David Taylor was born in
Stoke-on-Trent,
Staffordshire, the son of John Whitfield Taylor, a headmaster, cartoonist and frequent contributor to
Punch, and his wife Alice (née Oldacre). Taylor was educated at
Newcastle-under-Lyme High School and
Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he read the English
tripos. After coming down from Cambridge with
upper-second class honours in 1969, Taylor spent a short period working for the
BBC before being appointed as an assistant editor at
Punch, then under the auspices of
William Davis and
Alan Coren (from whom Taylor had once managed to secure an interview for
Varsity). however, after just nine months he resigned "in mutual agreement" with United Newspapers, only shortly after he had received an award for producing Europe's best satirical publication. In presiding over such a chain of events,
Sheridan Morley later opined, the management at United Newspapers "killed the magazine by throwing out baby and the bathwater." Taylor was succeeded as editor of
Punch by
Diana Thomas (then known as David Thomas). Thereafter, he spent five years as editor of
British Airways' in-flight magazine,
Business Life. He also edited specialist publications devoted to
Nikon cameras and the ownership of
Rolls-Royce vehicles. Latterly, he was a motoring correspondent for the
Daily Telegraph. ==Personal life==