Sir David Nicholas (25 January 1930 – 4 June 2022) was a British broadcast journalist,

ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based television production company. It is made up of two divisions: Broadcast News and ITN Productions. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, N ...

editor-in-chief, chief executive (1977–1989), and chairman (1989–91).

Early life

Nicholas was born on 25 January 1930 in

Tregaron Tregaron ( "town of St Caron") is an ancient market town in Ceredigion, Wales, astride the River Brenig, a tributary of the River Teifi. Tregaron is northeast of Lampeter. According to the 2011 Census, the population of the ward of Tregaron wa ...

Cardiganshire Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. Cere ...

(Ceredigion). He was the son of Daniel Nicholas, a bank's chief cashier, and his wife Elizabeth (née Williams). He was brought up in

Glynneath Glynneath ( cy, Glyn-nedd "valley of the River Neath"), also spelt ''Glyn-neath'' and ''Glyn Neath'', is a small town, community and electoral ward lying on the River Neath in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It was formerly in th ...

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

, and attended Neath grammar school. After graduating in English (

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

) from the

University College of Wales, Aberystwyth , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

, and doing

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

in the Army's education corps (from 1951 to 1953), Nicholas became a journalist. He worked on ''

The Yorkshire Post ''The Yorkshire Post'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds in Yorkshire, England. It primarily covers stories from Yorkshire although its masthead carries the slogan "Yorkshire's National Newspaper". It was previously owned by ...

'', then worked on ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' as a subeditor.

Career

Nicholas joined

in 1960 as a subeditor. He also did a weekend shift on ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

''. He worked his way up to chief sub and then deputy editor in 1963. He was the producer of ITN's '' News at Ten'' programme at its inception. He was editor-in-chief, and produced election night coverage from 1966 to 1987 as well as the Apollo Moon landing coverage, and ITN special programmes. He became chief executive of ITN from 1977 to 1989, and then chairman from 1989 until his retirement in 1991. He was also a director of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

from 1992 to 1997 and chair of Sports News TV from 1996 to 2003. He was Visiting Editor at the Graduate School of Journalism at

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

(from 1993) and the School of Journalism, University of Boulder, Colorado (from 1994). He was also Chairman of the Deptford Challenge Trust from 1996 to 2005 and a Member of the Council of

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

, London, from 1996 to 2003.

Awards

Nicholas received the Producers’ Guild Award in 1967 (for coverage of the return of

Sir Francis Chichester Sir Francis Charles Chichester KBE (17 September 1901 – 26 August 1972) was a British businessman, pioneering aviator and solo sailor. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for becoming the first person to sail single-handed around the wor ...

). He also received Fellowship (FRTS) in 1980, the Cyril Bennett Award in 1985, the Judges' Award in 1991 and a Lifetime Achievement award from the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

in 2012. He was awarded a

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the

1982 Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in supplem ...

and a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...

in the

1989 Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in supple ...

. He was created a Fellow of University College Aberystwyth and received an

Honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

(LLD) from the

University of Wales The University of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Prifysgol Cymru'') is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff � ...

in 1990 and was also twice elected President of his university's Old Students' Association in 1990 and 1992. He was also awarded an honorary degree (DHL) from the

Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois. Board of trustees The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of Tr ...

in 2000. He also received the News World Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 and was made an Hon. Fellow, of

, London in 2004. He died on 4 June 2022 at the age of 92.

Family

Nicholas was married to Juliet Davies from 1952 until her death in 2013. The couple had two children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholas, Sir David 1930 births 2022 deaths Alumni of Aberystwyth University Aberystwyth Old Students' Association British journalists People from Ceredigion Knights Bachelor Commanders of the Order of the British Empire