Death of former mayor and indomitable character

He grew up in Bexhill and in 1940 went with the British Expeditionary Force first to Oike in Belgium, and then to Merris in France.

When the Force failed he walked to Dunkirk to be rescued by the “flotilla of little ships”. He was then sent back with the Eighth Army Campaign of North Africa and came home in 1944.

Soon after John married Lettie, and their only daughter Diana was born in 1947.

Sheila writes: “Many people were surprised when John Cleese said his character, Basil Fawlty, was based on a restaurateur in Torquay, because it seemed to us that Basil was John Nichols of Salmon’s Leap, Sackville Road, Bexhill.

“Certainly, John ran his fish restaurant like Fawlty Towers, berating his customers who always came back for more.

“Lettie and, when she was old enough, Diana worked with him because, it was said, no one else would.

“Anyway, the business was a great success enabling John and Lettie to move from a small flat to a posh and newly-built house in Cooden.

“John was elected as a councillor and became Mayor of Bexhill in 1984. And then very sadly Lettie died of cancer, while still in office as the Lady Mayoress in 1985.

“During his early retirement, years, John spent more time with the Bexhill-Merris Friends that he had founded. He organised each town to take it in turns to host their annual reunion.

“A trip to Oike led him to Oudenaarde in Flanders, which is twinned with Hastings. From then on, often joining with the twinned-towns coach party, John attended the memorial service every year for as long as he was able. All this activity revived John’s relations with the Gregory family. Clive Butchers married my cousin Sylvia in 1956.

“After his retirement from the Scots Guards, Clive also became a councillor and became Mayor in 1987. Clive and Sylvia often accompanied John on his trips of Remembrance, as did my brother, Nigel.

“In 1995, Nigel drove John to Oudenaarde to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the war. On the Sunday evening, just as the sun was setting to the sounds of the last post, John was the only British soldier to be laying a wreath at the Menin Gate.”

In his latter years John, living now at Mais House, appeared in the Observer one last time in July 2007 when he attended a reception at the Bexhill Museum to launch plans for a permanent Elva racing car exhibit.

He was accompanied by Sheila and Nigel to represent the Nichols family because the Elva had originally been built and raced by John’s younger brother, Frank.