[2] Nicholson joined ITV in 1964 and over the next forty years he reported from 18 war zones: Biafra, Israel, Vietnam, Cambodia, Congo, Cyprus, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, Indo-Pakistan, Northern Ireland, Falklands, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, the Gulf Wars, 'Desert Storm' 1991 and 'Shock and Awe,' Baghdad 2003.

In 1975, Nicholson went to South Vietnam, and reported several events followed by the Fall of Saigon, including the battle of Newport Bridge (Cầu Tân Cảng), a key passway where ARVN soldiers fighting the last stand against PAVN troops and Vietcong heading for the capital, and the US Embassy gathered around by thousands of panic Vietnamese citizens trying to leave the country by American helicopters.

Nicholson got into the embassy compound in the afternoon on April 29, and took one helicopter to USS Hancock waiting in the South China Sea.

In 1978 he and his cameraman Tom Phillips and sound recordist Micky Doyle, were in Angola to interview the UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi.

Pursued by Cuban mercenaries working for the communist MPLA government, they were trapped and spent four and a half months in the bush, walking a total of 1,500 miles, trying to escape.

In 1981 he returned to Britain, motoring overland through Africa and Europe with his wife Diana and two small sons, Tom and William, a six-month journey of some twelve thousand miles, recorded in the book Across the Limpopo.

Initially hosting the bulletin on Fridays from its introduction in September 1976 (due to the inclusion of a World News segment on that day), and as a relief newscaster, he began alternating with Leonard Parkin as the regular host of the 545 from 1980 until 1982, when as aforementioned he was recalled as a war reporter to cover the Falklands War, providing a memorable report from Argentina about the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano during the conflict.

Natasha attended local state primary and secondary schools near her home in Surrey and later gained an HND in sports science from the University of Bath.

Nicholson lived with his wife Diana, two sons Thomas and William, and adopted daughter Natasha in Grayswood, Haslemere, Surrey.