Researching Brian Taylor

Known as "Tonker" Taylor for his forthright approach to batting and his evident enjoyment of the game, Taylor was a high-class wicketkeeper who was thought of in his early playing days as a potential successor to Godfrey Evans as England's keeper. He was named as Young Cricketer of the Year in 1956 by the Cricket Writers' Club, his first full season, though he had made his first-class debut seven years earlier. He toured South Africa with the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) side in 1956-57 as understudy to Evans, but did not feature in any of the Test matches as Evans had one of his most brilliant Test series.

In the event, his left-handed batting did not develop as much as had been hoped, and the Test call never came. But Taylor still had a long and distinguished career in county cricket. From 1961 to 1972, he played in 301 consecutive County Championship matches for Essex, and he captained the county from 1967 to 1973, when he retired. Under his captaincy, Essex assembled the nucleus of the young team that was to bring the county its first-ever trophies in the years after Taylor retired.

In all cricket, Taylor made 1,294 dismissals, which puts him seventh on the all-time list of wicketkeepers. He also made more than 19,000 runs in a total of 572 first-class matches. He was selected as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1972. He was a Test selector for England from 1973. He took part in the first cricket tour of Bangladesh when MCC visited in 1976-77.

He also played football with Bexleyheath and Welling and Deal Town in the Kent League and Southern League.

He died in 2017.

Taylor was born in Southend-on-Sea, in Essex, England. Among his other career wins were the Princess Margaret Stakes (1971), Cherry Hinton Stakes (1971), Cork and Orrery Stakes (1973), Earl of Sefton Stakes (1977), Sandown Classic Trial (1978), July Cup (1971), Derby Stakes (1974, on Snow Knight), John Porter Stakes (1981), Ormonde Stakes (1981), Craven Stakes (1983), and in France, the Prix Gontaut-Biron (1984).

While racing at the Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong on 8 December 1984, his mount, Silver Star (銀星一號), stumbled, throwing him off his saddle while crossing the finish line. Taylor would succumb two days later in hospital from the serious neck and head injuries he had received.

Taylor had suffered from shingles however had recovered, his friend Bill Burnett wanted him to find someone else to replace him for that race in fact English Wally Hood offered to take the ride. At the last minute, however, he decided to do the race himself which turned out to be his last.

Less than 10 months before Taylor's fall, Silver Star also ended the career of another top jockey at the time, Frenchman Philippe Paquet, by throwing the jockey onto the sand track during morning training on 13 February 1984, in similar fashion. Paquet suffered a fractured skull and remained in a coma for more than three months before regaining consciousness.

In 2009, he presented Holyrood and the Search for Scotland's Soul, a documentary by BBC Scotland Investigates to mark the 10th anniversary of the devolved Scottish Parliament.