MB BS Lond 1960, DPM 1965, MD 1969; FRCP Lond 1982; PRCPsych 1973.
Taylor gained his medical education at Charing Cross Hospital, London where he held junior appointments. He also held resident appointments at St Mary Abbots, St Thomas' and Maudsley Hospitals. From 1962 Taylor worked at Guy's Hospital, as registrar and research assistant to the Neurosurgical Unit. In 1967 he was appointed medical research officer at the University of Oxford, and honorary consultant psychiatrist at Park Hospital for Children. He came to Manchester in 1980 as professor of child and adolescent psychiatry and was a visiting physician to the David Lewis Centre for Epilepsy.