Alan John Percivale Taylor, FBA (25 March 1906 – 7 September 1990) was a British historian who specialised in 19th and 20th century European diplomacy. Both a journalist and a broadcaster, he became well known to millions through his television lectures. His combination of academic rigour and popular appeal led historian Richard Overy to describe him as "the Macaulay of our age".

Taylor was born in March 1906 in Birkdale near Southport, which was then part of Lancashire. His wealthy parents held left-wing views, which he inherited. Both his parents were pacifists who vocally opposed the First World War, and sent their son to Quaker schools as a way of protesting against the war. He was educated at various Quaker schools including Bootham School in York. Geoffrey Barraclough, a contemporary at Bootham, remembered Taylor as "a most arresting, stimulating, vital personality, violently anti-bourgeois and anti-Christian". Initially he had an interest in archaeology, and as a young man he was an amateur expert^{[clarification needed]} in the history and archaeology of churches in northern England. His interest in archaeology led to a strong interest in history. In 1924, he went to Oriel College, Oxford to study modern history.