Jonathan's reported on the biggest sports events, with the biggest stars, on the biggest programmes!
A 30-year professional career has taken him around the world, rubbing shoulders with the greatest athletes of all time in the most iconic venues.
He's probably best known for commentating on Andy Murray winning Wimbledon in 2013 but other professional adventures include World Cups in Brazil, Japan and Korea, Olympics in Athens, Beijing, London and Tokyo plus Paralympics from Rio. Not to mention a personal highlight (no idea why; Ed); being on the pitch with double-winning Arsenal players at Cardiff and Old Trafford in 2002!
But wind right back to the 1990s and you find a spotty teenager, complete with dodgy haircut and Harry Potter glasses, geeking out over football match reports while pretending to do school work.
While volunteering at the local radio station, Jonathan used his first visit to Wimbledon to report from a payphone on the concourse. Not everyone was desperate for news of Mark Petchey on Court 5 but that didn't stop our intrepid teenage newshound!
The following year, as a £10-a-week helper at BBC Essex, his report on Thurrock's Rugby upset of London Irish made it to the national airwaves before, in 1994, at the age of 21, Jonathan abandoned his university studies to accept a full-time job (on the not illogical assumption he was doing the course to get said job!)
As the story goes, he was hired (another £10) to record applicants' demo tapes when a series of newsroom jobs were advertised. So average were the auditions, Jonathan felt obliged to state he could do a better job. The jury's still out, but his foot was in the door!
Cricket became the main focus, perfect for this Essex fan who'd spent several years as a junior member bunking off school to attend County Championship matches at Chelmsford and assorted festival outposts. Ball-by-ball commentary was a regular job for Jonathan, working with legends like John Lever (right, at the old Hampshire ground in Southampton).
Things went full circle in 2018 as Jonathan became one of the key cricket voices on 5 Live that summer; reporting on Eoin Morgan's England one-day team (featuring Jason Roy, right) before their famous World Cup victory the following year.
Anyway, back to the 90s, when hijackings, murders and lower-league football may have provided a classic local-radio grounding but simply didn't satisfy Jonathan's reporting ambition. So, in 1997, he took the well-travelled road from local radio to the BBC Sportsroom in London; home of "Sports Report" and other famous and magical Radio 5 Live shows.
And so began a 20-year love affair with Broadcasting House which saw Jonathan present all the main sports programmes including two stints as main presenter on Sunday afternoons. He was the regular understudy for "Sports Report" on Saturdays and "Sportsweek" on Sunday mornings.open
For several years he worked at the forefront of 5 Live's football coverage and regularly interviewed Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger at the heat of their rivalry in the late 90s and early 00s.
He remains a key part of the station's football coverage, mainly covering south coast & London clubs for "Sports Report".
Out of the blue in 2003, Jonathan was offered the job of BBC Tennis Correspondent and a memorable, decade-long-tenure followed; including historic moments for a golden era of players; Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Justine Henin, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, climaxing with Andy Murray winning his first Wimbledon title in 2013; Jonathan's final match as correspondent.
Since 2013, Jonathan has continued his close relationship with tennis including work for ITV Sport, Amazon Prime Video, ATP Media, Times Radio and TalkSPORT. He continues to be an essential member of the BBC Radio team at Wimbledon every summer.
In 2023, Sky Sports returned to tennis as rights holders for the US Open. Jonathan was appointed lead commentator for the coverage in New York, working with presenter Gigi Salmon and alongside pundits such as Martina Navratilova and Feliciano Lopez (left)
Alongside his mainstream broadcasting, Jonathan has been active in the podcast space combining his love of documentary-making with a close interest in sport and sustainability. In 2020, Jonathan devised and created the podcast "Emergency on Planet Sport" which joins the dots between sport and climate change. Engaging more people within the sports community to the urgent issue of climate action and sustainability is a huge passion.
The series has received award-nominations and global acclaim leading to several appearances for Jonathan at live events, conferences and even on a House of Commons select committee!