Born in Hackney in the East End of London, Taylor's father worked as a fitter for the
Gas Light and Coke Company, and his mother worked at a local box factory. 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 (ATV) when the normal announcer was not available. He then had a variety of acting roles in film and television from the 1950s onwards, and presented various
game shows including
Password,
Tell the Truth,
Dotto,
This Is Your Chance and
The Law Game (
BBC Radio 2). In the early 1960s, Taylor and
Muriel Young co-hosted a music programme on
Radio Luxembourg,
The Friday Spectacular. Between 1960 and 1962, Taylor presented the quiz show
Pencil and Paper. In 1970, Taylor was the original presenter of the
Clunk Click public 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 (1973). Taylor was also an occasional panellist on the popular talent show
New 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,
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 in December 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!" catchphrase. In 2014, at the age of 89, he returned to television with a weekly segment on the new Channel 5 version of
Police 5, and revived his "keep 'em peeled!" catchphrase. He also played
bridge and presented a television series on the subject. ==Later life==