[1] The family were Catholic, but Margaret Nielsen abandoned the religion after being forbidden to play at a school concert in the Anglican church.
[1] Nielsen had piano lessons in New Plymouth, and attended a summer school run by Vernon Griffiths and John Ritchie.
[1] Nielsen was close friends with composer Douglas Lilburn, and he, David Farquhar and Jack Body all dedicated pieces to her.
She wrote to The Listener after the killing of Charles Aberhart in Hagley Park and the subsequent acquittal of his killers, who claimed he had propositioned them.
[5] When Venn Young introduced a private member's bill to legalise homosexuality, Nielsen tried to persuade other politicians to support the reform.