"Did you know that Maggie Smith once accused Laurence Olivier of having "a tin ear and two left feet"? That's one of many enjoyably acerbic snippets in Peter Nichols' Diaries 1969–77, a period that stretches from the composition of his The National Health to the conception of his masterpiece, Passion Play....Nichols tends to be touchy, crusty, disappointed with himself....yet wonderfully observant, honest and likeable." Benedict Nightingale The Times 13 December 2000.
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He abandoned his first profession of acting, largely at the urging of Kenneth Williams, to become a successful playwright.
Peter Pan | Peter Gabriel | Peter Jackson | Peter | Saint Peter | Peter Paul Rubens | Peter Sellers | Peter the Great | Blue Peter | Peter Frampton | Peter Greenaway | Peter Brook | Peter Lorre | Peter Ustinov | St. Peter's Basilica | Peter Kropotkin | St. Peter | Peter Fonda | Peter Kay | Peter David | Peter Mandelson | Peter O'Toole | Peter Allen | Mike Nichols | Lord Peter Wimsey | Peter Sellars | Peter Schreier | Peter, Paul and Mary | Peter Davison | Peter Singer |
Artists who began their careers in the Central Pool of Artists, and later the CSE, included Kenneth Williams, Spike Milligan, Stanley Baxter, Ken Platt and Peter Nichols.
In 1994 they lost the use of that venue, but found a new home in part of the grade I listed building Quakers Friars in Broadmead where in the succeeding three years they produced new and lost work by writers ranging from Peter Nichols (Blue Murder) to Dion Boucicault (How She Loves Him).
Over 250 interviews have been added to the site, and interviewees include Frith Banbury, Michael Frayn, Trevor Griffiths, Glenda Jackson, Ann Jellicoe, Ian McDiarmid, Peter Nichols, Corin Redgrave, Arnold Wesker, Timothy West.
Peter Nichols later adapted his experiences into a stage play (and later film) called Privates on Parade.
In three years they produced eleven play including two news works by Peter Nichols and the acclaimed The Wills' Girls by Amanda Whittington which was revived in 2003 and was also staged at the Dublin Fringe Festival.