Sociologist, radio broadcaster, and retired lecturer Laurie Taylor returned to the York home where he lived in the Sixties for a very special unveiling.
Now aged 88 and living in London, Laurie spent many fond days at 76 Huntington Road while working as a junior lecturer at the University of York.
To celebrate Laurie and all he’s achieved, the current homeowner, Roger Pierce, decided to install an unofficial blue plaque at his front door.
Laurie began his career as a librarian before joining the University of York, where he later became a Professor of Sociology.
He went on to enjoy an extensive broadcast career with BBC Radio 4, where he’s hosted the long-running discussion programme Thinking Allowed since 1998.
Initially, Roger proposed that Laurie be recognised with an official blue plaque, whilst in communications with Dominic Marks, planning & heritage manager at York Civic Trust.
Dominic oversees the city’s blue plaque scheme, an initiative in which plaques are installed on buildings to recognise notable individuals, or events, associated with that location.
Last year, nominations were open for the following round of blue plaques.
Roger told YorkMix: “I contacted Duncan and suggested Laurie Taylor, and he said ‘definitely not’.”
Duncan told Roger the two reasons as to why this wasn’t possible, one being the fact that Laurie is still alive, and typically, the person must be deceased to be recognised with a blue plaque.
The second reason is that the scheme required the person to have been deceased for at least 20 years before a plaque can be considered.
Undeterred, Roger decided to take matters into his own hands. He installed a bespoke blue plaque just to the right of his front door.
Yesterday (Friday) Roger and his wife hosted a heartwarming unveiling ceremony.
They welcomed Laurie, along with his family and previous students, as well as their own neighbours and friends to their home under the spring sunshine.
Speaking to YorkMix, Laurie reflected on returning to the home that held some of his fondest memories.
“Being in York was always deeply ingrained in my head. I remembered everything about it and discovering the place, finding the little pubs, finding the little back alleyways, and realising what a beautiful place it was. I was always very sad to leave it.”
Laurie’s son, Matthew, still lives in York with his wife and daughter, so Laurie often returns to the city. However, he marked today’s visit as, “a wonderful chance to come back and celebrate.”
Although Laurie insisted that he didn’t deserve such a celebration, he appreciated the gesture and how it reunited old friends.
“I don’t think anyone is taking it terribly seriously, there are people here who deserve plaques more than I do, but Roger had a funny idea, and it’s meant I’ve gotten to see people who I haven’t in 20 to 25 years,” he added.
Roger and Laurie had never met before the plaque idea was formed. “When I first met him I realised he was living in my old house and he said we must do something to celebrate,” Laurie said.
“I said, ‘What do you mean? Do something to celebrate living in a house?’ And that is what he did!”
Laurie reminisced about his time as a junior lecturer, which included activities ranging from hosting large house parties, to performing alongside actor Matt Baker at the Lowther pub.
“I can remember walking around and a live band would be playing in the front room, there’d be people doing goodness knows what in the attic, people jumping and sliding down the stairs. I liked the mayhem.”
When Laurie wasn’t lecturing or hosting extravagant parties with his friends, he would often find himself mentoring students outside of the lecture halls.
“For a time I had a bit of an open house and I used to get students coming around at midnight saying, ‘Laurie, I think I may be gay’, so I would often be sitting up until one in the morning solving students’ problems.
“I had a lot of students here, but eventually I couldn’t stand them anymore!” Laurie joked.
When asked how his younger self would have reacted to a plaque celebrating him outside his old home, he replied, “Bits of my life have always been farce, so this is just a new fast, but a happy farce!”