Brimble was born in
Bristol. His father was a schoolteacher who was also a keen amateur actor, an activity in which Nick was involved on occasions as a child. For several summers his father also managed a French/Czech high-wire act, the White Devils, and in July 1961 organised their blindfolded high-wire crossing of
Cheddar Gorge. When the act toured Britain, the Brimble family travelled with them. At the end of the 1961 season's tour of Britain, Brimble travelled through France with the White Devils, helping as they set up and performed in towns as they went, and returning for the start of the autumn school term. He attended
Bristol Grammar School. In his first year he played Miranda in a school production of
The Tempest. Brimble's parents gave him a season ticket to the
Bristol Old Vic, where he saw every play from the age of 11 until he went to university at 18. He studied Philosophy and English Literature at the
University of Sussex from 1962 to 1966. He left with an MA and went on to teach English and Drama at the
University of Baghdad. Brimble's stay in Iraq only lasted one year, owing to the political unrest there; he left at the outbreak of the
Six-Day War in 1967, driving back to the UK overland in a battered
Mini car purchased from British tourists he had met in Baghdad. The following year he taught at a south London comprehensive school, before deciding to try to be an actor. == Career ==