Cheddington Man Awarded MBE

Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant for Buckinghamshire, presented an MBE to Mr Fred Taylor at an Investiture Ceremony held at the Judges Lodgings, Aylesbury at 10 am on Friday 15th February 2008. Mr Taylor was awarded the MBE in the New Year's Honours List for his services to literature as an Angling Author.

Mr Taylor was due to receive his MBE from Her Majesty The Queen at Buckingham Palace but wrote to the Lieutenancy Office in Aylesbury requesting that he be presented with his medal by the Lord-Lieutenant. The Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood agreed to allow the Buckinghamshire Lieutenancy Office to make the arrangements for the presentation.

The ceremony was hastily arranged as Mr Taylor's daughter is currently on holiday in the UK from Australia and was delighted to see her father presented with his medal.

Fred Taylor, along with his brother Ken, was responsible for developing many fishing innovations that helped anglers countrywide catch bigger and more fish than they ever had before. Between them they developed the 'lift method', realised the importance of static deadbaiting for pike, and also, following a trip to America where anglers regularly use maize to capture carp, recognised the value of using sweetcorn for huge nets of carp, tench and bream in this country. Fred is also widely acknowledged as an excellent author, covering angling, shooting, ferreting and the countryside in both books and magazine articles since 1958. Among his most widely acclaimed publications are: Angling in Earnest (1958), Favourite Swims (1961), and Fishing for Tench (1969). Fred lives in Cheddington near Leighton Buzzard.

Postscript:  Sadly, Fred Taylor MBE, born Feb 9, 1919 died on May 7 2008, aged 89

Published: 16 February 2008 (updated 22/05/2008)