New book lifts the lid on hidden lives of taxi drivers all over Milton Keynes

An anthropologist who was one of Open University’s founders has written a book exposing the secrets of Milton Keynes taxi drivers.

Octogenarian Professor Ruth Finnegan FBA, already famed for numerous award-winning books, hit upon the idea after she gave up driving in her 70s and relied upon taxis to get around the city.

"Being a chatty person, my habit was to sit in the front beside the driver,” she said. “We found we were exchanging our life stories, as far as that was possible, that is, in the typically 20 to 30 minute rides. And theirs were fascinating, varied and surprising.

"As a result, I kind of fell into taking note by accident and then was hooked!”

The Hidden Lives of Taxi Drivers delves into the personalities and secrets of the “invisible, ordinary and often unnoticed” people behind the wheel of local cabs.

It details how, among these inconspicuous drivers, there is a successful singer, an artist, a Muslim scholar, a town planner, a devoted farmer, several chefs and even a post-doctoral nuclear physicist.

Ruth, who lives in Bletchley, describes immigrants’ work ethics and the drivers’ pride in their successful profession-attaining children who, they vow determinedly, will never be taxi drivers like them.

The book reveals where MK’s taxi drivers come from, what they will say at the judgement seat, the gate to heaven, and, most importantly, what they think of their passengers.

It details how much money they make or don’t make (“More than you might think for some,” says Ruth) and how they spend their spare time, from luxurious holidays in Dubai hotels with all the family, to going home to India and helping on the family farm.

And it describes the unofficial ‘Good Rules for Taxi Drivers’ as well as the little-known ‘Ten Commandments of Saint Fiacre’ that some follow.

Ruth has dedicated her book, poignantly, “To the taxi drivers, and all those other immigrants, who have enriched our knowledge and our culture and day by day continue to do so.”

Described as funny, moving, and inspiring, the Hidden Lives of Taxi Drivers is the final volume in Ruth's trilogy that focuses upon life in Milton Keynes. The other two titles are Tales of the City and The Hidden Musicians.

“Like many anthropologists, I have always, I suppose, been intrigued by things that were somehow just 'there', but that I, and perhaps others too, actually knew little about in any depth. In this case it was something literally going on all around me, here on the streets, right before my eyes,” she said.But non-fiction anthropological volumes are far from Ruth’s only speciality.

In 2016, already in her 80s, she made a name for herself in the world of fiction by launching her Black Inked Pearl novel after the plot came to her in a dream.

The novel, which is now a screenplay, was followed by several more Pearl-themed romances.

As well as writing multiple award-winning works, Ruth has also authored three movies for the talented Nigerian Shanpepe (“morning star”) Films.

But her favourite subject is her home city of MK, where she and her husband David were among the founding academics of the OU in 1969

More details of Ruth’s books are here or on Amazon here.