Clive Taylor (1926/27 – 18 April 1977
/ref>) was a British journalist who worked as the cricket correspondent of ''

The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...

'' from 1964 to 1977. A "slim, handsome man",

John Arlott Leslie Thomas John Arlott, (25 February 1914 – 14 December 1991) was an English journalist, author and cricket commentator for the BBC's '' Test Match Special''. He was also a poet and wine connoisseur. With his poetic phraseology, he becam ...

, obituary in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 25 April 1977 Taylor was a useful club cricketer in his youth. He started his career in

Reg Hayter Reginald James Hayter (4 December 1913 – 13 March 1994) was an English cricket journalist who founded his own sports reporting agency. He was also editor of ''The Cricketer'' from 1978 to 1981. Early life and career Born in Paddington, Hayter a ...

's sports reporting agency and the ''

Morning Advertiser ''Morning Advertiser'' is an online pub trade news publication in the UK. It is one of the oldest news publications in the world, beginning as a newspaper in 1794 and being published in hard copy until 2020. In 2011, William Reed Ltd, bough ...

''. Ian Wooldridge, obituary in ''

The Cricketer ''The Cricketer'' is a monthly English cricket magazine providing writing and photography from international, county, club and schools cricket. Overview The magazine was founded in 1921 by Sir Pelham Warner, an ex-England captain turned cric ...

'', June 1977. His work in the latter impressed Bernie Coleman, a member of the

Test and County Cricket Board The Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB) was the sports governing body, governing body for Test cricket, Test and county cricket in Great Britain between 1968 and 1996. The TCCB was established in 1968 to replace the functions of the Board of Con ...

committee, who recommended him to ''

''. He was hired by Frank Nicklin, the sports editor of ''The Sun'', in September 1964. Unusually for the newspaper, Taylor was given the freedom to write "as he pleased". ''The Sun'' billed him as "The Man The Players Read". Taylor continued at ''The Sun'' till his death. Taylor died following an illness contracted while touring India with the England team in 1976-77. John Woodcock, the then cricket correspondent of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' wrote on his death that Taylor "could have done any of our jobs, only better".

wrote in ''

'' that Taylor's "writing was as orderly as his thought, yet constantly enlivened" by interesting phrases. Perhaps the most famous of Taylor's phrases was about David Steele, bespectacled and grey-haired going out to face

Dennis Lillee Dennis Keith Lillee, (born 18 July 1949) is a retired Australian cricketer rated as the "outstanding fast bowler of his generation".

and

Jeff Thomson Jeffrey Robert Thomson (born 16 August 1950) is a former Australian cricketer. Known as "Thommo", he is one of the fastest bowlers in the history of cricket; he bowled a delivery with a speed of 160.6 km/h against the West Indies in Perth ...

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, who he described as the "bank clerk who went to war". Taylor was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

but shortly after his marriage with Elsa, he moved to

Bridport Bridport is a market town and civil parish in Dorset, England, inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the River Asker, Asker. Its origins are Anglo-Saxons, Saxon and it has a long history as a ...

near

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

. They had a daughter Lynn. The Clive Taylor Prize is given to a student in

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

for outstanding sport journalism.

Notes

* The date of his death appears as 18 April in ''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

'', 19 April in ''

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Clive 1920s births 1977 deaths Journalists from London English sports journalists