B and messing about in Landies. He commutes between Johannesburg and Iraq.