PTM WEEKLY UPDATE -- MAY 26, 2009

Norma and Dan Wooding with Lord Taylor outside the House of Lords

"No Blacks, no Irish, no dogs"
The Inspiring Story of how John Taylor, the son of Jamaican immigrants, went from poverty to become Lord Taylor of Warwick in the British House of Lords

HOUSE OF LORDS, LONDON, UK (ANS) -- It's hard to believe that John Taylor, the son of Jamaican immigrants who was born and brought up in the industrial heartland of Birmingham, England, could have risen so high in British society, but he has!

He made history in 1996 when he was admitted to the House of Lords as the youngest and only black Lord amongst 1,700 Dukes, Duchesses, Earls, Viscounts, Bishops, Barons and Law Lords. John Taylor took the title "The Right Honourable Lord Taylor of Warwick" and he has become one of Britain's most senior black politicians. As a judge, barrister, university chancellor and a leader of the British Board of Film Classification, he still has to pinch himself that this has all happened to the boy raised in the Kings Heath area of Birmingham, where I was also raised.

So during a recent trip to London, I went to visit Lord Taylor, a committed Christian, at the historic House of Lords and he agreed to talk about his life and also the humiliating start that his Jamaican mother faced when she arrived in Birmingham.

"When my mother, Madge, first arrived in Birmingham from Jamaica, to join my father, she would look in the windows of the various flats and apartments and many of them had this sign, 'No blacks, No Irish, No dogs', which wasn't illegal or unusual in those days," he said. "It wasn't against the law because there was quite a lot of discrimination in those days and she was desperate. Obviously she worried about me because I was so little, so she prayed, 'God, I have two things in this world; one is my faith in You and secondly, my little baby John, I pray that one day he will become one of the great men of England.' It was a crazy prayer at the time because there she was, poor, black, and homeless.

"But God heard her prayer and forty odd years later, I walked into the House of Lords as Lord Taylor of Warwick. Really this was through her prayers. God honored her even though, in the world's eyes, she was a nobody, but in his eyes she had a big faith. She was a giant in terms of faith."

I asked Lord Taylor why his mother came over to the UK and he replied, "She came over to follow my father, Derief Taylor, who was playing cricket for Warwickshire County Cricket Club. Sadly, the marriage didn't really work out so that's why she found herself on her own. But she wasn't on her own in a sense because she had God with her. You know, one plus God, is a majority." I then asked him Lord Taylor if, as a child, he attended a West Indian church in Birmingham and he said, "We actually went to a Methodist Church as there weren't really that many West Indians in Birmingham at that time. We were still regarded as exotic immigrants and it was not that long after the war. So the church I went to was a Methodist church; it was predominantly white though there were some black people there as well. It wasn't until later that I gave my heart to the Lord and became born-again, but I certainly had a church background."

He said he made his commitment to Christ through Clive Calver, who was the head of the UK Evangelical Alliance and later moved to the United States where he headed up World Relief for several years and now is the senior pastor of Walnut Hill Community Church in Bethel, Connecticut. "I was about twenty-five at the time and Clive Calver helped me to take that step of faith," he said.

Lord Taylor admitted that during his childhood, he experienced quite a bit of mistreatment because of his color. "While I was at school, I began to realize that really there's only one race -- the human race -- because when you get to know people it doesn't matter what color you are; it's about knowledge that you learn about the other person.

The Houses of Parliament

"My mother always used to say that 'being black is not a profession, so you've got to work hard' and I did at school. [He worked so hard that he eventually became head boy at Moseley Grammar School]. While I was at school, I let it be known that I wanted to become a barrister. The teachers tried to put me off it because they thought, because I was black, I would get discriminated against and it just wouldn't be worth it. "But my mother said, 'No John, it's about the content of your character, not the color of your skin. You go for it. So I made a deal with God and said, 'God my first ambition is to play for Aston Villa Football Club, but if that doesn't work well, I'd rather like to be a barrister.'

"So in a sense, I asked God to guide my steps Proverbs sixteen, verse nine, which says, 'In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.' I claimed that scripture and I felt I was on strong ground because of that. Then, through all sorts of ridiculous coincidences, I became a barrister. Qualifying was not the difficult part although the bar exams were hard, but it's what happens afterwards in getting into a good set of chambers that was important. That's when God opened the doors for me. After I had passed the exams, I met somebody on a train who turned out to be the head of chambers at the best criminal set of chambers in Birmingham and he opened the door for me to go into that firm."

I asked Lord Taylor if he wore the legal wig while in court and he laughed and replied, "Oh yes, I wore the wig and the gown." He then said that he became interested in politics and soon stood for Parliament in the upper-class constituency of Cheltenham. "Cheltenham is one-hundred percent white; not even ninety-nine percent," he said. "When I was interviewed, the committee there seemed to really like me and they chose me as the candidate. But there were a number of racists in Cheltenham that tried to block that and I lost by a thousand, which is not a lot."

The publicity he received at the time helped shape a new career for him in broadcasting. "The TV companies in Britain thought I had potential, so they made me a BBC TV presenter and I also worked for ITV after that," he said. "I also had 'The John Taylor Show' on BBC Radio and I thought that was my life was now to be in the media. However, God had other plans. The then Prime Minister, John Major, had been watching my career and he put my name forward to the Queen to get a peerage. It was a complete shot out of the blue. It wasn't planned, but that was God opening the doors again."

I asked Lord Taylor if his mother was alive when he received this honor. "Yes, she was still alive and she saw me coming in here into the House of Lords, which was a real blessing," he said. "In fact she had tea with me in this very dining room where we are doing this interview, with my family.

Lord Taylor is also the Vice President of the British Film Board of Classification and so I asked him to give his opinion on the type of films that are being released today. "I think ninety percent of them are rubbish," he said. "Many are absolutely disgraceful, a cesspit," he said. "I mean, even that's a compliment because they spend millions and millions on special effects and very little on character and story development. That's why, in the average Arnie film, the dialog is basically, 'I'll be back' and that's it. "Whatever dialog is there is quite deliberate, because these films are products; its branding; its merchandising; so you want as little dialog as possible so it can be sold in India, Japan, China, and Russia. The more dialog you have, the less sellable it is. You need action. That's why those films are so successful. Having said that, there is a backlash. I think middle America, especially, and also middle Britain's parents are demanding more. They want stories and let's face it, human beings really want stories and people are beginning to get a little bit tired of just the special effects. Let's face it, Hollywood will go where the money.

"So a film which has got a lot of dialog but it sells, they'll go with it. The only trouble is that it takes more skill to write a film with dialog. I am glad to say that there are film makers that are showing that you can write a decent film. For instance, 'Amazing Grace,' which was about the life of William Wilberforce. I don't recall one special effect in that. It had dialog and it had a story -- a true story. Yes it did well, and I think that hopefully there'll be more films of that caliber. But sadly most of the films we watch are -- I'm sorry I tell it like it is - are just rubbish. But they sell because they're linked to merchandising; they're linked to popcorn and funny toys that you buy in cereal packages and that's where most of the money's made. Shrek is not going to make its money from the film. By the way, I like Shrek but it is not going to make most of its money in the cinema; it'll make it from merchandising."

I then put it to Lord Taylor that some Christians feel that they should withdraw from political life and the media and so I asked him what drives him to engage in these two aspects of life.

"Nothing drives me to do this, it's being called God," he replied. "He's called all of us to be 'salt and light', but if you are driven, that means you're driven by ego or ambition and there are a lot of politicians who are driven, but I want to be called. I feel I was called because I wasn't seeking necessarily to go into The House Of Lords and when you're called it means you have the power of The Holy Spirit because I'm not adequate to do this job. I don't feel strong enough to be a politician and that's a good start. If I felt I was the 'bee's knees', that could result in disaster. Because of the fact that I feel weak and inadequate and I don't feel I can do the job, that's when God says, 'Good, OK, I can now use you." Because he has called us to be 'salt and light' that is why we can't hide away from the world.

"Now we have to hear from God in what form we should be 'salt and light' because your calling may be different to my calling. We're not all called to be in the media; some are called to be in the medical profession, others teachers, some Christians are called to be in the armed services. It's about your individual calling."

I then asked Lord Taylor to give his assessment of the state of Christianity in the UK. "Well officially, the UK is a Christian country," he said. "But it's ironic that in the Victorian period when Britain really become Great Britain, it was because of the Christian Church, because they were the ones who reformed the laws concerning children because children were being put up chimneys to work. It was the Christians who reformed the factories; that helped the poor and the destitute.

"Britain's history is a Christian one. What happened then was that the missionaries went over to Africa to 'civilize' the Africans and ironically, it's the Africans who've come back to Britain and it's their churches that are on fire; not the white churches. There are 3,500 black churches nationwide in Britain and they're on fire. For instance, there is Kingsway International Christian Center in London who, on an average Sunday morning, gets 3,500 people there. That's just for the morning service. There are many other large black churches now in the UK. I'm in a very privileged position in that I am positioned in between the white and the black churches, so I'm trying to bring them together."

I wondered then what Lord Taylor thought about the fact that Africans and others from the former British colonies were now coming to Britain to evangelize what many believe is a post-Christian nation. "It's true, and what is happening has a lot to do with prosperity, because when a nation becomes comfortable, it also becomes complacent," he said. "We feel we don't need God any more. In Africa, of course, it's a different situation. In Britain most people know where the next meal is coming from, but in Africa, they're calling out to God.

Cover of Lord Taylor's autobiography

"Where the African churches here in Britain have to be careful is that they don't become so prosperous through tithing; that they become complacent and then they could fall into the same trap of feeling that they don't need God any more. These things are cyclical and they just go around."

I concluded by asking him how he remains humble after enjoying such success and privilege in his extraordinary life.

"Well first of all, I've got a lot to be humble about," he replied. "I pray for wisdom because there aren't very many black politicians in this country and I am getting asked to go on TV programs and radio programs and asked for a solution to something like to inner city crime; the drug problem; or racism, and you need wisdom because there's no instant solution. So it's having wisdom not to get caught up in what I call 'politricks,' because you can have a lot of 'politricks' and a lot of people here who play with words.

"I need wisdom and I want to be a Daniel or a Joseph because God used these men; they became so valuable to kings and Pharoahs, because these leaders recognized the skills of these men. It wasn't because they were Christians, but because they had abilities over and above their other advisors. God, having put Daniel into those positions, was then very open and honest and said, 'Look, my wisdom comes from God' and then, of course, the kings didn't then say, 'Well, get away.' They said, 'Give me more.'

"So the best witness really is to show that we have got wisdom and that we have got something that the Prime Minister, the Chancellor or the President wants. These people want wisdom and they need to know how to deal with the Iraq war and all the other problems.

"Christians in the Victorian age were the ones with great wisdom. They were the pioneers. For instance, Wilberforce was not Prime Minister; he was not a senior government minister; but it was him that led the campaign that put an end to the slave trade. So you see Christians can really be at the top of the tree , although not in an arrogant way. So that is why I'm praying for wisdom that will set me apart from the 'politricks' and TV and radio programs where there's more heat than light. I want to be more light than heat. That is the sort of inspiration and wisdom that only God can give."

If you would like more information about Lord Taylor of Warwick and his work, he has two websites: www.lordtaylor.org and www.warwickleadership.org. You can also get information on Lord Taylor's autobiography, titled Lord Taylor of Warwick; No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs.

Dan Wooding

© 2009 ASSIST Ministries

Thanks to Robin Frost for transcribing this interview

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