DR Richard Taylor, 66, was a consultant physician and rheumatologist at Kidderminster Hospital for 23 years.

He attended the Leys School, Cambridge - coincidentally with independent MP Martin Bell - before reading natural sciences at Clare College, Cambridge.

After graduating he carried out his clinical training at Westminster Hospital, London.

He was tutored by Sir Richard Bayliss, who later became the Queen's Physician.

However, his post as senior house physician was interrupted by National Service in 1961.

He was one of the last five to go into the RAF for National Service which included a four-month posting on Christmas Island in the Pacific.

After his three-year military stint he practised in London hospitals for eight years before he came to Kidderminster in 1972.

He joined the hospital's league of friends in 1975, later becoming chairman.

The charity group has raised more than £2 million in the last decade, including £400,000 for the Cancer Resource Centre in 15 months.

He retired in 1995 but within two years was thrust into the spotlight as Save Kidderminster Hospital Campaign chairman.

Since then he has become the public face of the campaign which has propelled the district into the national spotlight.

Nature-lover Dr Taylor is a keen ornithologist and has planted a wide variety of trees, including rare specimens, at his Kidderminster home.

Other passions include collecting the paintings of his great-grandfather Henry Maplestone.

Dr Taylor, who has three grown-up children from his first marriage, loves to spend time with wife Chris and daughter Georgina, seven.