When I started to research the life of Liverpool doctor and politician Cyril Taylor I was surprised at the variety of places his name cropped up. In one of my favourite Liverpool autobiographies (Stalin   Ate My Homework) comedian Alexei Sayle recalls how his parents travelled across the city from Anfield to attend his surgery near Sefton Park because he, like them, was a member of the Communist Party. When Taylor left the Party in 1956 in protest at the Russian invasion of Hungary relations with the ultra-loyal Sayle family apparently became decidedly frosty. His is a frequent reference in Brendan King’s biography of Beryl Bainbridge (Love By All Sorts of Means) a friend who invited Bainbridge to holiday with his family in Italy and who took her to hospital after a botched self-induced miscarriage. But although he included Liverpool celebrities such as Adrian Henri, Fritz Spiegl, Jacqui and Bridie  amongst his patients his life was focused upon delivering to his often under-privileged patients the medical care they needed and fighting on a wider front for their rights and welfare.

He was born on 9^th March 1921 in New Brighton, the son of Jewish parents Jack and Leah Taylor, his father having changed his name from Zadetsky. After attending Wallasey Grammar School he studied medicine at Liverpool University, graduating in 1943 and obtaining a post at Walton Hospital. His National Service saw him in the RAMC and in command of an army hospital in Khartoum with the rank of Major. Returning to Liverpool he became medical officer for the British Shipping Federation but his politics were not to their liking and he was sacked. At that point he decided to set up as a GP, practising from his home at 7 Sefton Drive L8.

From the outset Taylor was aware of the contradictions in his role as a GP. Health campaigner Sylvia Hikins (quoted in ‘A Radical Practice’ – see below) said that he “recognised that the NHS was a disease service treating the consequences of ill health, not the causes of it. He often said that less than half the patients he had seen actually had clinical problems – their issues were  poor housing, unemployment, poverty, racism…”. He was an avid campaigner for a more holistic approach to health care and the provision of neighbourhood health centres and one of his proudest moments was when he moved his practice in 1977 to the newly opened Princes Park Health Centre. Joining the Labour Party in the early 1960’s he was elected on to the city council, representing Granby Ward from 1968-1980 and serving as chair of the social services committee from 1970-1980.

Whilst Taylor’s efforts were very focused on the Granby area of his constituents and patients he had wider influence and this was recognised when in 1977 he was invited to join a Royal Commission on the NHS. The commission had been set up by Harold Wilson to report on “the best use and management of the financial and manpower resources of the NHS”. Its report came out in 1979, unfortunately coinciding with the arrival of Margaret Thatcher’s government and its proposals were, at best, watered down.

Cyril Taylor retired in the 1980s and died on 11^th December 2000. He didn’t score any cup winning goals or have any number one hits but his lifelong determination to translate his ideals into practical steps to improve the lot of his fellow citizens seems more than enough for him to be well-remembered and acknowledged as a great Liverpudlian.