Bernard Taylor was born in 1934 in Swindon, Wiltshire, England and has since made his home in London. Following active service in the Royal Air Force where he served in Egypt, he studied Fine Arts in Swindon, then at Chelsea School of Art and Birmingham University. Upon graduation, he worked as a teacher, painter and book illustrator before going as a teacher to the United States. While there, he took up acting and writing and continued with both after his return to England. In 1973, he won the Thames Television award for the most promising playwright of the year. He has published ten novels under his own name, including The Godsend in 1976, which was adapted for film as The Godsend (1980), and Sweetheart, Sweetheart in 1977, which the late horror novelist Charles L. Grant hailed as one of the finest ghost stories ever written. He has also written novels under the pseudonym Jess Foley, as well as several works of nonfiction. He has won awards for his true crime writing and also for his work as a playwright. It was during his year as resident playwright at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch that he wrote The Godsend in 1975.

See photos of celebrities before they hit the big-time.

Bernard Taylor

Writer