Jeremy Nicholas (writer)

Early life

He was born in Wellington, Shropshire, raised in Stafford and educated at Wycliffe College in Gloucestershire (1957–65) and Birmingham School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art (1966–69).

Actor

Nicholas began his career with the Prospect Theatre Company (1969–70) and the Citizens Theatre (1970–72). He performed his own solo adaptation of Three Men in a Boat at the Edinburgh Festival (1980) and May Fair Theatre (1981-82), which won him a nomination for an Olivier Award as Most Promising Newcomer. Nicholas has also performed on television in roles such as Inigo Jollifant in The Good Companions, Mr Winkle in The Pickwick Papers, John Maddingham in Crossroads, Lewis Lake in Wish Me Luck, as well as voicing Lionel in all 39 episodes of Budgie the Little Helicopter. He has also composed the music for several stage and television plays, among them Quartermaine's Terms and A Month in the Country for BBC Television.

Radio

Nicholas has written and presented over sixty radio features for BBC Radio. In 1996 he won a Sony Gold Award for England's Green and Pleasant Land. He has read and / or adapted more than twenty books for radio and spoken word recordings. From 1977 to 1991 he wrote the lyrics and music for nearly 150 songs for BBC Radio 4' Stop the Week chaired by Robert Robinson. He played Dr. Watson to Peter Egan's Sherlock Holmes in Second Holmes (Radio 4 series). In 2000 he dramatised and appeared in The Fast Gentleman by Keble Howard, also for Radio 4.

Writer

Nicholas is currently a regular contributor as critic and feature writer to Gramophone and International Piano, having previously written for Classic FM Magazine, Classic CD, BBC Music Magazine, Piano and International Record Review. He is the author of four reference books on classical music and the biographer of Leopold Godowsky and Frédéric Chopin.

Other activities

He is president of the Jerome K. Jerome society and music director of the Deanery Church of St Mary the Virgin in Braintree, Essex. He is an authority on the piano, pianists and Leopold Godowsky in particular.

Recordings