Laurie Taylor: A life in sociology,  University of York & BBC Radio 4

York Civic Trust was set up to protect and enhance York's architectural and cultural heritage, to champion good design and to advance the high place which York holds amongst the cities of the world.

York Civic Trust

Sociologist, author and broadcaster Laurie Taylor offers highlights from his time in York in the 1970s and 80s and his varied career since

The De Grey Rooms

YCT Events Spring 2025

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Join us for an evening with Professor Laurie Taylor, the presenter of BBC Radio 4's Thinking Allowed and one of Britain’s most distinguished sociologists and broadcasters, as he shares insights from his remarkable career.Laurie Taylor has had a varied career and will offer the highlights to Civic Trust members. Originally from Liverpool, he had been an actor and English teacher before coming to the new Department of Sociology in York, he left as Professor of Sociology in the 1980s. His satirical column on university life in the Times Higher Education Supplement ran for more than thirty years. Malcolm Bradbury was a fan of The University of Poppleton: ‘Laurie Taylor’s column is, like Nelson’s, one of the really great columns’.Professor Taylor’s published books, principally on crime, include Deviance and Society; Psychological Survival: The Experience of Long-term Imprisonment; Escape Attempts: The Theory and Practice of Resistance to Everyday Life; and intriguingly, with his son Matthew Taylor, What are Children For?Professor Taylor began his broadcasting career on Robert Robinson's Radio 4 topical satire show Stop the Week. He has been a regular contributor to radio and TV ever since, notably as long-term host of Thinking Allowed, exploring “research into how society works” in partnership with Radio 4 and the Open University. His television work for Sky Arts, In Confidence, was filmed in London and New York and included in-depth interviews with Harry Belafonte, E.L. Doctorow, Shirley Williams, Mike Leigh, André Previn, Tracey Emin, Nigel Kennedy and Richard Dawkins. He acts as a consultant and continues to write for various publications.

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