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John Taylor
John Taylor is a former rugby player, best known for playing for Wales during their ‘golden era’ between 1967 and 1974. During that time, he missed just seven matches - four of them because he refused to play against South Africa in protest against apartheid. John is now in demand as an events host and awards presenter for corporate functions.
About John Taylor
John Taylor is fondly known as Basil Brush, Taylor, because of his wild hair and beard. a flanker, has 26 caps for Wales and 4 for the Lions. He began a successful career in broadcasting and journalism following his retirement from professional rugby back in 1978.
John Taylor will always be remembered most for that last minute, left-footed conversion from the right touchline at Murrayfield (‘the greatest conversion since St Paul’) which gave Wales a 19-18 victory over Scotland on the way to winning the Grand Slam in 1971. However, John believes he should be remembered just as much for doing all Barry John’s, Phil Bennett’s and Gareth Edwards’ tackling as well as his own!
He played all his club rugby for London Welsh, captaining them for three seasons during their most successful period, and then became director of the club. After three years writing for the ‘Sunday Telegraph’ in his journalistic career, John Taylor joined ‘The Mail on Sunday’ when it was launched and was their Rugby Correspondent for 16 years.
He cut his teeth commentating on Gymnastics and Volleyball, covering four Olympic Games and numerous World Championships, but since 1991 was able to concentrate on his first love as ITV’s Chief Rugby Commentator. He has been the lead commentator for British viewers at the last four World Cups – the crowning glory so far obviously England’s victory in the final in Sydney in 2003 – and headed up the commentary team for the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France and served as a stadium announcer for matches played at Twickenham and Cardiff at the 2015 tournament.
John wrote and presented ‘Survival of the Fittest’ and ‘Trailblazers’ for nearly a decade and has made a number of coaching films and documentaries including ‘Living with Lions’ – the award winning, behind the scenes story of the 1997 Lions’ triumph in South Africa. He was even voted Wales’s greatest ever number 7.
