My friend and former sports-writing colleague at the Observer Peter Nichols, who has died from Parkinson’s-related dementia aged 79, was a man of many talents: drama teacher, Time Out cabaret correspondent, athletics correspondent, London Marathon international race organiser, publisher and award-winning radio scriptwriter.
Pete was a sporting Google long before Google was invented. He was a sharer, the go-to source at the seven Olympiads he covered. “Pete was utterly invaluable,” recalls the former Guardian head of sport Ben Clissitt. “His input was the Guardian playbook for our Olympic coverage.”
His smiling, twinkle-eyed persona was a presence in press rooms round the world. He was a charming contrarian, rarely accepting received wisdom, fighting his corner, as the local council in his home town, Brighton, once discovered when Pete accumulated several hundred parking tickets and eventually won his case to have them cancelled because of misleading signage. Witty, pedantic, generous, argumentative, he took Robert Frost’s “road less travelled” as his preferred pathway, be it a pub off the beaten track or the trumpeting of a minor sport. He was a man of broad tastes, at ease discussing Emil Zátopek or Emile Zola.
Peter was born in London, in Homerton, Hackney, the son of Albert, a surgical salesman, and Agnes (nee Kuch), a secretary. Educated at Harrow county school, Pete spent time in Australia before returning to study English and American studies (1974-77) at the University of East Anglia as a mature student. He went on to take up a drama teaching post in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, following a Cert Ed course at Goldsmiths College.
There was a writing itch that needed to be addressed, though, and Pete was soon covering the comedy circuit for Time Out, and gave Paul Merton one of his first reviews. Athletics was his great love, and Pete came to national attention when he worked with Pat Butcher, a UEA pal who became the Times athletics correspondent, on a groundbreaking exposé of drugs in sport in the Times in 1987. Cheats never slept easy when that pair were on the job.
Pete’s inquisitive mind saw him generate an eclectic output. He spent his later years working alongside his wife, Karen Rose, at her award-winning radio production company, Sweet Talk Productions. His play Esterhazy, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2006, was a highly commended runner-up for the Richard Imison award the following year.
Pete and Karen first met in London in 1985, and they married in 2016. Peter is survived by Karen and his son, Will, as well as by his older sister, Judy.
