soho clarion - The Soho Society

Issue 117 Page 5
Obituary: Obituary: John John Taylor
Taylor
John Taylor, who died at
the end of 2004 at the age
of 82, was on the committee
of the very first Soho
Festival back in 1953. One
of his fellow committee
members was Gaston Berlemont
of the York Minster
(now French House)
pub, and a friendship began
that introduced John
to the French and saw him
become one of its longest
and most enthusiastic
regulars.
Born in Glasgow in 1921,
Taylor maintained that he
won his first baby show
then hit the road south, for
London and the bright
lights. He thought of himself
as a Londoner, and in
Soho he found his natural
locale. Yet, having had to
spend unhappy periods of
his childhood back in
Glasgow with his maternal
grandmother during the
intermittent partings of his
parents, he retained an
ability to affect a broad
Glaswegian accent. This
served to endear him to
Soho’s Glaswegian winos
of the past who might demand
the price of a drink.
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He arrived in Soho in
1945, to take up the position
of editor on The Tailor
& Cutter in Gerrard Street.
Fresh from wartime duties
as a Fleet Air Arm pilot, he
was untrained for anything
other than flying an
aircraft and deciphering
the Morse Code, ‘so naturally
I turned to journalism’,
he used to explain.
With the help of a
‘creative’ c.v. that claimed
pre-war experience and
the impressive effect his
interview apparel had on
the T & C’s proprietor -
Royal Naval uniform
showing gold braid, his
pilot’s wings and with his
lieutenant’s rings - Taylor
was appointed. He not
only learned quickly on
the job but completely
revamped the staid old
publication and quadrupled
its circulation in just a
few years, making it the
‘most quoted trade paper
in the world’, according to
The Times.
He went on to launch Man
about Town, the first men’s
consumer style magazine,
at the beginning of the
1950s. Covering food,
wine, motoring, and other
male interests as well as
style - all neglected during
the war years - it provided
the perfect platform for
Taylor’s own interests of
fine wine (especially
champagne), good food,
pretty women and entertaining
company. Funny,
off-beat and inventive in
format, it attracted a var
ety of distinguished contributors,
and saw the
early works of cartoonists
Calman, Heath and Scarfe.
It became something of a
cult success and was finally
bought by Michael
Heseltine in the 1960s to
help establish his publishing
and political careers.
Man about Town and Taylor’s
prodigious output of
articles for other publications
- regular columns in
Punch, Weekend, She, Penthouse,
The London Evening
News , Men Only and
Topic, contributing to national
and regional news-
papers, magazines at
home and abroad, and TV
and radio work - made
him one of the most successful
and famous journalists
of his generation.
Despite this work output,
however, he was a legendary
bon viveur, both in
Soho and in the Fleet
Street environs. ‘I often
wonder how I managed all
the work in consideration
of all the drinking,’ he
writes in the book of memoirs
finished not long before
his death. Lunch-time
sessions began at the
French, often continued at
the old Bianchi’s restaurant
in Frith Street - where
they might go on all afternoon
until evening diners
started to arrive - or in
Muriel Belcher’s Colony
Room Club, then resumed
in the French in the evening
and might end in
Gerry’s.
He knew the ‘old’ Soho of
pre-Wolfendon, when the
ladies were still on the
streets - who would wish
him a cheery ‘Morning,
John’ . He loved the Rabelaisian
quality of the
place, and the mix of
bums, media folk, artists,
aristos and celebrities that
so democratically rubbed
shoulders in the French.
And until ill-health intervened
in 2003, he was still
sipping a glass of champagne
there and enjoying
a lunchtime session with
friends in one of his old
haunts in the area.
‘In Soho,’ he paraphrases
in his memoirs, ‘it seems
to me all life is there.’
John Taylor, born in Glasgow
1921, died in London
December 19 2003. His
memorial took place at St
Paul’s Church, Covent
Garden, on April 22 2004.
MARIE SCOTT