Dr. Machin-Taylor was educated at Reading, Lancashire and Oxford. Then worked for the Ministry of Aviation as a research chemist before leaving to set up a department gathering and collating technical intelligence. The next 30 years were spent in senior management, working in Paris, the USA as well as in the UK. Extensive travels in the Middle East and Central Asia resulted in the award of Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Dr.Taylor is a member of St. Cross College Oxford and a member of the Oxford and Cambridge Club in London.