[1] In each case he raised funds to donate to non-profits such as the Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Myelin Research Project.
[4] Taylor is a frequent public speaker and has announced that he is releasing his memoir Making a Splash on History Publishing in 2012.
[1] While working as a graphic designer for a large London agency he temporarily lost sight in his left eye, and assumed it was stress.
[1] While travelling, and a few months after he had temporarily lost his sight in his left eye, Taylor developed a slight limp, and assumed it was an old sporting injury.
[5] Upon his return to London he found subways and buses increasingly difficult,[1] and finally went to a sports physiotherapist for treatment in 1993.
"[5] Taylor became determined to regain his fitness, and found that cold water relieved some of the pain and cramps of MS.[5][6] In 1997, at the age of 32, he had moved to Lavender Garden, Battersea.
[2][3] He also began training at the Tooting Bec Lido, the largest open-air unheated swimming pool in London.
He placed an advertisement on the Tooting Bec Lido notice board for volunteers to join him in a relay, and began training with five other swimmers for the 21-mile swim.
[3] He used a special wet suit shorts to keep his legs afloat,[3][9] and the team left from Dover[9] and ended in Calais, France.
Among Taylor's fellow relayers were Alistair Park, Hilary Kempton, Margy Sullivan, John Coningham-Rolls and Veronique Dochain, each taking hour-long shifts in the water while the rest paced alongside in a boat.
[2][6][10] Taylor and his team continued to train at the Tooting Bec Lido, and in 1998 they undertook a 25-mile swim from Majorca to Menorca in the Balearic Islands of the Mediterranean Sea.
[1][6][10][11] Taylor, at that point 33 years old, swam two hours in the relay and stated "It was the most incredible and exhausting swim of my life.
At the beginning the sea was like a mill pond, but when the wind picked up – swimming through very choppy waters became a real test of fitness.
[5] Taylor currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife Helen, a local Californian whom he met after his third Santa Monica relay.