Russell Ash wrote for both adults and children on a diverse range of subjects, including reference, art, history, biography and humour. He lived in Lewes, East Sussex, from 1991 until his death from a heart attack. He was married to Caroline Ash, fundraiser with the Malaria Consortium, and has a daughter and two sons. However, his principal occupation was that of freelance author, having written or contributed to over a hundred non-fiction books. Dame Edna Everage), and Pavilion Books in 1984–88, where he published works by satirist John Wells, Hockney Posters and numerous other illustrated books. He was also a director of Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 1980–83, where he worked with authors including comedian Barry Humphries (a.k.a. In 1973, with his friend Ian Grant, Russell Ash established the publishing company Ash & Grant, that ran for five years.

He worked as a picture researcher for Man, Myth & Magic and a researcher/writer for Reader's Digest Books and as European Correspondent for Newsweek Books on their Wonders of Man series. He studied anthropology and geography at St Cuthbert's Society, Durham University, and began a publishing career in 1967. The family moved to Bedford, where he attended primary school and Bedford Modern School. His father worked as a bookbinder for the British Museum Library and also served in the RAF in the Second World War.

Russell Ash was born in Surrey, a descendant of a family of craftsmen – goldsmiths and silversmiths in 18th-century London that included Claudius Ash (1792–1854), one of the pioneering inventors of false teeth. Once described as 'the human Google', his obituary in The Times stated that 'In the age of the internet, it takes tenacity and idiosyncratic intelligence to make a living from purveying trivial information. Russell Ash (18 June 1946 – 21 June 2010) was the British author of the Top 10 of Everything series of books, as well as Great Wonders of the World, Incredible Comparisons and many other reference, art and humour titles, most notably his series of books on strange-but-true names, Potty, Fartwell & Knob, Busty, Slag and Nob End and (for children) Big Pants, Burpy and Bumface.

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema by Russell Ash