Philip Peter Ross Nichols (28 June 1902 – 30 April 1975) was a Cambridge academic and published poet, artist and historian, who founded the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids in 1964.

Nichols was a Member and Chairman of the Druid Order which traces its lineage to a meeting at the Apple Tree Tavern in Covent Garden, London, in 1717, although Professor Ronald Hutton has demonstrated that it only dates back to 1906, the 1717 story being a modification of the founding of modern Freemasonry.

While a graduate history student at Cambridge University, Nichols became influenced by the work of James George Frazer, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, T. S. Eliot, Robert Graves and Jessie Weston among others.

The short-lived publication marked the first time Nichols wrote about Druidism, and introduced the short story "Book of Shadows" (by Mir Bashir) that inspired Gardner to adopt the term for Wicca.

He introduced a concern for Celtic mythology and Bardcraft, and the celebration of the full eight seasonal ceremonies in addition to arranging the teachings into three grades, in accordance with classical accounts of the three divisions of the Druids.