Nicholls was educated at the Liverpool Collegiate School and St Edmund Hall, Oxford.
[1] Nicholls joined the Royal Air Force in June 1945 and served as a pilot during the later stages of the Second World War.
[2] During the Korean War he was seconded to the United States Air Force where he saw active service as a pilot and shot down a MiG 15.
[1] In 1959 he was seconded to English Electric to test fly the new supersonic Lightning.
[1] He was appointed Officer Commanding the Air Fighting Development Squadron in 1962, deputy director of Air Staff Briefing in 1965 and Station Commander at RAF Leuchars in 1967.