Ian Usher (born 25 July 1963) is an English traveller, author and public speaker. He is best known for his 2008 "life for sale" listing on

eBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...

following divorce from his wife, Laura.

Early life

Usher grew up in

Barnard Castle Barnard Castle (, ) is a market town on the north bank of the River Tees, in County Durham, England. The town is named after and built around a medieval castle ruin. The town's Bowes Museum has an 18th-century Silver Swan automaton exhibit ...

, Co Durham, England and attended the

Barnard Castle School Barnard Castle School (colloquially Barney School or locally the County School) is a co-educational private day and boarding school in the market town of Barnard Castle, County Durham, in the North East of England. It is a member of The Head ...

. Following school, he lived on a

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

in Israel and travelled through Europe. He gained a

BEd A bed is a piece of furniture that is used as a place to sleep, rest, and relax. Most modern beds consist of a soft, cushioned mattress on a bed frame. The mattress rests either on a solid base, often wood slats, or a sprung base. Many beds ...

teaching degree in Outdoor Education at Liverpool Polytechnic in 1985.

Career

He worked with British Rail as a Youth Leadership and Teamwork Counselor before opening Scarborough Jet Skiing on England's north east coast with his partner, Bruce Jones. In 2001 he moved to Australia where he worked in sales, marketing and management. In 2008, after the break up of his marriage, Usher listed his "life for sale" on eBay. He gained world-wide notoriety. The final price was $399,300.00 (=250 000€). His stated goal for the eBay auction was a "fresh start," so, following the sale, he travelled across the world in pursuit of a series of 100 goals, scheduled to be done in 100 weeks. His two-year "bucket list" ended in New York City in the crown of the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; ) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, within New York City. The copper-clad statue, a gift to the United States from the people of French Thir ...

on 4 July 2010. File:IanUsher CannesFilmFestival.JPG, Usher on the red carpet at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

in May 2009, achieving the 43rd goal on his list of 100 File:Ian Usher Great Wall of China.JPG, Usher visiting the

Great Wall of China The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand ''li'' long wall") is a series of fortifications in China. They were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against vario ...

in November 2009, achieving the 64th goal on his list of 100 File:Ian Usher Christmas Island Crabs.JPG, Usher visiting

Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an States and territories of Australia#External territories, Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean comprising the island of the same name. It is about south o ...

in December 2009 to see the march of the red crabs, achieving the 67th goal on his list of 100

Books

He wrote two books, 2008's ''A Life Sold'' and 2013's ''Paradise Delayed''. In ''A Life Sold'', he documented two years of travel. The movie rights were purchased by

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film Film production company, production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios (division), the Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company. The st ...

, which commissioned a project called ''Life for Sale''. It was scheduled to be produced by Andrew Panay.

References

External links

100goals100weeks.com

IanUsher.com
– personal website {{DEFAULTSORT:Usher, Ian 1963 births Living people 21st-century English writers People educated at Barnard Castle School