Laurie Taylor (sociologist)
Encyclopedia
Laurence John "Laurie" Taylor (born 1 August 1936) is an English
sociologist
and radio
presenter originally from Liverpool
.
at the same time as Liverpool poet, Roger McGough
, Taylor first trained as an actor at Rose Bruford College
, being associated with Joan Littlewood
's Theatre Workshop
in Stratford East
. He also worked as a teacher at a comprehensive school. After earning degrees in sociology
and psychology
, as a mature student, at Birkbeck College
and the University of Leicester
, he joined the department of sociology at the University of York
, becoming a professor at that institution. He is retired from this position.
He has a particular interest in criminology
and was one of the founder members of the National Deviancy Conference. Perhaps his best known early work was the book co-written with Stanley Cohen
: Escape Attempts: The Theory and Practice of Resistance to Everyday Life. The book arose from research into the wellbeing of long term prisoners. He has also collaborated on research with bank robber turned author John McVicar
.
Taylor is sometimes thought to be the model for Howard Kirk in Malcolm Bradbury's
novel The History Man
although Bradbury and Taylor had not met at the time the book was written. Taylor was a member of the Trotskyist
International Socialists
. For many years he was a regular participant on Robert Robinson's fiercely competitive talking programme Stop the Week
, later presented The Radio Programme and took on The Afternoon Shift
, a re-branding of the ill-fated programme presented by Gerry Anderson
. His media associates have included Tom Baker
and Victor Lewis-Smith
.
Since 1998, Taylor has regularly presented the discussion programme Thinking Allowed
on BBC Radio 4
, a series mainly devoted to the social sciences. In addition, he is well known in academic circles for his long-running column in the Times Higher Education Supplement as well as for New Humanist
magazine and being a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association
. He is also the presenter of In Confidence
, a series which comprises in-depth interviews with interesting public figures.
He was awarded an honorary DLitt
by the University of Leicester
in 2007.
on BBC Radio 4. He was previously married to journalist Sustainable Development Commission UK (SDC) Anna Coote, a former deputy editor of the New Statesman
, who has also been associated with various public organisations.
Taylor's son, Matthew
is Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Arts
. Matthew Taylor and his stepmother, Cathie, have had directorships of the Institute for Public Policy Research
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
sociologist
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
and radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
presenter originally from Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
.
Academic career
After attending Roman Catholic schools including the direct grant grammar school (now independent) St Mary's College in CrosbyCrosby, Merseyside
Crosby is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, in Merseyside, England. Historically part of Lancashire it is situated north of Bootle, south of Southport, Formby and west of Netherton-History:...
at the same time as Liverpool poet, Roger McGough
Roger McGough
Roger Joseph McGough CBE is a well-known English performance poet. He presents the BBC Radio 4 programme Poetry Please and records voice-overs for commercials, as well as performing his own poetry regularly...
, Taylor first trained as an actor at Rose Bruford College
Rose Bruford College
Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance is a British drama school, offering university-level and professional vocational training for theatre and performance and the BA and MA degrees, based in Sidcup, Southeast London.-History:Founded in 1950, Rose Bruford "pioneered the first acting degree...
, being associated with Joan Littlewood
Joan Littlewood
Joan Maud Littlewood was a British theatre director, noted for her work in developing the left-wing Theatre Workshop...
's Theatre Workshop
Theatre Workshop
Theatre Workshop is a theatre group noted for their director, Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company...
in Stratford East
Stratford, London
Stratford is a place in the London Borough of Newham, England. It is located east northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an agrarian settlement in the ancient parish of West Ham, which transformed into an industrial suburb...
. He also worked as a teacher at a comprehensive school. After earning degrees in sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
and psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, as a mature student, at Birkbeck College
Birkbeck, University of London
Birkbeck, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It offers many Master's and Bachelor's degree programmes that can be studied either part-time or full-time, though nearly all teaching is...
and the University of Leicester
University of Leicester
The University of Leicester is a research-led university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is a mile south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park and Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College....
, he joined the department of sociology at the University of York
University of York
The University of York , is an academic institution located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects...
, becoming a professor at that institution. He is retired from this position.
He has a particular interest in criminology
Criminology
Criminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society...
and was one of the founder members of the National Deviancy Conference. Perhaps his best known early work was the book co-written with Stanley Cohen
Stanley Cohen (sociologist)
Professor Stanley Cohen is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics.-Life:Cohen was born in Johannesberg, South Africa in 1942. He grew up in South Africa and was an undergraduate at the University of Witwatersrand, studying Sociology and Social Work. He came to London in...
: Escape Attempts: The Theory and Practice of Resistance to Everyday Life. The book arose from research into the wellbeing of long term prisoners. He has also collaborated on research with bank robber turned author John McVicar
John McVicar
John McVicar is a British journalist and one-time convicted armed robber.-Career:In the 1960s, he was an armed robber who was tagged "Public Enemy No. 1" by Scotland Yard. He was apprehended and given a 23-year jail sentence. He escaped from prison on several occasions and after his final...
.
Taylor is sometimes thought to be the model for Howard Kirk in Malcolm Bradbury's
Malcolm Bradbury
Sir Malcolm Stanley Bradbury CBE was an English author and academic.-Life:Bradbury was the son of a railwayman. His family moved to London in 1935, but returned to Sheffield in 1941 with his brother and mother...
novel The History Man
The History Man
The History Man is a campus novel by the British author Malcolm Bradbury set in 1972 in the fictional seaside town of Watermouth in the South of England. Watermouth bears some resemblance to Brighton. For example, there is a frequent and fast train service to London.-Plot introduction:Howard Kirk...
although Bradbury and Taylor had not met at the time the book was written. Taylor was a member of the Trotskyist
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
International Socialists
Media
Taylor has had an extensive broadcasting career on BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
. For many years he was a regular participant on Robert Robinson's fiercely competitive talking programme Stop the Week
Stop The Week
Stop the Week was a long running BBC Radio 4 discussion programme chaired by Robert Robinson which ran from 1974–1992-Origins:The BBC Radio's Current Affairs Department decided that it wanted a programme that would act as a bookend to Monday morning's Start the Week with Richard Baker, which had...
, later presented The Radio Programme and took on The Afternoon Shift
The Afternoon Shift
The Afternoon Shift was a magazine programme on BBC Radio 4 that replaced the ill-fated Anderson Country. Running between 2 and 3pm, it was broadcast from 1995 and 1998. The programme was presented on Mondays and Fridays by Laurie Taylor and on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays by Daire Brehan....
, a re-branding of the ill-fated programme presented by Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson (broadcaster)
Gerald Michael Anderson, known professionally as Gerry Anderson , is a Sony Award-winning radio and television broadcaster from Derry, Northern Ireland who works for BBC Northern Ireland, and is a member of the Radio Academy Hall of fame...
. His media associates have included Tom Baker
Tom Baker
Thomas Stewart "Tom" Baker is a British actor. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, a role he played from 1974 to 1981.-Early life:...
and Victor Lewis-Smith
Victor Lewis-Smith
Victor Lewis-Smith is a British satirist, producer, critic and prankster. He is known for his sarcasm and biting criticism.-Radio and recordings:...
.
Since 1998, Taylor has regularly presented the discussion programme Thinking Allowed
Thinking Allowed
Thinking Allowed is a radio discussion programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday afternoons between 16:00 and 16:30 and repeated between 00:15 and 00:45 on Monday mornings. It focuses on the latest social science research and is hosted by Laurie Taylor, who was formerly a Professor of...
on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
, a series mainly devoted to the social sciences. In addition, he is well known in academic circles for his long-running column in the Times Higher Education Supplement as well as for New Humanist
New Humanist
New Humanist is a monthly magazine published by the Rationalist Association in the UK. It has been in print for 125 years; starting out life as Watts's Literary Guide, founded by C. A. Watts in November 1885....
magazine and being a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association
British Humanist Association
The British Humanist Association is an organisation of the United Kingdom which promotes Humanism and represents "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs." The BHA is committed to secularism, human rights, democracy, egalitarianism and mutual respect...
. He is also the presenter of In Confidence
In Confidence
In Confidence is a British television series presented by Laurie Taylor in which a one-on-one in depth interview with a public figure takes place over the course of about an hour. The object of the interview is to try to get to the bottom of who the subject really is and how they think...
, a series which comprises in-depth interviews with interesting public figures.
He was awarded an honorary DLitt
Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters is a university academic degree, often a higher doctorate which is frequently awarded as an honorary degree in recognition of outstanding scholarship or other merits.-Commonwealth:...
by the University of Leicester
University of Leicester
The University of Leicester is a research-led university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is a mile south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park and Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College....
in 2007.
Personal life
Taylor is divorced from his third wife (whom he married in December 1988 in Camden), radio producer Cathie Mahoney who works on Loose EndsLoose Ends (radio)
Loose Ends is a British radio programme originally broadcast on Saturday mornings, and then transmitted early Saturday evenings from 1998 by BBC Radio 4. It was hosted by Ned Sherrin until he became ill in late 2006 with a reported throat infection, and later throat cancer...
on BBC Radio 4. He was previously married to journalist Sustainable Development Commission UK (SDC) Anna Coote, a former deputy editor of the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
, who has also been associated with various public organisations.
Taylor's son, Matthew
Matthew Taylor (Labour politician)
Matthew Taylor is Chief Executive of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce in the United Kingdom.-Background:...
is Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Arts
Royal Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London. The name Royal Society of Arts is frequently used for brevity...
. Matthew Taylor and his stepmother, Cathie, have had directorships of the Institute for Public Policy Research
Institute for Public Policy Research
The IPPR is the leading progressive think-tank in the UK. It produces research and policy ideas committed to upholding values of social justice, democratic reform and environmental sustainability. IPPR is based in London and IPPR North has branches in Newcastle and Manchester.It was founded in...
.
External links
- Laurie Taylor biography at Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
's websiteWebsiteA website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet... - BBC news item linking Taylor with Howard Kirk, The History Man
- Laurie Taylor's weekly "Poppletonian" column published in the Times Higher Education
- Thinking Allowed
- Celebrity Model Management (agents page)
- A short interview with LT at Really Magazine (2006)