John Taylor
John Taylor was capped as a 21-year-old and played 26 times for Wales between 1967 and 1974, part of their golden era. He missed just seven matches over that period - four of them because he refused to play against South Africa. He also went on two Lions tours in 1968 and 1971, playing in all four Tests in '71 when the Lions beat The All Blacks 2-1 with one match drawn - the only Lions ever to win a series in New Zealand.
He played all his club rugby for London Welsh, captaining them for three seasons during their most successful period, and is now a
director of the club.
On retiring from playing he immediately embarked on a journalistic career. After three years writing for the Sunday Telegraph he joined The Mail on Sunday when it was launched and was their Rugby correspondent
for 16 years.
His television career began with the BBC when he was still playing - as one of Bill McLaren's first 'inter-round summarisers' in 1975 - but he joined ITV in 1979 and has been with them ever since. He cut his teeth commentating on Gymnastics and Volleyball, covering four Olympic Games and numerous World Championships, but since 1991 has been able to concentrate on his first love as ITV's chief Rugby commentator. He has been the lead commentator for British viewers at the last four World Cups - the crowning glory so far obviously England's victory in the final in Sydney in 2003 - and he will again head up the commentary team for the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France.
John wrote and presented 'Survival of the Fittest' and 'Trailblazers' for nearly a decade and has made a number of coaching films and documentaries including 'Living with Lions' - the award winning, behind the scenes story of the 1997 Lions' triumph in South Africa.
He was recently voted Wales's greatest ever number 7, and was inducted into the Honda Welsh Rugby Hall of Fame in 2006.
Decade of the Dragon
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