Chris Ayres is an English born screenwriter, a contributing editor at British GQ,[1] and author. He wrote the book War Reporting for Cowards, and co-wrote Ozzy Osbourne's memoir I Am Ozzy, which became a New York Times Best-Seller.

As a screenwriter, he has sold scripts to Apple TV+, CBS network and Ingenious Media, the latter in partnership with XIX Entertainment and Endeavor Content.[2]

Ayres's recent work for British GQ has included a long-form article about Donald Trump's friendship with Mike Tyson in the late 1980s,[3] and an in-depth profile of Instagram star Dan Bilzerian.[4]

War Reporting for Cowards

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First published in 2005, War Reporting for Cowards is an account of being embedded with a forward reconnaissance unit of the U.S. Marines in the run-up to - and during - the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Ayres was in his late 20s and working for The Times of London, covering entertainment, at the time.[5]

Writing in The New York Times, Michiko Kakutani described the book as "hilarious," adding that it "reads as though Larry David had rewritten 'MASH' and Evelyn Waugh's 'Scoop' as a comic television episode, even as it provides the reader with a visceral picture of the horrors of combat and the peculiar experience of being an embedded reporter."[6] War Reporting for Cowards is today taught in journalism schools.[7]

At a deeper level, War Reporting for Cowards offers a thought provoking look into Chris' generation and their approach to fear, courage and an increasingly frightening world.[8]

Career

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Ayres was Los Angeles bureau chief of The Times of London from 2002 until 2010, later becoming a contributing editor at The Sunday Times Magazine (London)[9] and British GQ. He wrote a column with Ozzy Osbourne for Rolling Stone for several years.[10]

Ayres was nominated as Foreign Correspondent of the Year in 2004 and Feature Writer of the Year in 2015 at the British Press Awards.[11]

He was nominated as Writer of the Year in 2016 at the Professional Publishers Association (PPA) Awards.[12]

I Am Ozzy won the Literary Achievement award (2010) at the Guys Choice Awards.[13]

Education

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Ayres was educated at The University of Hull, where the Chris Ayres Prize in Politics, Philosophy and Economics is named after him, later completing a postgraduate diploma in newspaper journalism at City University, London.

Personal life

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Ayres was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in 1975.

He now lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Lucie, an interior designer,[14][15] and their two children.

References

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  1. ^ "Chris Ayres News and Features | British GQ". British GQ. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  2. ^ "Chris Ayres". www.amazon.com. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  3. ^ "How Mike Tyson planted the seeds for Trump's White House takeover". British GQ. 13 July 2018. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  4. ^ "Instagram King, womaniser and wannabe cannabis multibillionaire: we spend a day with Dan Bilzerian". British GQ. 18 July 2019. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  5. ^ "A Coward Goes to War". NPR.org. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  6. ^ Kakutani, Michiko (2005-08-30). "Anxious Embed Reporting for Duty". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  7. ^ Staff Writers (2019-09-23). "The 50 Best Books for Journalism Students". BestCollegesOnline.com. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  8. ^ "Deconstructing the Heroic Myth of the War Correspondent – Chris Ayres's Memoir War Reporting for Cowards". Archived from the original on 2019-09-23.
  9. ^ Ayres, Chris (2017-07-30). "Femmes fatales: Baby-faced killers of Kim Jong-nam". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  10. ^ "Ozzy Osbourne Is Taking Your Health Questions". Rolling Stone. 2010-10-13. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  11. ^ Baird, Dugald (2015-02-09). "Press Awards: Times and Daily Mail lead nominations". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  12. ^ Br, Intermedia; Marketing (2016-04-30). "PPA Awards reveal shortlist". Intermedia Brand Marketing. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  13. ^ Blabbermouth (2010-06-06). "OZZY OSBOURNE Wins 'Literary Achievement' Award At GUYS CHOICE AWARDS". BLABBERMOUTH.NET. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  14. ^ Stories, Local. "Meet Lucie Ayres of 22 Interiors in Studio City - Voyage LA Magazine | LA City Guide". Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  15. ^ "Home". 22 INTERIORS. Retrieved 2019-09-23.