Asher subsequently served as a police constable in the Blue Section of the Special Patrol Group of the Royal Ulster Constabulary - a mobile unit whose main task was anti-terrorist patrols. The day he was presented with the sand-coloured SAS beret, he said, was, up to that point, 'just about the best day of my life'. Later, while an undergraduate at the University of Leeds he passed SAS selection, and served in B Squadron, 23 Special Air Service Regiment (Reserve), based in Leeds. He was awarded the General Service Medal. During this time, he was shot at, and saw eleven comrades killed by radio-controlled bombs. After passing selection, he was posted to the 2nd Battalion, and saw three tours of duty in Northern Ireland. He later wrote about it in his book Shoot to Kill - A Soldier's Journey Through Violence and in The Oasis of the Last Story. This experience had a lasting effect on Asher, who was a pall-bearer at Parkin's funeral. Career Military experience ĭuring his selection course for the Parachute Regiment in 1971, aged 18, Asher's best friend, Steve Parkin, also 18, was mortally wounded in front of him during a 'live firing exercise', and died the same night. He is married to Arabist and photographer Mariantonietta Peru, with whom he has a son and a daughter. He has spent much of his adult life in Africa, and speaks Arabic and Swahili. As a young man he served in the Paras, the SAS, and the RUC Special Patrol Group. He later graduated from the University of Leeds, where he studied English Language and Linguistics. Asher attended Stamford School, a direct-grant grammar school, now independent. Michael Asher was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, where his father, Frederick Asher, a chartered surveyor, was a partner in local company of valuers, auctioneers and estate agents: his mother, Kathleen Asher, was a State-Registered Nurse. Acknowledged as one of the world's leading experts on the desert and its nomadic peoples, he has travelled and lived in the Sahara and the Arabian desert, published both non-fiction and fictional works based on his explorations and encounters, and supported the production of several documentaries based on his published works. Michael Asher FRSL (born 1953) is an English desert explorer, writer, historian, and deep ecologist.
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