[1] Nick Downie was educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College, at the Middlesex Hospital and Stirling Lines.

One year before his qualification as a doctor, Downie instead joined the Special Air Service as a Trooper.

Later, Downie stated that at the time he was "your original 10½-stone weakling" but that it was his "all-consuming desire" to serve in the SAS that mattered more than physical fitness during the selection process.

[3] He was an instrumental figure in the Dhofar Rebellion, where he destroyed a South Yemen fort (with 1,050 lb of gelignite).

[4] Downie’s final military engagement was with the Peshmerga in Iraqi Kurdistan fighting against Saddam Hussein in 1974–75.