Education
Adrian John Nichol attended the Street Cuthbert"s Grammar School on Gretna Road in Newcastle upon Tyne.
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John Nichol
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He joined the Royal Air Force in February 1981 as an electronics technician. Having signed up in 1980 and needing sufficient O levels. In the intervening period between school and the Royal Air Force, he worked in a large DIY store, although his employers were not aware of his military plans until they sought to promote him to management and he decided to tell them.
Nichol was commissioned as a navigator in December 1986.
He served with XV Squadron based at Royal Air Force Laarbruch. During Operation Desert Storm in the Gulf War the squadron was deployed to Muharraq Airfield in Bahrain.
His first mission, on 17 January 1991, entailed flying as number two to Squadron Leader Paul "Pablo" Mason on an ultra-low-level sortie against Ar Ruma airfield. During the flight, his Panavia Tornado ZD791 was critically hit by a shoulder-launched SAM Société Anonyme-14, and he and his pilot, John Peters, were captured by Iraqi forces.
After capture he was shown, bruised, on Iraqi television
He was tortured in the Abu Ghraib prison. Nichol was released by the Iraqis at the end of the Gulf War. He remained in the Royal Air Force until March 1996.
After repatriation by the Red Cross, Nichol co-authored a book, Tornado Down, with John Peters, about this experience.
Since "Tornado Down", Nichol has written over ten books including five novels "Point of Impact", "Vanishing Point", "Exclusion Zone", "Stinger" and "Decisive Measures". Medic: Saving Lives - from Dunkirk to Afghanistan (2009) was short-listed for the 2010 Wellcome Trust Book Prize.
He now makes occasional appearances on British television as a presenter and sometimes works in radio as a stand-in presenter on talkSport. He also works as a motivational speaker.
