Ken Taylor (born 21 August 1935) is an English former

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er, who played in three Tests for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

from 1959 to 1964. He also played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

. He was renowned as a good player of spin and was one of the best cover fielders of his generation, while his medium pace 'darts' broke many a stubborn partnership for his county captains, Vic Wilson and Brian Close. The cricket correspondent, Colin Bateman, commented that Taylor was, "a fine, straight-hitting batsman and brilliant fielder.... yet he never made full use of his bounteous abilities and was affected by nerves when the stakes were high". Bateman added, "'A total enigma' was how one former team-mate described him". He was also a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

in the winter, and later a professional artist.

Early life

Taylor's father repaired looms in the local weaving industry. His maternal grandfather was a

ventriloquist Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is ve ...

, and ran a

Punch and Judy Punch and Judy is a traditional puppet show featuring Mr. Punch and his wife Judy. The performance consists of a sequence of short scenes, each depicting an interaction between two characters, most typically Mr. Punch and one other character ...

show on the beach at Blackpool. His elder brother, Jeff Taylor, played professional football for

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

, Fulham and Brentford; he also studied geography at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, and then went to the Royal Academy of Music and became an

opera singer Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libretti ...

. Ken attended Stile Common School in Huddersfield.

Football career

He joined the groundstaff at Huddersfield Town after leaving school in 1950, and made 250 first-team appearances for them from 1953 to 1965, before playing for Bradford (Park Avenue) from 1965 to 1967, playing as a

centre half In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either ...

. He also played for England under 23s. He played in the extraordinary match against

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

on 21 December 1957. Charlton played most of the match with ten men after Derek Ufton was injured, and Huddersfield were leading 5–1 with just 27 minutes remaining. At that point, Johnny Summers began an extraordinary passage of play in which he scored five goals and assisted with two others to allow Charlton to win 7–6. Huddersfield become the first, and still the only, team to score six goals in an English Football League match – or indeed any other professional football match – and still be on the losing side.

Cricket career

Taylor was also an important member of the successful Yorkshire team which dominated the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

in the 1960s, winning seven titles between 1959 and 1968. Often an

opening batsman In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batters play through their team's innings, there always being two batters taking part at any one time. All eleven players in a team are required to bat if the innings is completed (i.e., if ...

, he was also an occasional bowler, taking 131 first-class wickets in his career. He was a member of the Yorkshire team that won the final of the third Gillette Cup, in 1965. Taylor made his first appearance for Yorkshire in 1953, aged 17, won his

county cap In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

at 21 and played for England at 23, opening the batting against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

with

Arthur Milton Clement Arthur Milton (10 March 1928 – 25 April 2007)
...

. He was dropped after two matches, but was selected again in 1964, after an epic innings of 160 at

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

against the visiting

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Australians, several (or all) ...

. Unfortunately he broke a finger in that match, and was not selected for his country again. After a benefit, he retired from professional cricket in 1968.

Art career

His father encouraged him to find a job that would continue after he stopped "playing games", and he studied at Huddersfield Art School and then the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

in London from 1956, and became a professional artist. After retiring from cricket he taught art at Gresham's School in Norfolk for more than thirty years. His son, Nick Taylor, also played first-class cricket for Yorkshire, Surrey and

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. A biography, ''Ken Taylor: Drawn to Sport'' by Stephen Chalke, with illustrations by Taylor, was published in 2006.Fairfield Books website
Retrieved 12 August 2013.

References

External links

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at

ESPNcricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

Renaissance man
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Ken 1935 births Living people Cricketers from Huddersfield England Test cricketers English cricketers English footballers Auckland cricketers Yorkshire cricketers Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Association football defenders English Football League players Alumni of the University of London Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Norfolk cricketers Sligo Rovers F.C. players