Taylor served in the RAF and trained at RADA. He then acted on stage in the West End and on tour. He was an announcer for Associated TeleVision when the normal announcer was not available. He then had a variety of acting roles in film and television from the 1950s on, and presented various game shows including Password, Tell the Truth, Dotto, This Is Your Chance and The Law Game. In the early '60s he and Muriel Young co-hosted a music programme on Radio Luxembourg called The Friday Spectacular. Between 1960 and 1962 he presented the quiz show Pencil and Paper. In 1970 he was the original presenter of the Clunk Clickpublic information films. In 1972 he presented a pilot episode of Whodunnit? on ITV, before the show was taken over by Edward Woodward for the first series. He was also an occasional panellist on the popular talent showNew Faces. Taylor was best known for presenting Police 5, a long-running five-minute television programme first broadcast in the London area in 1962 that appealed to the public to help solve crimes. He later presented a spin-off show for younger viewers called Junior Police 5, a.k.a. JP5. His catchphrase was "keep 'em peeled!" – asking viewers to be vigilant. This was originally used at the end of every JP5 programme but, according to Taylor himself, "...at the suggestion of a friend I tried it out on the adult Police 5. I thought it sounded a bit naff at first but then the studio crew seemed to get withdrawal symptoms if I didn't say it at the end of the programme and it became a catchphrase that complete strangers still shout at me in the street". Taylor presented and produced several regional versions of Police 5, including editions for ATV and Central in the Midlands, LWT for the London area and TVS in the South and South East of England, where the series ended its thirty-year run inDecember 1992. He was also involved with televised appeals for Crimestoppers UK. In 2008, at the age of 83, Taylor featured as himself hosting Police 5 in the seventh episode of the BBC TV drama Ashes to Ashes, set in October 1981, in which he uses the aforedescribed "keep 'em peeled!" In 2014, at the age of 89, he returned to TV with a weekly segment on the new Channel 5 version of Police 5, and revived his 'keep 'em peeled!' catchphrase. He played bridge and presented a television series on the subject.
Later life
Taylor died at his home in Totland on the Isle of Wight on 17 March 2015, aged 90. He was survived by his partner Shirley and his son Richard.
