It is common knowledge that an old boy of Quarry Bank High
School appeared in the film A Hard Day’s Night. In fact there were two,
as besides the starring John Lennon, a small cameo role was undertaken by Derek
Nimmo who had been at the school a few years before his somewhat more famous
Quarry old boy.
He was born in Liverpool in 1930, the son of an insurance
clerk. He attended Quarry Bank High School and in his autobiography fellow-pupil Bill Rodgers recalled Nimmo as "riding a bicycle, heels on the pedals and toes pointing outwards, a rather clerical figure, as if rehearsing the roles he was soon to play". After leaving Quarry Bank when he was 17 he entered the insurance
business. It was following his national service, when working at Goodlass Wall
paint factory in Speke, that he first became interested amateur dramatics. (He
had played Brutus in a school production of Julius Caesar). He subsequently
turned professional in 1952 and spent over a decade doing mostly theatre work
before gaining national prominence in 1967 when the BBC launched the comedy All
Gas and Gaiters. Nimmo’s depiction of the junior cleric the Reverend Mervyn
Noote was a significant factor in the show’s popularity and it ran for five
series. Another ecclesiastical role materialised for him in the series Oh
Brother ! in which he played Brother Dominic. He was also a regular on the
BBC radio panel game Just A Minute, participating in the first recording
in 1967 and continuing the association until his death.
He died in 1999 after falling down a flight of stone steps
at his home and was buried in the churchyard at Easton Maudit,
Northamptonshire.
