I was living in an Adelaide boarding house in 1976 and one of the residents was named John Nicholls. He was one of the most irritating and pompous men I have ever met. No matter what anyone said or did, John Nicholls would immediately declare that he had done it bigger, better, and earlier than anyone else. He could run faster and walk slower than anyone else on the planet. He was a genius and the rest of the population was there for his amusement. All you had to do was ask him and he'd tell you.
I left the boarding house and lost track of the people who lived there, but a few years later I read a newspaper story about an incident that occurred near Mt Isa in northern Queensland.
It seems that three or four young guys decided to go on a camping trip in the bush near Mt Isa where they all worked. One of the guys was a man named John Nicholls who managed to get himself invited on the trip even though he was still on crutches following a recent work accident. Perhaps the other guys felt sorry for him.
Well the camping trip turned into a nightmare. They said that John Nicholls turned out to be one of the most irritating and pompous men they had ever met. He made it clear to them that he was a genius and they were idiots and no matter what they did, he had done it bigger and better than they ever could.
Eventually the guys could take no more. They kicked him out of the car; tossed his crutches out after him - and then drove back to Mt Isa. They didn't even bother to tell anyone.
John Nicholls was found about a week later; dead from thirst and exposure.
I've often wondered if he was the same John Nicholls I knew in the Adelaide boarding house.
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