the best-seller lists following the lifting of an ex-parte injunction granted to the Ministry of Defence in September 1995. The veracity of McNab's first book, Bravo Two Zero, has been questioned by Michael Asher, an explorer, Arabist and former SAS reservist, who visited Iraq with a Channel 4 film crew, and interviewed many eyewitnesses. Asher concluded that much of what McNab wrote was a fabrication, and that there was no evidence that the Bravo Two Zero patrol accounted for a single enemy casualty. Moreover, McNab's account and that of his comrade Chris Ryan are contradictory on many points. This has been corroborated by Peter Ratcliffe, who was regimental sergeant major of 22 SAS Regiment during the Gulf War, who stated that, in a debriefing to the entire Regiment, recorded on video, none of the patrol members mentioned contacts with large numbers of enemies or any of the other extraordinary incidents included in the books. Asher's conclusion was that the book's claim to be "the true story of an SAS patrol in action" was a fraud. McNab now lives in New York City with his fifth wife. He is a director of military service recruitment, mentoring and Foundation organisation, ForceSelect. In August 2014, McNab was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue. In the 2017 Birthday Honours, McNab was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to literacy and charity. The award recognised his charity work with The Reading Agency promoting literacy, particularly in young adults and prisoners. The award was gazetted under the name "Andrew McNab". Fiction writing McNab is the author of a number of action thrillers written with the help of a ghostwriter. The Nick Stone Missions are a successful series based on an ex-SAS soldier working on deniable operations for British intelligence. The series draws extensively on McNab's experiences and knowledge of Special Forces soldiering. The Boy Soldier Series was written with the co-operation of Robert Rigby and follows a boy named Danny Watts and his grandfather Fergus, apparently a rogue ex-SAS soldier. McNab has also written books for Quick Reads, a charity that supports World Book day. BBC raw words offers exclusive audio versions of the latest Quick Reads by Andy McNab, Last Night