Ian Usher | |
|---|---|
 Usher (left) meeting Richard Branson in 2009, fulfilling one of his goals | |
| Born | 25 July 1963 Durham, England |
| Nationality | English |
| Known for | Selling his life on eBay, writing |
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 [1] following divorce from his wife, Laura. [2]
Usher grew up in Barnard Castle, Co Durham, England and attended the Barnard Castle School.
Following school, he lived on a kibbutz in Israel and travelled through Europe. He gained a BEd teaching degree in Outdoor Education at Liverpool Polytechnic in 1985. [3] [4]
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. [3]
In 2008, after the break up of his marriage, Usher listed his "life for sale" on eBay. He gained world-wide notoriety. [5] [6] The final price was $309,292. [7]
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 on 4 July 2010. [8] [9]
He wrote two books, 2008's A Life Sold [10] and 2013's Paradise Delayed. [11] In A Life Sold, he documented two years of travel. The movie rights were purchased by Walt Disney Pictures, which commissioned a project called Life for Sale. [12] It was scheduled to be produced by Andrew Panay. [13]
An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition exist and are described in the section about different types. The branch of economic theory dealing with auction types and participants' behavior in auctions is called auction theory.
Billy Ray Cyrus is an American country singer, songwriter and actor. Having released 16 studio albums and 53 singles since 1992, he is known for his hit single "Achy Breaky Heart", which topped the U.S. Hot Country Songs chart and became the first single ever to achieve triple platinum status in Australia. It was also the best-selling single in the same country in 1992. Due to the song's music video, the line dance rose in popularity.
Kaboom! is an action video game published in 1981 by Activision for the Atari 2600. The game involves a Mad Bomber dropping bombs at increasing speeds as the player controls a set of water buckets to catch them. The gameplay was based on the Atari arcade video game Avalanche (1978). Kaboom! was programmed by Larry Kaplan with David Crane coding the graphics for the buckets and Mad Bomber. It was the last game designed by Kaplan for Activision, who left the company shortly after it was released. The game was later ported by Paul Wilson for the Atari 5200 system.
Usher Raymond IV is an American singer, songwriter, and dancer. He is recognized as an influential figure in contemporary R&B and pop music. In 1994, Usher first released his self-titled debut album at the age of 15 under the mentorship of record executive Sean "Diddy" Combs, and rose to fame in the late 1990s following the release of his second album, My Way (1997). It spawned his first Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "Nice & Slow", and the top-two singles "You Make Me Wanna..." and the title track. His third album, 8701 (2001) saw continued success and contained two number-one singles, "U Remind Me" and "U Got It Bad", as well as the top-three single "U Don't Have to Call". It sold eight million copies worldwide and won his first two Grammy Awards for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance consecutively in 2002 and 2003.
Sir David Rowat Barclay and Sir Frederick Hugh Barclay, commonly referred to as the "Barclay Brothers" or "Barclay Twins", were British billionaire brothers, of whom Frederick Barclay is now the sole survivor. They were identical twin brothers and, until the death of David in 2021, had joint business interests primarily in media, retail and property.
David Usher is a British-born Canadian musician, best-selling author, keynote speaker, and activist best known as the front man for the band Moist. He has also released a number of solo albums. He is the founder of Reimagine AI, an artificial intelligence creative studio.
Pitfall! is a video game developed by David Crane for the Atari 2600 and released in 1982 by Activision. The player controls Pitfall Harry, who has a time limit of 20 minutes to seek treasure in a jungle. The game world is populated by enemies and hazards that variously cause the player to lose lives or points.
Family Radio is a non-profit Christian radio network based in Franklin, Tennessee with network operations located in Alameda, California, United States. Established in 1959, Family Radio airs Calvinist teaching and Christian music. The network is most widely known for its false 2011 end times predictions. At one time the 19th largest broadcaster in the United States, with 216 radio stations, the number of stations in the network has dropped drastically following their failed end times predictions.
Disney's Contemporary Resort, originally to be named Tempo Bay Hotel and previously the Contemporary Resort Hotel, is a resort located at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. Opened on October 1, 1971, the hotel is one of two original properties located at the complex alongside Disney's Polynesian Village Resort, and is currently listed as a deluxe-priced resort. It is adjacent to the Magic Kingdom theme park, and is identified by its A-frame main building.
Entenmann's is an American company that manufactures baked goods and delivers them throughout the United States to supermarkets and other retailers for public sales. Often, they are known to have display cases at the end of store aisles. The company offers dessert, cup, loaf, and crumb cakes, and donuts, cookies, pies, cereal bars, muffins, Danish pastries, and among other baked goods, buns. In the past several years, they have added designer coffee flavors along with scented candles to their product line in an effort to broaden its appeal.
Trade Me is New Zealand's largest online auction and classifieds website. Managed by Trade Me Ltd., the site was founded in 1999 by New Zealand entrepreneur Sam Morgan, who sold it to Fairfax in 2006 for NZ$700 million. Trade Me was publicly listed as a separate entity on 13 December 2011 under the ticker "TME". In May 2019, Trade Me was acquired by private equity firm Apax Partners for NZ$2.56 billion. Trade Me Ltd also operates several sister websites including FindSomeone and Holiday Houses.
The Taylor–Burton Diamond, a diamond weighing 68 carats (13.6 g), became famous in 1969 when it was purchased by actors Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Burton had previously been the underbidder when jeweller Cartier bought the diamond at auction for $1,050,000, setting a record price for a publicly sold jewel. Thousands of people in New York and Chicago queued to see the diamond after its 1969 sale. It was subsequently worn by Taylor at Princess Grace of Monaco's 40th birthday, and at the 42nd Academy Awards.
Bega Dairy & Drinks is a subsidiary of Australian diversified food company the Bega Group, having been purchased from the Japanese company Kirin in November 2020. While owned by Kirin, it was known as Lion Dairy & Drinks.
Here I Stand is the fifth studio album by the American singer Usher, released on May 13, 2008, by LaFace Records. Inspired by love for his then-wife—Tameka Foster—and son, Usher recorded many ballads for the album. Prior to the album's recording, Usher split with his mother, Jonnetta Patton, as manager and hired Benny Medina. Usher's estranged father died months before the release of Here I Stand; this also influenced themes of the album. It was originally to be titled Measure of a Man, but the singer named it Here I Stand to mark "a new chapter in life".
Raymond v. Raymond is the sixth studio album by American singer Usher, released on March 26, 2010, by LaFace Records. Production for the album took place in 2009 and was handled by several producers, including Jermaine Dupri, The Runners, Ester Dean, Polow da Don, RedOne, Jim Jonsin, Danja, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Bangladesh, Zaytoven, and Tricky Stewart.
"Papers" is a song by American urban recording artist Usher. The song was a buzz single for his sixth studio album Raymond v. Raymond. It was written by Usher, Alonzo "Gorilla Zoe" Mathis, Sean Garrett and Zaytoven, and was produced by the latter two. Although it was never identified as a track from the album, or as the lead single, it was released to U.S. urban and rhythmic radio stations on October 12, 2009, and subsequently available for digital download on October 16, 2009.
"Hey Daddy (Daddy's Home)" is a song by American singer Usher. It was written by longtime Usher collaborator Rico Love, Usher, Plies as well as Andrew Harr and Jermaine Jackson from production duo The Runners for his sixth studio album Raymond v. Raymond (2010), while production was helmed by Love, Harr, and Jackson. "Hey Daddy (Daddy's Home)" was released as the album's first single in the United States, following the buzz single "Papers". It peaked at number twenty-four on the Billboard Hot 100, and at number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
The Buried Life is a reality documentary series on MTV. The series features Duncan Penn, Jonnie Penn, Ben Nemtin, and Dave Lingwood attempting to complete a list of "100 things to do before you die." The pilot episode aired on January 18, 2010, and the show was renewed for a second season in 2010. On October 25, 2011, The Buried Life announced they wouldn't be doing any more episodes of the show. Shortly after their show's cancellation, the creators said they were working on a "new and improved" show for the network based on the premise of the original series. No new details on a new series have since been released.
Many unusual items have been listed for sale on the auction website eBay. Some were successfully sold, while other auctions were stopped by eBay because the listing breached their policies.
TSS Waterford was a passenger vessel built for the Great Western Railway in 1912. The ship was sold in 1924 and became the Philippine merchant ship Panay which was sunk by Japanese aircraft in 1942.
Rosenberg recently did a rewrite for Disney's Life For Sale, which Andrew Panay is producing.