Jonathan Edward Bishop was born in 1979 at East Glamorgan Hospital in Llantwit Fardre, Pontypridd. Unknown to his parents at the time, Jonathan was going to find school challenging, but also what they did not realise, he was going to overcome these difficulties to graduate from computing school with honours and law school in the top 5 per cent.
Jonathan’s name, Edward was taken from his grandfather Edward Bishop, who was part of the mining revolution in industrialised Rhondda, working at many mines in South Wales, including Ty Mawr. Edward Bishop joined Ty Mawr after the end of the Second World War and was there during its merger with Lewis Merthyr Colliery in 1958 before retiring in 1968 after a career in mining spanning five decades.
Jonathan didn’t achieve the same outcomes as his peers in his early education, his IQ tests showed he was in the top 2 percent, but regular absences from school due to epilepsy and an undiagnosed specific need meant his abilities were always in doubt and it became clear he would have to work twice as hard as everyone else just to achieve the same results.
At home Jonathan had access to the latest computer technology as his older brothers were both keen gamers. His ability to write moderately complex computer programs using English and Maths at a level older than his age made his parents wonder why he was having so much trouble in school.
Over two thirds of Jonathan’s education took place in the constituency of Pontypridd, South Wales. Jonathan’s primary education included attending Trallwng Infants School in Pontypridd and Llanilltud Faerdref Primary School in Llantwit Fardre. Jonathan then attended boarding schools in Brecon and Radnorshire and Torbay. One thing he remembers about these schools was taking part in water sports. He went swimming every Tuesday at the first, and still enjoys the activity to this day.
Jonathan’s later successes in business may have been no accident, and his inclusion in Who’s Who in Business and Finance in 2009 was in part due to his enterprising attitude in his youth. At the age of about 12 Jonathan went to college to learn astrology, which he used to sell astrological profiles to adults to raise extra pocket money. At the age of 15 he gave up drama school to study business at college, where he convinced his peers and tutor to set up a Young Enterprise company, in which he held the positions of Company Secretary and Finance Director, a combination he would later repeat to great effect in a limited company co-founded in adulthood. While this contributed to Jonathan’s later successes, he wonders whether giving up drama school was the right move, as his communication skills were not as honed by his twenties as they may have been otherwise.
Jonathan’s first realisation of the power of government came before he was even a teenager, when the education authorities were trying to put him in a school against his parents’ wishes. He became determined to learn all he could about the law as it affected people. Little did he know that his choice to go to college and study business would lead to him going on to graduate from law school at senior level and become the company secretary of a social enterprise.
In his early teens after his parents had successfully managed to challenge the authorities and convince them to put him in the school of their choice, Jonathan started to get interested in politics. He would regularly watch Have I Got News For You and preferred reading the Daily Mirror, which was a Labour supporting paper at the time, which is a party he identified with despite living in a Liberal and Conservative stronghold.
After undertaking a vocational National Diploma at the Cardiff School of Art and Design at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff between 1996 and 1998, where Jonathan acquired his first Apple Mac, he was accepted onto another vocational course, a Higher National Diploma in Multimedia at the School of Computing at the University of Glamorgan, in Trefforest, Pontypridd. Jonathan completed his undergraduate education at Glamorgan, doing a BSc(Hons) in Multimedia Studies in 2002. He also chose the University of Glamorgan to undertake the first stages of his postgraduate education, where he achieved an MSc in E-Learning in 2004 and a Law Masters (LLM) in European Union Law from the Glamorgan Law School in 2007 graduating in the top 5 per cent.
Like many people elected to public office Jonathan was active in student democracy while at university. He was elected class president on his ND, HND and LLM, and was a student council member throughout his BSc(Hons). He was also in his university’s debating club, being in the A-team in a number of competitions, including the prestigious John Smith Memorial Welsh Mace.
Jonathan knows the role his family and the authorities played in helping him achieve the level of education he did, going beyond what was expected of someone with his difficulties. Jonathan’s mother and father worked tirelessly for their family and if it were not for them he would just have been another child to leave school with poor qualifications. Jonathan’s brother Mark showed tremendous patience with Jonathan, teaching him programming, correcting his spelling and maths in code; if it were not for him Jonathan would not have gone on to become a Chartered IT Professional.
Jonathan’s first involvement in public office came in 2003, when he was co-opted on to Llantwit Fardre Community Council at the age of 23, following in the footsteps of his ancestor Ivor Jacob who had served on the neighbouring council in Llantrisant. At the age of 28 Jonathan was elected to Pontypridd Town Council, and noted a similar path to former US President Bill Clinton, who was also elected unopposed to public office shortly after graduating from law school.
Jonathan also has select people in education to be grateful for meeting. If it were not for the lecturers at the Cardiff School of Art and Design giving him a chance with his poor school results he would not have gained his first university qualification. If it were not for the staff at the local authority during Jonathan’s undergraduate education, he may not have got his undiagnosed specific need catered for. If it were not for specific lecturers at the Glamorgan School of Computing standing by him, lecturers such as Dr Mike Reddy, Jonathan may not have got started in his postgraduate education and his publishing career. If it were not for local people realising his potential, such as Steve Powderhill of Broadway Studios and Howard Thomas of the Llantrisant Town Trust, Jonathan may not have made the contribution to the World Wide Web that he has. If it were not for lecturers such as Ray Kingdon and Nigel Stanton pointing Jonathan in the right direction he may have never honed his programming skills to the extent that he could constantly evolve with the changing times to produce new Internet applications and go on to be recognised as one of the 50,000 most accomplished people in the World.
