Kenneth Heywood Taylor FRSA (10 November 1922, in Bolton, Lancashire – 17 April 2011, in CornwallTim Piggott-Smit
Obituary: Ken Taylor
''The Guardian'', 27 April 2011) was an Award-winning English

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

Life

The son of a cotton mill owner from Bolton, Lancashire, Taylor was educated at

Gresham's School Gresham's School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent Day school, day and boarding school) in Holt, Norfolk, Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Bac ...

Holt Holt or holte may refer to: Natural world *Holt (den), an otter den * Holt, an area of woodland Places Australia * Holt, Australian Capital Territory * Division of Holt, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives in Vic ...

.''International Who's Who 2004''
p. 1658
at books.google.com, accessed 10 January 2009 Under the name Ken Taylor, he wrote scripts for television drama in a career spanning more than four decades. In 1964 ''The Devil and John Brown'' received the Best Original Teleplay Award of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain. In the same year, Taylor was named Writer of the Year by the Guild of Television Writers and Directors (later BAFTA) for his trilogy of television plays ''The Seekers''. '' The Jewel in the Crown'', adapted from Paul Scott's ''Raj Quartet'' novels as a fifteen-hour mini-series, earned Ken Taylor an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

nomination in 1984 along with the award as Writer of the Year from the Royal Television Society, while his '' The Camomile Lawn'' (1992), adapted from

Mary Wesley Mary Wesley was the pen name of Mary Aline Siepmann CBE (24 June 191230 December 2002), an English novelist. During her career, she was one of Britain's most successful novelists, selling three million copies of her books, including ten bestsell ...

's book of the same name, received a BAFTA nomination. His adaptation credits also include

Jane Austen Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...

's '' Mansfield Park'', ''The Melancholy Hussar'' by

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

, ''The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd'' by

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

, ''The Birds Fall Down'' by Rebecca West and ''

The Girls of Slender Means ''The Girls of Slender Means'' is a novella written in 1963 by British author Muriel Spark. It was included in Anthony Burgess's 1984 book '' Ninety-Nine Novels: The Best in English since 1939 — A Personal Choice''. In 2022, it was included on ...

'' by Muriel Spark, and '' The Devil's Crown''. In 1953, Taylor married Gillian Dorothea Black and they had two sons and two daughters. One son, adopted, is the Liberal Democrat politician Matthew Taylor.

Awards

* Writers' Guild of Great Britain Best Original Teleplay Award, 1964 *Guild of Television Writers and Directors' Writer of the Year Award, 1964 *

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

Writers' Award, 1984 * Fellow of the

Royal Society of Antiquaries The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland is a learned society based in Ireland, whose aims are "to preserve, examine and illustrate all ancient monuments and memorials of the arts, manners and customs of the past, as connected with the antiqu ...

, 2008

References

External links

*
Official web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Kenneth 1922 births 2011 deaths English male screenwriters People educated at Gresham's School People from Bolton Writers from Lancashire British male television writers English television writers