Jeremy Nicholas is an actor, writer, broadcaster, lyricist and musician. He is President of the Jerome K. Jerome Society. He was born on 20 September 1947 in Wellington, Shropshire, raised in Stafford and educated at Wycliffe College (1957-65) and the Birmingham School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art (1966-69).
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His work in the theatre includes seasons with the Prospect Theatre Company (Richard II and Edward II, 1969-70, Circle of Glory, 1975), the Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow (1970-72), seven national tours and an Olivier Award nomination for his solo performance of Three Men in a Boat (adapted by Nicholas) at the May Fair Theatre (1982), subsequently filmed for Channel 4, recorded by Argo and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. He appears regularly at festivals in his one man shows Funny You Should Sing That and An Evening with Jeremy Nicholas. At the English Music Festival in May 2008 he was the narrator for Practical Cats (Rawsthorne) with the BBC Concert Orchestra under Barry Wordsworth, the first live performance of the work for 54 years.[1]
His leading roles on television have been in The Pickwick Papers, Outside Edge, Wish Me Luck, The Good Companions, six months in Crossroads (its demise in 1987 was announced within four days of him joining the cast)[2], as well as featuring in popular series such as Birds of a Feather, The Upper Hand, Heartbeat, London's Burning and Murder in Mind. He has also appeared (‘mercifully briefly - they are two of the worst films in the history of cinema’[3]) in Turtle Diary and Ishtar. Nicholas was the voice of Lionel in all 39 episodes of Budgie the Little Helicopter.
Source Internet Movie Database[4]
He has written and presented over sixty radio features for BBC Radio 2, 3 and 4 on a variety of subjects on subjects ranging from Latin, comic songs, and the Shipping Forecast to Korngold, Cziffra, Ronald Frankau and Harry Graham. In 1996 he won the Sony Radio Gold Award for Best Arts Programme. His own radio series have included The Shellac Show (BBC Radio 3), The Jeremy Nicholas Anthology (BBC Radio 2) and The Tingle Factor and Personal Records (BBC Radio 4). He has adapted and/or read more than twenty books for radio and spoken word recordings. His dramatisation of Keble Howard's comic masterpiece The Fast Gentleman was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2000. He was responsible for the concept and compilation of all eight of EMI’s best-selling CDs Hello Children…Everywhere based on his series for BBC Radio 4.[5]
Carnival of the Animals (music by Saint-Saëns, verses by Jeremy Nicholas) NEMACD600
The Phantom of the Opera (Gaston Leroux) Naxos NA211812
Composers’ Letters (anthology) Naxos NA203012
Christmas is Coming! Readings for the Festive Season (anthology) Hodder Headline HH17
The Prisoner of Zenda (Anthony Hope) Hodder Headline HH154
The Countryman Collection (anthology) EMI 7243 8
The Fashion in Shrouds (Margery Allingham) BBC ZBBC166
The Warden (Anthony Trollope) BBC ZBBC 1213
Three Men in a Boat (Jerome K Jerome) Argo SAY86, Argo 1052 & Argo 522 591 4
Three Men on the Bummel (Jerome K Jerome) Argo 1304
Budgie the Little Helicopter (8 songs) EMI TC-MFP 6117
Trolls: The Musical (Peter Skellern) CRAMC 2[6]
Nicholas has composed the music for numerous stage plays (among them the world premiere and West End productions of Tennessee Williams’s Vieux Carré) and four major television plays. His songs and instrumental music have been recorded by Sarah Walker & Roger Vignoles, Marc-André Hamelin, duo-pianists Nettle & Markham, the Grimethorpe Colliery Band and organist Kevin Bowyer.
He is Director of Music for the Deanery Church of St. Mary, Bocking (Essex)
He was a jury member for the first BNDES International Piano Competition ([1]) in Rio de Janeiro (October 2009)
Published music
Blaythorne Suite, for cornet & piano Pub. Studio Music
Blaythorne Suite, (arr. Farr) for brass band Pub. Studio Music
Carphology, for clarinet & piano Pub. Cramer Music
Toccata giubiloso, for organ Pub. Cramer Music
Place Settings / Musical Chairs Usherette’s Blues Pub. Novello
Funny You Should Sing That (The Songs of Jeremy Nicholas) (Open Wide, I Can’t Quite Remember Your Name, Camping Out, Dad Got All His Medals Out Today, Presidential Precedents, Valentine Card, Pub Crawl, Tongue Twister) Pub. Novello[7]
Raspberries and Other Trifles - Tales for Discerning Delinquents Pub. Hutchinson, 1984 & Dragon Books, 1987
Godowsky - The Pianists' Pianist Pub. APR 1989
A Beginner's Guide to Opera Pub. Ebury Press, 1993 & Crescent Books, 1994
Victorian Curiosities (ed.) Pub. Little Brown, 1995
The Classic FM Guide to Classical Music Pub. Pavilion Books, 1996 & 1997, revised and updated
The Classic FM Good Music Guide Pub. Hodder & Stoughton, 1999
Chopin – His Life and Music Pub. Naxos 2006 & Sourcebooks 2007
The Great Composers Pub. Quercus, 2007
Idle Thoughts on Jerome K Jerome (ed.) Pub. Jerome K Jerome Society, 2009
Funny You Should Sing That (Novello) - an album of comic songs (words and music by Nicholas) culled from the more than 150 written for programmes such as BBC Radio 4’s Stop the Week (1978-91).
Nicholas has written the booklets for over 80 classical CDs, including the recording of his verses for Carnival of the Animals released 2006.
He is a regular contributor as writer and critic to Gramophone, International Piano and Classic FM magazines.[8]
Camille Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals. David Nettles & Richard Markham, pianos (with ensmble). Verses written and narrated by Jeremy Nicholas. Netmark NEMACD600
Francis Poulenc: The Story of Babar the Little Elephant. David Nettles & Richard Markham, pianos. Text by Jean de Brunhoff, narrator Jeremy Nicholas. Netmark NEMACD600
Jeremy Nicholas: Toccata Giubiloso. Kevin Bowyer, organ. NPC007
Jeremy Nicholas: Quiet Peace No.1 (arr. 2 pianos) David Nettle & Richard Markham, pfs., (MCD 65, Carlton Classics 30366 01052, NEMACD200)
Place Settings (words & music, Jeremy Nicholas) Sarah Walker & Roger Vignoles (Hyperion CDA66289)
Musical Chairs (alternative version of Place Settings) (words & music, Jeremy Nicholas) Jody Karin Applebaum & Marc-André Hamelin (Albany TROY744)
Usherette’s Blues (words & music, Jeremy Nicholas) Sarah Walker & Roger Vignoles (Hyperion CDA66289) Jody Karin Applebaum & Marc-André Hamelin (Albany TROY744) Nicy Roberts & Paul Roberts (TTB CD02)
Pretty Plain (words & music, Jeremy Nicholas) Jody Karin Applebaum & Marc-André Hamelin (Albany TROY744)
Maternity (words & music, Jeremy Nicholas) Jody Karin Applebaum & Marc-André Hamelin (Albany TROY744)
Valentine Card (words & music, Jeremy Nicholas) Stewart Collins & Andy Read (FEST CD231)[9]