Jeremy Nicholas is an actor, award-winning broadcaster, writer and classical music critic. He was nominated for an Olivier Award in 1981 for his acclaimed solo performance of his own adaptation of Three Men In A Boat and, in 1996, won the Sony Gold Award for Best Arts Programme (broadcast on BBC Radio 2). As well as writing the lyrics and music of over 150 songs for Radio 4’s Stop the Week, he has also composed the scores for several stage plays and TV productions, including Quatermaine’s Terms and A Month in the Country for BBC TV. As a recognised authority on the piano and pianists, he is a regular contributor to Gramophone and International Piano magazines, and is the author of two composer biographies (Chopin and Godowsky) and four music reference books. He was Director Music at the archiepiscopal peculiar of St Mary’s, Bocking,from 2002 to 2021 and has been President of the Jerome K Jerome Society for nearly 30 years.
LATEST BOOK – THE GREAT PIANO MAKERS
Order from Amazon, Waterstones or direct from the publishers Chiselbury.
Published March 2026
It’s a formidable reference source, and I can imagine future writers referring to Nicholas as readily as we do to Cobbet or Grove… The Great Piano Makers, I suspect is destined to join that special category of reference books: the kind you take down to check a solitary fact, then find yourself still reading, engrossed, an hour later. Richard Bratby, International Piano
I enjoyed this book enormously. It is a most entertaining read, and also an invaluable source of information about dozens of makers from the greatest to the oddest. Anyone with the slightest interest in the piano should find plenty to relish here. Very warmly recommended. Nigel Simeone, Gramophone
The book is…packed with biographical detail, and as such offers the most up-to-date and useful guide to the subject. Intriguing facts and unexpected anecdotes emerge along the way… BBC Music
In his new book, The Great Piano Makers, acclaimed music writer Jeremy Nicholas [charts] three centuries of staggering innovation, devastating factory fires, and fierce ambition. Piano Street Magazine
It is a human tale told with great affection and sympathy, deep wit – there seems to be a delightful and quirky detail on every page – and a grasp of the broader sweep of his story. Extract from 5 Star Amazon review
This book is beautifully researched and elegantly written, worn scholarship lightly — which is the highest compliment one can pay a writer… If you play the piano, teach the piano, love the piano, or simply sit near one occasionally and wonder at the improbable complexity of the thing — read this. Extract from 5 Star Amazon review
Having spent many years performing and studying piano repertoire professionally, I can say without hesitation that this is a book that deserves a place in every pianist’s library. Extract from 5 Star Amazon review
This wonderful book is a captivating account of an absorbing and wide-ranging subject and should be a required resource for all pianists and those connected with the instrument. Extract from 5 Star Amazon review