Chris Ayres

For the voice actor, see Christopher Ayres.

Chris Ayres is a 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

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

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

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

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

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". 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.