Researching Mark Taylor

He was Test opening batsman from 1988 to 1999, as well as captain from 1994 to 1999, succeeding Allan Border. His predominant fielding position was first slip. He was widely regarded as an instrumental component in Australia's rise to Test cricket dominance, and his captaincy was regarded as adventurous and highly effective. However, he was considered less than ideal for One-Day International cricket and was eventually dropped as one-day captain after a 0–3 drubbing at the hands of England in 1997.

He moved to Wagga Wagga in 1972 and played for Lake Albert Cricket Club. His debut was for New South Wales in 1985.

He retired from Test cricket on 2 February 1999. In 104 Test matches, he scored 7,525 runs with a batting average of 43.49, including 19 centuries and 40 fifties. He was also an excellent first slip – his 157 catches, at the time, a Test record (now held by Rahul Dravid). In contrast to his predecessor Allan Border, who acquired the nickname 'Captain Grumpy', Taylor won plaudits for his always cheerful and positive demeanour. His successor, Steve Waugh, further honed the Australian team built by Border and Taylor and went on to set numerous records for victories as captain. Having been named Australian of the Year in 1999, he is now a cricket commentator for the Nine Network, and former Director of Cricket Australia.

Taylor began racing in Formula Ford in his native Britain, winning the 1997 Winter Championship. He finished 8th in the main championship in 1999 while also finishing 4th in European Formula Ford that year. He won the 2000 European championship and was also runner-up in the British championship.

Taylor moved to the British Formula Three Championship in 2001 and finished 9th. The following year he captured his first win and finished 7th in points.

In 2003 Taylor moved to the American Infiniti Pro Series. He dominated the field, winning 7 of the 12 races in the season driving the #4 car for the Fulmar Panther team. He graduated to the IndyCar Series driving the #2 for Team Menard in 2004. However, while showing good speed, particularly in qualifying, he struggled to adapt to the top series. He was involved in accidents in five of his six starts (including the Indy 500) before he was dropped in favor of Townsend Bell.

After missing only one race, he was drafted by Greg Ray's Access Motorsports to drive the #13 car. He was unable to repeat his qualifying performances from earlier in the season but showed maturity in the car to finish 7 of his 9 races for Access with a best finish of 7th place.

He is also credited on the Aardman Animations film Chicken Run for his work on the story reel.

Mark directed on the pre school show Driver Dan's Story Train which is currently shown on CBeebies, ABC in Australia, and on PBS Sprout in the US. He has written scripts for show under his writing name Art Taylor, as well as voicing the character 'red Vroom'.

He directed the second season of 52 x 11 minutes CG animated show Numtums for CBeebies.

In 2020 he directed the animated Sesame Street special "Monster at the end of this story" which is streaming on HBO Max. He is also credited as one of the exec producers.

Taylor ran again for City Council in 2014 and was returned to office as Bay Ward Councillor. He was appointed by Council one of the city of Ottawa's two Deputy Mayors for the 2014–2018 term of council.

Taylor grew up in the Queensway Terrace North neighbourhood and attended Severn Avenue Public School, Pinecrest Intermediate School and Woodroffe High School. He attended Carleton University to study History and Anthropology but did not complete his degree.

In 1998, Taylor became a retail manager at Time Cellular, a Rogers AT&T dealership. He later became a co-owner and chief information officer of the company.

Taylor's past political experience involved working as the executive assistant to Liberal Member of Provincial Parliament and Cabinet Minister Jim Watson, who was elected mayor in 2010.

Mark Taylor is one of ten new councillors elected in the 2010 Ottawa Municipal Elections. He won 38% of the vote in a field of eight candidates for Bay ward councillor.

From 2010 to 2014 Taylor was the chairman of the Community and Protective Services Committee, which is responsible for parks and recreation, fire and paramedic services and community and social services. He was a member of the Planning Committee, the Finance and Economic Development Committee and the Information Technology Sub-committee.

In the 2014–2018 term of Ottawa City Council Taylor was selected as one of the city's two Deputy Mayors. His areas of policy responsibility are Housing and Homelessness, Older Adult / Seniors issues, Economic Development and Innovation. Taylor also serves as a member of the Board of Ottawa Public Health, a Board member of the Ottawa Community Housing Corporation, a member of the Environment Committee, and a member of the Finance and Economic Development Committee.

In addition to working within city government Taylor has contributed to several arms length organizations including:

* a contributor to the Institute of Research for Public Policy on Seniors issues* a member of the board of directors of the United Way of Ottawa* a member of the board of directors of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario* a member of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario Task Force on Affordable Housing

Mark Taylor (born 1 December 1966 in Farnborough, Kent, England) is a sound effects mixer.

Taylor has won two Primetime Emmy Awards. The first in 2000 for his work on RKO 281, and his second in 2002 for Band of Brothers: Carentan. In 2014, Taylor and his fellow sound mixers were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing for the 2013 film Captain Phillips. Mark Taylor was nominated again at the 88th Academy Awards for the film The Martian. In 2020, he received his third Academy Award nomination and first win for Best Sound Mixing for the 2019 film, 1917, at the 92nd Academy Awards.

Taylor started to play drums at the age of five, and played with Eddie Thompson and Al Cohn as a teenager. He worked with Kenny Barron, George Coleman, Johnny Griffin, Pharoah Sanders, and Bobby Watson early in his career. His other associations include work with Alan Barnes, Gordon Beck, Mike Carr, Geoff Castle, Alec Dankworth, John Dankworth, Kenny Drew, Chris Flory, Herb Geller, Dick Morrissey, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Pizza Express All Stars, Lew Tabackin, Uncle John Renshaw, Ken Colyer and John Taylor.