Obituary

Ben Taylor, who ascended peacefully to Heaven last Thursday, was a noted Psychic and Palm Reader who was used by many of the world's most powerful leaders. He also wrote the cult novel Nowhere Children Inc. which was to become a favourite bedtime book for many of America's high fliers and criminals.

A genuine interest in people from all walks of life led him to realise the horrors of Work and Responsibility and, for much of his adulthood, he was always one step ahead of these two social evils.

Ben Taylor was born Ben Taylor into the family of Taylors, who were well known for their wild and sometimes disturbing eccentricities. Along with his three sisters and two brothers he was educated at home. Afterwards, he followed the family tradition amongst the Taylor males by going to Trinity College, Oxford but failed to come away with any qualifications. In fact, to this day, there is still no record of him on their books.

He was a man of simple tastes and pleasures, the exception being an obsession with expensive cars. However, his dislike of responsibility meant that he never actually owned any of these cars but instead drove those belonging to friends or relatives.

He was fond of playing music and meeting unusual people. By his own admission, he never really grew up and, even in his late twenties, delighted in startling visitors by appearing suddenly in an afro wig.

He regarded Birth and Marriage as self-inflicted miseries and also disliked long-term relationships. He preferred to live alone with either three dogs or cats and once remarked that “When animals are annoying, you can just shut them outside – but you can’t do that with wives and children, can you?”

At his request, at his funeral, his father read from the Book of Ecclesiastes, “Vanity of vanities, sayeth the Preacher. All is vanity…”