David Taylor (editor)

David John Taylor (17 de marzo de 1947 – 13 de noviembre de 2001) ^{[ 1 ]} fue un humorista, escritor y editor británico, conocido por su asociación con la revista satírica de noticias Punch .

David Taylor nació en Stoke-on-Trent , Staffordshire , hijo de John Whitfield Taylor, director de escuela, caricaturista y colaborador habitual de Punch , y de su esposa Alice (de soltera Oldacre). ^{[ 1 ] [ 2 ]} Taylor estudió en la escuela secundaria Newcastle-under-Lyme y en el Magdalene College de Cambridge , donde cursó el tripos de inglés . ^{[ 1 ]} Durante su estancia en Cambridge, fue editor del periódico estudiantil Varsity , cargo en el que convenció al joven príncipe Carlos , entonces estudiante de segundo año en el Trinity College , para que publicara sus impresiones sobre la vida estudiantil; un golpe que, en palabras de Jonathan Sale, «generó unos cuantos ingresos para la cuenta bancaria de Varsity ». ^{[ 3 ]}

Después de graduarse de Cambridge con honores de segunda clase superior en 1969, ^{[ 4 ]} Taylor pasó un breve período trabajando para la BBC antes de ser nombrado editor asistente en Punch , entonces bajo la dirección de William Davis y Alan Coren (de quien Taylor había logrado una vez una entrevista para Varsity ). ^{[ 2 ]} En 1978 reemplazó a Coren como editor adjunto, después de que este último sucediera a Davis como editor. Durante este tiempo, Taylor se hizo conocido por su irreverente columna sobre automovilismo y sus entrevistas paródicas con celebridades, donde a menudo imitaba el estilo del entrevistado en su prosa. ^{[ 2 ]}

According to The Times, Coren had promised Taylor the editorship upon his own retirement, but when that came to pass in 1987 the owners of Punch, United Newspapers, instead spent a considerable amount of time offering the role to "several more famous but unlikely candidates including, it was said, Kingsley Amis and Jeffrey Archer."^[2] Only in the following year, after much internal wrangling, did Taylor secure the position. Aware of its long, gradual decline in readership, he tried to attract younger contributors to the magazine and sponsored a new prize for the "funniest crime book of the year";^[5] 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.^[2][6] 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." ^[a][7]

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.^[1] He also edited specialist publications devoted to Nikon cameras and the ownership of Rolls-Royce vehicles.^[3] Latterly, he was a motoring correspondent for the Daily Telegraph.

Taylor was noted for being a technophile, with a passion for computers, cars and cameras.^[3] He also listed bell-ringing and golf among his recreations in Who's Who.^[1]

He died of a brain tumour in 2001, aged 54, and was survived by his wife Ann and two of their four children.^[2]

• [as editor] The Pick of Punch (London: Grafton Books, 1988). ISBN 9780246134127