Sir Bill Taylor (MA Educational Research, 1985, BA Politics and Education, 1973, Bowland) describes himself as a polymath - youth & community work, face to face, training and management and organisational improvement to excellence and governance in schools, FE colleges, universities, education, councils, economic development, the NHS, voluntary organisations (big and small) locally, regionally, nationally and beyond. The former leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council was also election agent for Blackburn MP, Jack Straw, former mayor of Blackburn and knighted for services to youth work and local government, but above all he’s a passionate ‘adopted Blackburnian’.

So it comes as something of a surprise to find out that this apparently ‘born and bred’ Lancastrian, was born in Leeds, “brung up” in Birmingham, and that his relationship with the county only began when he arrived at Lancaster University by bus with two school friends for Freshers' week and had to walk from the bus stop on the A6 carrying his modest chattels.

Looking back at his 18-year-old self, Bill admits that as an only child brought up by his mother on a council estate in Yardley, he had very little idea about Lancaster or what would be involved in studying Politics and Education at university. He laughs as he says: “I liked the idea of living near the sea, so Lancaster was appealing. I’d never been away from home before and Lancaster University had a modern, bright aura and sounded quite exciting.”

At first he was overawed by the number of students - all from diverse backgrounds and nationalities - and he struggled to make people understand what his name was because of his strong ‘Brummie’ accent, so he stuck with his schoolfriends until he could pluck up the courage to talk to people from other groups.

He had loved Economics at school and hoped to study it at university, but found its maths-heavy content difficult to handle, so used the flexibility offered by Lancaster University to change to Politics and Education.

The academic side of his time at Lancaster was not his focus - which he later questioned. He says: “I did not take it seriously enough and I should have studied a bit harder. I found tutorials daunting, I did not have the discipline of self-study - that had not been spelt out to me.”

However specific aspects of what he learned at Lancaster in the Middle Eastern politics part of his degree stood him in good stead when he later worked in multi-ethnic Blackburn. Suddenly, he found himself referring back to the lectures of the late Levantine expert Professor Philip Reynolds. The background on the conflicts in the region that Bill had gained, have also helped him to make more sense of the recent eruption of violence between Israel and Hamas.

Socially, Lancaster was pivotal for Bill. He threw himself into student politics and became Vice Chair of the Student Union. Having been a keen sportsman at school and captain of many of the school teams, he gave it all up at Lancaster, in favour of watching the biggest bands of the day in the Great Hall most Friday nights and socialising in Bowland College bar.

This period as an undergraduate was also where Bill made a group of close-knit friends. His good memories encouraged him to return to Lancaster in 1985 to gain his MA in Educational Research.

On first graduating with what he admits was an ‘unremarkable’ degree, Bill considered following many of his friends into teaching, but at the last minute a friend suggested he become a youth worker. A job came up in Blackburn and he got it, and so began Bill’s process of transformation into a man of Blackburn, which led eventually to his knighthood for service to the local government of the town he embraced as his home, where he met and married his science teacher wife, Anne and brought up their children.

His career in youth work developed over 33 years, alongside a parallel time- consuming career in local politics. In 1979 he became Constituency Secretary and Agent for more than 30 years to the newly elected Labour MP, Jack Straw. He was asked by the local Labour Party to step in temporarily for the then Agent’s illness - an honorary role which ran “temporarily” from 1979 till 2010, covering six general election campaigns. Bill never considered seeking election as a Labour MP as he preferred being a local councillor on Blackburn Council.

Reflecting on his student days, as part of the process of writing his autobiography “One in a Million – That Bill Taylor”, Bill says: “That time at Lancaster gave me confidence and my studies in politics gave me analytical skills and an understanding of strategy and tactics, vital when working on Blackburn Council, for example, to decide when to defend and when to attack.” As I say in my book:- “I learned later, in theory there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is!”