Chris Auty, also known as Barney or N@rby, is one of the most renowned of Counter-Strike mappers. Aged eighteen, Barney is of typical age for a successful mapper, and his maps in official releases include cs_thunder (since removed), de_vertigo, de_aztec and de_inferno. He has also contributed a number of custom maps to the Cyberathlete Professional League, for example de_clan1_mill and de_clan2_fire, which were designed to be perfectly balanced for either faction.
Perhaps the reason that Barney has gained so much popularity is that his maps have an initial beauty and elegance that draws the player in, while also rewarding the dedicated player with numerous subtleties and tactical opportunities. de_aztec is certainly in the Top 5 most played maps on public servers, and de_vertigo enjoys some popularity if not as much. The latter map is based on the famous Alfred Hitchcock film Vertigo.
Barney is currently working on de_comrade, which is tipped for inclusion in CS 1.5, and is also working on Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and an update to the popular but unbalanced de_inferno.
His original nickname of Barney is taken from the Half-Life character, while N@rby was a mispelling of the original name by Counter-Strike's creator Cliffe.
Credit For This Souce
Barney's website http://csnation.counter-strike.net/barney/
The readme's for his various maps and playing them at great length was a source of inspiration!
Barney also conducted an interview with PC Gamer UK a while back, which proved useful.