Michael J. Nicholson (1957-61) died unexpectedly at his home on the edge of Dartmoor in
Moretonhampstead, Devon on October 1st 2026, aged 82. He left a sister Penny, a daughter
Philippa and two granddaughters. A retired Lt. Colonel, he had been enduring recurrent bouts
of cancer and had not been in good health. The funeral will be held at St
Mary and All Saints Church, Dunsfold, Surrey at 11.30am on Friday 20th November
followed by a wake at Winn Hall from 12.30pm to 3pm.

Throughout his life Mike, always a most convivial companion, suffered from an underlying
lack of self-esteem. A partially written autobiography begins with a quote by the humourist
Clive James: “To wait until reminiscence is justified by achievement might mean to wait for
ever.” He then adds, disarmingly and misleadingly, that his memoir is that of a “failed Army
officer” and “an exercise in self-indulgence.”

Born in Helensburgh, Scotland in November 1943 where his Ulster-born father, Commander
John Blair Nicholson RN, was serving at the time, he grew up in a kind of peripatetic caravan
as the family moved from place to place, mostly in southern England. Arriving at the NCP
via a prep school in Hindhead in the summer term of 1957 with a view to joining the RN like
his father, he “drifted along” at the College. Eventually he became a cadet leader in Illawarra,
a fine wicket keeper in the cricket 1st XI of 1960 and 1961, a capable captain of Squash, and
a thrusting left wing in the Hockey 1st XI in 1961. Academically, he faltered and after several
false starts decided to join the Army.

Entering RMA Sandhurst in September 1961, he immediately wondered if he had made the
right decision and left af ter one term. An unsatisfactory series of jobs in insurance followed –
“boring does not begin to describe the work” he wrote  and, unusually, he was allowed to
return to Sandhurst in September 1963. Determined not to join the infantry, he ended up in
the Royal Artillery at a moment in the mid-1960s when the Army had 32 Gunner regiments.
Rather typically, Mike “never enjoyed or understood Gunnery.”

Nevertheless he rose slowly but surely up the officer ranks and by the mid-1970s was a Major
having served in Germany on several postings, in Malaya, around England and Wales and a
number of times in Northern Ireland during the worst of the Troubles. It was during his stints
in Ulster that he discovered a flair for Intelligence work. For the role he played during the
1977-78 national strike by firefighters, when the Army had to be deployed, he was awarded
an MBE.

Promoted to Lt Colonel, Mike’s last job in the Army before he retired in 1998 was with
GOALS, a section devoted to helping those leaving the military to find new careers. Unsure
what to do next, he created The List, in effect a clearing house of contacts and openings for
other veterans and ran it for a decade or more.

Divorced twice, his final six years were spent alone wrestling with his health, shuttling back
and forth between Sussex and Devon and writing biting letters to The Daily Telegraph. One
was published only days before he died, bemoaning the lack of sermons given with
conviction by Anglican clerics and praising the pulpit harangues of the Rev. Ian Paisley a
characteristic Nicholson right jab at wokeness.