About Brian

Wanderer, truck driver, dishwasher, deckhand, advertising executive, television producer, lecturer, author. 

In 1960 he sailed for England where he worked in London as a copywriter. He travelled in Europe and journeyed overland alone for twelve months back to Australia through Afghanistan, Kashmir, India and South-east Asia. He worked in the Outback as a driller and truck driver and then returned to London to study for three years at The London School of Film Technique, under famous British film directors Charles Frend, (The Cruel Sea) and Alexander Mackendrick (The Ladykillers starring Alec Guinness).

He became a film editor concentrating mainly on BBC productions and then returned to Australia and worked for twenty-two years as an editor, writer, producer and director for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He worked on numerous iconic television series including In the Wild with Harry Butler, Torque, A Big Country, Bill Peach’s Holiday, Peach’s Australia, the religious series Encounters, arts programmes, social history documentaries, travel and adventure series such as The Flying Vet, The Blue Revolution and the acclaimed science series Quantum.

During these years he travelled overseas to the USA, the Pacific and extensively throughout Australia.

Brian Nicholls is married to Johanna Nicholls, well-known author of Australian historical novels. They live in Sydney.

What readers say

I liked the surprise of it, the feeling that anything could happen. There is a time in life when one enters any open door. I guess that’s how you grow up.

R.W. Leura, NSW
Wanderlust

I’m definitely going to be reading your book over and over because as well as the history behind it there are the constant stories of mischief and humour.

G.P. Healesville, Vic.
A Saucepan in the Sky

An absolutely delightful read…fascinating.

Sally Loane, ABC Radio
A Saucepan in the Sky

I enjoyed A Saucepan in the Sky immensely – it stirred filed-away memories and refreshed the affection held for early relationships.

M. H. Tathra, NSW.
A Saucepan in the Sky

Nostalgic as well as immediate… and thoroughly engrossing.

A.T. Glebe, NSW.
A Saucepan in the Sky

So much of it seemed very familiar to my own struggles and wow moments.

A. A. Devon, UK.
A Saucepan in the Sky

I laughed the whole afternoon as I read it. How delightful in this grim world to find such humour.

P.W. Berwick, Vic.
A Saucepan in the Sky

It has everything: humour, pathos, history, laughter, tears.

C. McG. Perth, WA.
A Saucepan in the Sky

Dry, witty, sad, funny and amazingly frank.

E.M. Rozelle, NSW
Wanderlust

Highly entertaining.

R.I Paddington, NSW
Wanderlust

Thank you for your story and your style.

J.A. Greenwich, NSW.
A Saucepan in the Sky

An utterly readable account of a memorable ‘ordinary’ environment. Uncle Vic is a ‘funny bugger’ with a Conradian outlook. ‘Uncle’ Stan is wonderfully disreputable. A charming book…as tender a maternal portrait as you will ever read.

Australian Book Review
A Saucepan in the Sky
Wanderlust
A Saucepan in the Sky
A Suitcase in the Desert
Darkling