Laurie Taylor is an author, journalist, radio and television writer and broadcaster, and a public speaker. Visiting Professor in Politics and Sociology at the University of London and former Professor at York, he was recently made a fellow of Birkbeck College and holds visiting professorships at the London Institute and Thames Valley University.

Laurie is the author and co-author of fourteen books on the respective subjects of communication, social psychology, motivation, attitudes to change and the nature of identity in the modern world; the most recent being, "An Introduction to Sociology" (1998). He is also a regular and popular contributor to The Times, The Independent and the New Statesman.

For the past fifteen years, Laurie Taylor has been heard on BBC Radio 4 programmes, such as "Stop the Week", "The Radio Programme", "News Quiz", "Speaking as an Expert", "The Afternoon Shift" and "Room for Improvement". He also writes and presents the weekly BBC R4 programme, "Thinking Allowed", which analyses society and social change and which considers the many ways in which we can improve our intellect, knowledge, personality and motivation. In addition, Laurie has made numerous television appearances.

Laurie Taylor has been awarded honorary degrees by the Universities of Nottingham and Central England. During the year 2000, his contributions to social science were recognised by his election to the Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences.

In huge demand as a public speaker, Laurie has in the last 12 years addressed a long list of national and international companies, such as IBM, Bupa and BP. The strong element of humour he brings to bear on his wide range of subjects means that he is equally in demand as a keynote speaker and presenter at conferences, as an after-dinner speaker.