Jonathan was educated at St Paul's School, London, (1976-81) and
Balliol College, Oxford, (1982-86), where he completed a Bachelor' and
Master' Degree in Classical Studies. He was awarded the Brackenbury
Scholarship in Literature while at Balliol, and graduated summa cum
laude, with a First Class Honours Degree.
In the year following his graduation he was awarded a UNESCO
International Arts Scholarship for the purposes of travel in the
Mediterranean world better to acquaint himself with sites of classical
significance. He traveled widely in Italy, Greece, Turkey and Africa.
On his return he began a career in television as a documentary-maker,
initially with Channel Four and then, from 1990-2002, with the BBC.
His career at the BBC was spent within its History Department where he
produced, wrote and directed more than twenty documentaries, at least
half of which were related to the classical world, and particularly, to
the world of ancient Rome. During the course of making these
documentaries he continued to work and travel widely across the
Mediterranean. For the purposes of research on these projects he was,
and remains, affiliated to the British School at Rome, one of the
world's premier academic centres for Roman studies.
His films won more than twenty awards, including three Emmy® Awards,
and a CableAce Award. He was twice the winner of the Amnesty
International Special Jury Award, and also of the Howard League Award.
In 2000 he was appointed the Director of Development in the BBC's
History Department. In 2002 he was appointed the BBC's Head of
Archaeology.
He joined the HBO Rome project as Historical Consultant in 2004.