Biography

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.
- IMDb mini biography by: Rome Tome