News on Screen

Nicholson was the Newcastle representative of the Pathe Gazette, whose first credit is as cameraman for ‘THE LAST VOYAGE,' a story from Blyth in No.1391 of April 1927. Nicholson supplied regular stories from Newcastle, many of them for the Newcastle local release, but he also covered some stories in Glasgow and St. Andrews, and did some work with Paul Robello [qv]. Nicholson was also credited in the camera teams for ‘THE GRAND NATIONAL, 1930’ in Pathe Super Gazette No.1698 of March 1930, and subsequent Grand Nationals in No.33/25 of March 1933, and No.34/25 of March 1934. Patrick Wyand, who joined Movietone in that month, recalled Nicholson as having ‘terrible burn scars on his face which I understood were caused by a film fire.' Nicholson continued to provide regional footage for Pathe, and Grand National coverage, until May 1938, when his last credited story ‘PLANTING THE PENNY HEDGE’ appeared in Super Sound Gazette No.38/43. Nicolson seems to have done some freelance filming after the war, being credited for ‘THE NORTHUMBERLAND PLATE’ in British Movietone News No.1360A of June 1955.

Sources

J. Ballantyne (ed) ‘Researcher’s Guide to British Newsreels: Vol.II’ (1988), p.35.