Jonathan was born with a deformed lower leg, which at the age of eight was amputated through the knee. It looks like an above knee amputation because the femur of that leg was smaller than the other. Jonathan has always been into sports having ridden horses, cycles and off road dirt bikes. He used to swim at county standard level, with his favourite stroke being that of front crawl.

He learned to water-ski achieving instructor level and was a ski-boat driver. He went on to manage the Staines Water-ski Centre at the weekends. During the winter he turned his skills to skiing and ended up competing in the Winter Olympics for the disabled in all three disciplines: downhill, slalom and giant slalom. When he retired from competition in 1992 he was seeded second in the UK and in the top ten for Europe.

After retiring he maintained his fitness through working out in a gym, but missed the water so embarked on scuba diving where he gained his Dive Masters Qualification. He regularly dives in the UK and abroad doing about 60 - 80 dives a year.