Peter Taylor (journalist)

For other people named Peter Taylor, see Peter Taylor (disambiguation).

Peter Taylor, OBE,[1] born in 1942 in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire, is a British journalist and documentary-maker.

Taylor is best known for his coverage of the political and armed conflict in Northern Ireland, widely known as the Troubles, and for his investigation of Al Qaeda and Islamist extremism in the wake of 9/11. He also has a distinguished track record in covering the issue of smoking and health and the politics of tobacco for which he was awarded the WHO Gold Medal for Services to Public Health. He has written books and researched, written and presented television documentaries over a period of more than forty years.[2]

In 2014, Taylor was awarded both a Royal Television Society lifetime achievement award and a BAFTA special award.

Education

Taylor was educated at Scarborough High School for Boys (now known as Graham School), a state boys' grammar school, followed by Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he read Classics, Modern History and Social and Political Sciences.[3]

Life and career

Taylor's career reporting on political violence began with ITV’s This Week in 1967, and continued with BBC TV’s Panorama from 1980 to 2014. His most recent Panorama Special, The Spies Who Fooled the World, investigated the intelligence used to justify the Iraq War. He has made many authored series for BBC1 and BBC2 on the security and intelligence services and five documentary series since the 9/11 attacks on Al Qaeda and Islamist extremism, culminating in his acclaimed The Secret War on Terror[4] to mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11 which the Financial Times described as "a small masterpiece of clarity as to our present condition."[5] In 2015, he investigated the funding of ISIS in his programme World's Richest Terror Army.

Taylor has written eight books on political violence, his latest being Talking to Terrorists. A Personal Journey from the IRA to Al Qaeda. Others include Beating the Terrorists? Interrogation in Omagh, Gough and Castlereagh, and his Northern Ireland trilogy on the Troubles called, Provos: The IRA and Sinn Féin, Loyalists, and Brits: The War against the IRA. Each book deals with the Northern Irish conflict from the perspective of one of the three main parties involved: the Provisional IRA; the various Ulster loyalist paramilitary groups; and the British government and security forces. The trilogy provides an insight into all the main groups involved and the violent and political events that occurred throughout this turbulent period in Anglo-Irish history. Taylor's books feature interviews with people connected to some of the most significant incidents and landmark political events in Northern Ireland during this time.

In 2007, he wrote and presented the BBC four-part series, Age of Terror. In April 2012, he was presenter and reporter for the BBC2 two-part series Modern Spies, in which he interviewed serving members of MI5, the Secret Intelligence Service and GCHQ (anonymously). The Guardian described it as “meticulously researched and enviably sourced”.[6]

His ground-breaking documentaries on smoking and health and the politics of tobacco include four for ITV in the 1970s: Dying for a Fag (ITV’s This Week 1975); Licence to Kill; Ashes to Ashes (ITV’s This Week 1976); and Death in the West. The Marlboro Story. In the 1980s he continued his investigations into the tobacco industry with BBC TV’s Panorama programme: A Dying Industry (BBC 1980) and The Habit the Government can’t Break (BBC 1985). He also published his seminal book, Smoke Ring. The Politics of Tobacco in 1985. In May/June 2014, a new BBC series, Burning Desire was aired with Taylor as the presenter.

In 2014, he was awarded a Royal Television Society lifetime achievement award and a BAFTA special award for his career's contribution to factual and current affairs television. Awarding Taylor his BAFTA, Sir Jeremy Isaacs described him as "Mr Valiant for the Truth".

In 2015, Taylor secured the first British television interview with former CIA analyst Edward Snowden, living in exile in Moscow, for BBC Panorama.

He was married to fellow journalist Susan McConachy from 1974 until her death on 16 November 2006. They had two children, Ben and Sam.[7] He is the older brother of John Taylor, the former London Weekend Television and London News Network news reporter.

Awards

Taylor has been the recipient of numerous awards:[3]

Publications

References

  1. ↑ "Birthday Honours 2002; OBEs N-Z". BBC News. 14 June 2002. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  2. ↑ "BBC News – Panorama – Peter Taylor". BBC News. London: BBC. 10 December 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Mr Peter Taylor". York St John University. 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  4. ↑ "The Secret War on Terror". BBC Two. 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  5. ↑ Lloyd, John (25 March 2011). "The winds of gradual change". Financial Times. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  6. ↑ Wollaston, Sam (14 March 2011). "TV review: Twenty Twelve; The Secret War on Terror". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  7. ↑ Isaacs, Jeremy (23 November 2006). "Obituary: Susan McConachy". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  8. ↑ "Peter Taylor honoured with RTS Lifetime Achievement Award". BBC. 20 February 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
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