[6] The Agnews had a second son in June 1962 and were recorded as living at "Bainton near Stamford, Lincs"; in April 1966, a daughter, Felicity, was born and was announced as "a sister for Jonathan and Christopher".

[9] Jonathan Agnew recalls growing up on the family farm and first becoming aware of cricket aged "eight or nine"; his father would carry a radio around and listen to Test Match Special: "The programme sparked an interest in me, in the same way it has in so many tens of thousands of children down the years, igniting a passion that lasts a lifetime.

At the end of days spent watching cricket on television in a blacked-out room with the commentary provided by the radio, Agnew would go into the garden and practise his bowling for hours, trying to imitate the players he had seen.

[11] Agnew's father, an amateur cricketer, taught him the rudiments of the sport, including an offspin action, as he wanted his son to develop into a bowler like him.

[13] His first cricket coach was Eileen Ryder and, according to Agnew, after "a couple of years"[14] a professional arrived at the school: Ken Taylor, a former batsman for Yorkshire who had played three Tests for England in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

[15] That summer, he saw fast bowler Michael Holding take 14 wickets in the 1976 Oval Test match, a performance of pace bowling referred to as "devastating" by cricket writer Norman Preston,[16] which made a lasting impression on Agnew.

[17] More than 30 years later he wrote of his bowling during his schooldays: "For an eighteen-year-old bowler I was unusually fast, and enjoyed terrorising our opponents, be they schoolboys (8 wickets for 2 runs and 7 for 11 stick in the memory) or, better still, the teachers in the annual staff match.

[18] On his first-class debut against Lancashire in August 1978,[22] the 18-year-old Agnew bowled to England international David Lloyd, an opening batsman with nine Test caps.

[24] Agnew won a Whitbread Brewery award at the end of his debut season, an achievement he ascribes to the influence of his county captain, Ray Illingworth:[25] he had taken only six first-class wickets at an average of 35.

[27] The award afforded him the opportunity to spend a winter in Australia developing his skills, alongside fellow winners Mike Gatting, Wayne Larkins and Chris Tavaré,[28] and to be coached by former England fast bowler, Frank Tyson.

Such early publicity did him no favours, but when a bowler arrives who is young, fast and English, a quiet settling-in period to one of the more difficult apprenticeships in sport is often denied him."

The Editor's Notes of the 1980 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack reported, under the heading "England's Promising Youngsters", that Agnew had strengthened himself over the winter by felling trees.

[34] Playing in the warm-up game against Cambridge University, he achieved figures of 8–47 (taking 8 wickets while conceding 47 runs) from 20.4 overs and was included in the first team for the County Championship matches that followed.

[38] The England selectors took note and, with the West Indies leading the series 4–0, Agnew and Richard Ellison were given debuts,[39] in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to avoid the "blackwash".

[45] Poor performance and a muscle injury limited him to bowling a single over on the last day; later, Agnew reflected on other negative aspects of this match: "I felt a complete outsider, not part of the set-up.

[58] His timing was perfect and he was called up for the Fourth Test at Old Trafford to partner Ian Botham and Paul Allott in an all-Cheshire born seam attack.

[62][note 2] By this stage, he was working on local radio during the winters and he found the reassurance of the additional income and career path a major factor in his improved form.

Go home, get your England stuff ready, and I'll call first thing tomorrow ...' Even though I was approximately the seventeenth choice, this was still fantastic news ... After three disappointing Test appearances, this was my second chance, and the opportunity to set the record straight ... [The following day] the telephone finally rang.

"[15] Agnew began gaining experience as a journalist in 1987, while still playing cricket, when at the invitation of John Rawling he took off-season employment with BBC Radio Leicester as a sports producer.

[76] He was initially a junior member of the Test Match Special team, learning at close quarters from figures such as Brian Johnston, Henry Blofeld and Bill Frindall.

Miraculously, for the rest of the tournament I always heard 'zero' in my ear at the moment I said goodbye ... the whole experience served to confirm my belief that my decision to stick with Test Match Special was the right one.

[90] Agnew was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant of Leicestershire in October 2015,[91] and as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to broadcasting.

[94] As a result of confusion and a row over broadcasting rights, the BBC team found itself barred from the Galle International Stadium, where the first Test was to take place.

"[94] The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive, Tim Lamb became involved in discussions and the Test Match Special team were allowed to return to the ground.

[96] Agnew's reaction was combative, appearing on BBC Breakfast and giving his opinion that the ban presented the ECB with a chance to withdraw from the controversial tour and that they should take the opportunity.

[105] He initially tried to continue his summary, before becoming unable to speak for laughing, at one point saying "Aggers, for goodness' sake, stop it" as he struggled to regain his composure.

[103] Fourteen years later, in 2005, Agnew's line, "Just didn't quite get his leg over" was voted "the greatest sporting commentary of all time" by listeners to BBC Radio 5 Live.

[109] In 2013 Agnew told BBC Desert Island Discs he struggled to maintain contact with his daughters after his divorce from their mother saying he wanted to "stand up" for absent fathers in broken families.

[116] In 2019, journalist Jonathan Liew wrote an article in which he expressed concern about some of the language used in the media to describe Jofra Archer’s selection for England.

– Until you begin to question why Archer is deemed such a grave threat to it.” Agnew called Liew a "“sad racist troll after clickbait” on Twitter,[117] adding “Fucking disgrace.