[6] Nicholson was born in Harewood, Leeds and was moved with the rest of the family to Eldwick, near Bingley, West Riding of Yorkshire in his infancy.

[9] By the age of eight, he began to show a predilection for poetry when he wrote on his maternal grandfather's barn door; 'Good god of truth, take Mat and Ruth, unto the heavenly throne, then good old Frank, may live in crank, and be disturb'd by none.'

[12] His parents had high ambitions for him, but in spite of this, he remained a woolsorter (or woolcomber) for the rest of his life alongside writing poetry.

[11] At night he would devour the works of John Milton, Shakespeare and Alexander Pope by candlelight and when his mother confiscated his candles, he made his own from a mustard pot, a cotton cord for a wick and olive oil to burn.

Literary appreciation was his only shared ideal with his father, Thomas Nicholson, who on wild winter nights, would read the collected works to his family beside the fireplace.

[13] John Nicholson did not prosper as a woolsorter and when his father was away from their home, he would take himself off across the moors or into the dells around Eldwick and read or play his Hautboy.

[14] He was quite accomplished on the Hautboy and his skill at this would introduce him to his first wife, Mary Driver, whom he met whilst playing at a wedding they both attended.

His father, mother and grandfather were all Wesleyan activists and driven by their fervour for Methodism, he willingly abandoned his previous activities[17] and 'Took The Pledge' with the Temperance Society.

The marriage and the lack of probation time as a preacher (four years was required) prevented him from becoming a full-time minister and he left the Wesleyans in 1815.

[22] These were his happiest days, when he could write and work and the family was not too big[21] (he eventually had nine sons and daughters, eight with Martha and one surviving twin from his marriage to Mary).

[23] In 1822 he moved to Harden Beck[24] and wrote beside the river and rose in the early morning to sit by rocks overlooking the valley and write his poetry.

By all accounts, the trial was a humorous affair and the judge released him without charge, but not before Nicholson dragged the officer who arrested him around the court in retaliation for how he had been treated the night before.

[32] On his return to Yorkshire, the family moved to Saltaire and Nicholson took to work for Sir Titus Salt,[33] whom he viewed as a kind benefactor.

[46] Poetry or Bust[30] written by Tony Harrison is a tragi-comic tale that relates the life and sad death of the Airedale Poet.