Bill Ash is one of a rare breed - an American prepared to sacrifice his citizenship and risk his life to fight the Nazis at a time when the USA was not yet in the war. He left the 'Hungry 30s' to join the Royal Canadian Air Force and before long found himself in England, flying Spitfires in combat. Then, in March 1942, Bill was shot down over the Pas de Calais.  He survived the crash-landing and, thanks to the bravery of local civilians, evaded capture for months.

It was in Paris that he was betrayed to the Gestapo. Tortured and sentenced to death as a spy, he was saved from the firing squad by the intervention of the Luftwaffe who sent him to the 'Great Escape' POW camp, Stalag Luft III.  From there, Bill - already branded a trouble-maker by his captors - began his extraordinary 'tour' of Occupied Europe, breaking out of one camp, being dispatched to the next - in Poland, Germany and Lithuania. Bill became one of only a handful of serial escape artists to attempt more than a dozen break-outs - over the wire, under it in tunnels, through it with cutters or simply strolling out of the camp gates in disguise.

These were years of extraordinary hardship, frustration and brutality - each time he was recaptured his punishment was a long spell in solitary.  He was a real-life 'Cooler king'- but through it all he maintained not just remarkable courage, but also an anarchic sense of humour, great humanity and an unstoppable desire for freedom. From its honest, funny and exciting reflections on life in wartime Britain to the vivid, compelling, sometimes poignant recollections of his time as a POW, UNDER THE WIRE is more than just another memoir. It stands as a tribute to the bravery and resolve, not only of Bill Ash, but of an entire generation. In the words of top writer Alan Plater "Bill Ash makes Steve McQueen look like Jim Carrey".