A Hollywood fantasy of a perfect marriage was the aura bestowed on Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward’s fifty year journey of bliss together until his death in 2008. Scratch the celluloid image and what emerges is a more realistic picture of his alcoholism and her resentment at having her superior talent downgraded to a secondary role as mother and wife.

 Actor/director Ethan Hawke has compiled a six part bio-doc, “The Last Movie-Stars” based on material assembled from an unpublished memoir of Newman’s at the insistence of the children who wanted their mother’s contribution and sacrifice made clear. Joanne Woodward is still alive but suffering from Alzheimers.   

  They were two of the last surviving members of the Lee Strasberg-trained generation, who had full lives apart from acting with his race car driving, her intellectual pursuits and both of their philanthropic activities which involved giving hundreds of millions of dollars away.

  They married after Newman extricated himself with difficulty from an earlier marriage at a point where Joanne Woodward Woodward was the bigger, more respected star – “The Three Faces of Eve” and “The Fugitive Kind” – but that went onto the back burner with her marriage. In later years she said if she had her life over she wouldn’t have had children. It affected her career negatively but not his. She was also infuriated by Newman’s oft quoted comment on infidelity of why he would go out for hamburgers when he had steak at home – since it reduced her, she complained, to a lump of meat.

He was born 26 January 1925 6.30am Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and was a Sun Aquarius with a Pisces Moon. She was born 27 February 1930 4am Thomasville, GA, and was a Sun Venus in Pisces with an Aquarius Moon. Astrologically that is always  described as the ideal cross over – Moon to the other’s Sun.

  Both have filmic Neptune in the 8^th which fits with the ability to project an iconic image. Though there are downsides as well. On the face of it they avoided the worst traps of an 8^th house Neptune in financial mismanagement/deception and the inability to commit emotionally. There’s a suggestion from the doc series of a strong sexual connection which I can’t pin down, astrologically or what was inferred. Neptune can give the urge to merge completely but isn’t usually thought of as a lust-driven energy.

  Newman had a fast-driving Mars in Aries in his 3^rd. And he had a confident, charming Jupiter, Mercury, Venus in Capricorn opposition an intensely possessive 7^th house Pluto which is where he’d get his penetrating and powerful charm from. He had a creative Water Grand Trine from a hard-working Saturn in Scorpio trine Uranus trine Pluto, formed into a Kite with lucky Venus, Jupiter, Mercury as the driving planets; though his Sun also squared Saturn giving him insecurities about his abilities.

 Joanne Woodward was a charming and artistic Sun Venus in Pisces with the tough Saturn in Capricorn opposition Pluto square Uranus of that 1930 generation – used to hardship, innovative and forward thinking. Her creative, playful Jupiter in the 5^th would give her the urge to perform and for all her protestations she would be good with children. Her focal point Jupiter squaring her Sun Venus as well as her Neptune would support her charitable drives and her social activism. She has two inconjuncts – Mars in Aquarius to Pluto and Jupiter to Saturn so she would have unresolved strains and tensions in her life.

  Neither of their Moons are well integrated into their respective charts which would produce a sense of disconnection and vulnerability.

  Their relationship chart had a composite Sun Moon conjunction which gives a feeling of more-whole-when-together; and with the New Moon opposition Neptune there would be disappointments but they fitted each other’s patterns. The composite Neptune is on the focal point of a Yod to Mercury sextile Uranus Jupiter – fated/meant to be together. A smidgeon of passion from Venus inconjunct Pluto and an energised Mars Jupiter close to a risk-taking Uranus – it wouldn’t be dull.

  Their wedding chart from 29 January 1958 encapsulates the whole picture sublimely – the Sun close to Venus for affection opposition Uranus and square an ethereal Jupiter Neptune North Node. Well-designed for what became an almost mythical marriage. There was also an aggravated, irritable Mars Saturn conjunction which often occurs with a relationship where one partner has to sacrifice a good deal and that trines Pluto – so there was a dark underside of anger and resentment.

 Ethan Hawke, 6 November 1970, is an unashamed fan of Newman’s and his Sun, Jupiter, Venus, Mercury in Scorpio fall on Newman’s Midheaven, 10^th house and Saturn. Hawke also has an Aquarius Moon. So he resonates to much of Newman’s energy and career.  

  Having written astrologically about the Woodward/Newman marriage over the years it is fascinating and reassuring to have the real story brought out – since the astrology never described the apple-pie heaven that the gossip-magazine narrative reflected.  

Daphne Du Maurier, the supreme weaver of gothic romantic horror tales, never goes out of fashion, despite being dead for over thirty years. Her most famous Rebecca novel was recently re-created on film as well as lauded for its 80^th anniversary, with documentaries and biographers constantly fascinated by Du Maurier’s extraordinary life, talent and temperament.

  She was born 13 May 1907 4pm London and on the surface had a gilded life with a famous actor-manager father, a actress mother and a wealth of creative talent passed down from grandparents and uncles. She  married “Boy” Browning, a much be-medaled army officer, called the “father of the British airborne forces”, who was also an Olympic bobsleigh competitor and after WW11 became an aide to Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh.

  But she was reclusive and agonisingly shy, not close to her three children. She spoke to an early biographer of an incestuous relationship with her ‘violent alcoholic’ father and later relationships with actress Gertrude Lawrence amongst others.

  She had an emotionally intense, secretive 8^th house Taurus Sun and three planets in her ‘publishing’ 9^th house – an imaginative Jupiter Neptune conjunction and an influential Pluto. Her Jupiter Neptune opposed an explosive Uranus Mars conjunction in Capricorn which squared widely onto Venus in Aries in her 7^th. She would be highly-strung, rebellious, drawn to a showbusiness career and to romantic melodrama, though lived out in an oblique way.

   She always said she was split between her masculine and feminine sides. She described herself as “half-breed”, female on the outside “with a boy’s mind and a boy’s heart” and was clearly from her novels conflicted about sexuality. The heroine Rebecca is an animal, a devil, a snake, “vicious, damnable, rotten through and through”. She’s destroyed because of her poisonous sexuality.

   What would not make her life easier is that both parents were born with Pluto in Taurus which was conjunct her 8^th house Sun, so she would be trapped and over-controlled growing up. Her father does look like a monster, 26 March 1873, since his seductive and manipulative Venus Pluto in Taurus opposed Mars in Scorpio squaring onto Jupiter in Leo – he’d be a narcissistic bully. There would be fraught sexual undertones to that relationship whether anything happened or not with his Venus Pluto conjunct her 8th house Sun and his Neptune conjunct her 7^th house Venus.

 Gertrude Lawrence, 4 July 1898, had her Mars in Taurus conjunct Daphne’s 8^th house Sun with GL’s Venus in square which would spark an attraction though at a deeply unconscious and difficult-to-control level. GL’s Cancer Sun was conjunct Daphne’s Neptune Jupiter and opposition her Uranus Mars – for a half-uplifting, half aggravating chemistry.

  Their relationship chart was startling with a fiercely passionate and possessive composite Sun, Venus, Pluto conjunction but again that made an explosive opposition to  Uranus and squared onto a high-wire, chaotic Mars so was not designed to survive long term.

 Her husband, Boy Browning 20 December 1896, had a chart with some similarities to King George V1, born a year earlier. Browning was a Sun Sagittarius with a power-packed conjunction of Neptune, Mars, Pluto in Gemini square Jupiter in Virgo. His Mars was conjunct Daphne’s Pluto and his Saturn Uranus in Scorpio opposed her Sun – not an ideal match though their relationship chart does indicate affection along with a tendency to constant disruptions and upheavals. He eventually had a nervous breakdown in 1957 when tr Pluto was squaring his Saturn Uranus in Scorpio and retired from public life.

A complicated woman with a complicated life whose writing talent meshed with the culture. Her writers 21^st Harmonic was well marked.

Scottish poet Robert Burns with a world-wide reputation was a “hot mess” according to actor Alan Cumming who is launching a new dance show to strip away the biscuit-tin image of the heroic ploughman-poet and a man of the people.  Burns was a pioneer of the Romantic movement, a source of inspiration to the founders of the French and US revolutionary movements, a cultural icon in Scotland and the “people’s poet” of Russia.  His “Auld Lang Syne” is sung the world over at New Year and his “A Man’s a Man for A’ That” became totemic in communist Russia; with lovers yearning for “My Love is like a Red Red Rose” “Ae Fond Kiss”. January 25^th Burns Day is celebrated by the Scottish diaspora the world over.

  Yet his short life was anything but straightforward and well-organised. He was born 25 January 1759 in Alloa, Scotland, unverified time of 7am, with a farming father, who could never get it together, moving the family constantly from one disaster to the next, home-schooling the children in a sporadic fashion. Burns grew up damaged physically by the deprivations of his childhood and in his adult life was constantly getting knocked over by carriages, falling off his horse and scrabbling around financially; with a chaotic and ramped-up love life. His first child was born out of wedlock, one lover tied of typhus, seven of his 12 children also died. He struggled with poverty, illness and mental issues all his life. Deemed bi­polar he dealt with deep depression though it didn’t stop him lurching from one affair to the next.

He became an exciseman to keep his family afloat, which involved being out in bad weather, exacerbating his already fragile health. When he developed a heart complaint, he was recommended as treatment to “take the waters”. Walking into the freezing cold Solway Firth up to his neck killed him at  37. He died the same day a son was born.

  He had a humanitarian Aquarius Sun which fits his ‘brotherhood of man’ egalitarian views; and he also had the revolutionary Uranus in Pisces square Pluto in Sagittarius as he threw his support behind the promoters of the approaching liberal and socialist uprisings in France and the USA. His  Sun was conjunct a Venus Mars conjunction, which is often the sign of an over-active libido. His Jupiter in Capricorn on his Ascendant would bring him confidence and luck. If his birth time is accurate and it may be there or thereabouts, an 8^th house Neptune makes sense of a poet with a superstar reputation.

  When he died tr Saturn moving through his 6^th house of health was opposing his Moon and Pluto. And both his Progressed Moon and Solar Arc Jupiter were in hard aspect to his 8^th house Neptune forming a T Square – perhaps a hint of the richness of the creative legacy he left behind.

  Relocating his chart to Moscow puts an honoured Jupiter in the 10^th so it would be a success zone for him with an influential, communicative Moon Pluto in the 9^th and a social-influencer Sun, Venus, Mars in the 11^th.

 His world-wide reputation 22^nd harmonic is heavily aspected as well as his leaving-a-mark-on-history 17H.

  Alan Cumming, 27 January 1965, may well feel a resonance with him since he has an Aquarius Sun conjunct Burns’ Venus and both have a Sagittarius Moon and Saturn in Pisces. Burns had a Uranus square Pluto and Cumming has a Uranus Pluto conjunction. Nice symmetry.

‘To a Mouse’.

Wee, sleekit, cow’rin, tim’rous beastie,

O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!

Thou need na start awa sae hasty,

Wi’ bickering brattle!

I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee,

Wi’ murd’ring pattle!

Elon Musk, top of the global Midas list at $220 billion has flatly denied having an affair with the wife of Google co-founder, Sergey Brin, who is down at No 8.  The pair are old friends and Brin lent Musk $500 million to prop up Tesla in the early days. According to friends (WSJ) Brin filed for divorce in January, weeks after he learned of the brief alleged affair. His about-to-be-ex-wife, a former yoga instructor, is reportedly seeking $1 billion from the split, a fraction of his $95 billion fortune. Brin apparently has sold his personal stake in Musk’s companies.

  Musk is having quite a year what with the Twitter spat, welcoming a second child with his girlfriend in March; and before that twins with an executive at one of his companies last November.  He now has nine children.

  Allegations and firm denials – the astrology won’t prove it one way or the other. But what it does flag up in neon lights in Musk/Brin’s relationship is an almighty struggle for the upper hand. Musk may have crashed at the Brin pad in the early years but there is considerable underlying hostility between them. Musk’s Cancer Sun is conjunct Brin’s Saturn South Node so he will stir up Brin’s vulnerabilities and hit him on a raw spot. Musk’s Saturn also opposes Brin’s Neptune and maybe Moon for a downer as well.  

  But it is the relationship chart which is an eye opener with a do-or-die-determined power-struggling composite Mars opposition Pluto square Jupiter. Pluto square Jupiter can move mountains if a couple pull together but once they separate down their own individual paths, it becomes a tussle for the upper hand – and a battle to see who can come out on top.

  Their composite Venus will catch the August 1 transiting  Mars Uranus North Node square exactly which may rattle a few heart strings. And their relationship will go from bad to worse over the next three/four years with tr Pluto tugging at one leg of the Mars Pluto Jupiter T Square and then an undermining tr Neptune conjunct the Mars and in hard aspect to Jupiter and Pluto in 2025/26. There won’t be much in the way of good feeling left after that.     

Life up their in the mythological heights is a gift to keep us entertained.

The race for the White House in 2024 is wide open with Biden’s approval ratings plummeting and VP Kamala Harris in no better a state. The Biden Term chart is flagging up extreme distress through 2023 with the Solar Arc Saturn closing the square to the disruptive Mars Uranus to exact as well as the Solar Arc Sun conjunct the Saturn; and by 2024 the Solar Arc Saturn will conjunct the Jupiter to damp enthusiasm further.

  Below is only a sneak and rapid peak at a few possible runners, some with no birth time.

  Kamala Harris, 20 October 1964 9.28pm Oakland, CA, is in a panicky, uncertain year in 2024 with three undermining Neptune hard aspects to midpoints. Nothing to suggest she’ll come up smelling of success.

  Gavin Newsom, 10 October 1967 5.13 am on the other hand while not totally upbeat does have tr Jupiter moving across his 10^th house at the election and beyond, for a smidgeon of success and prominence. He looks hopeful but may not succeed; and will be less fortunate in 2028.

Pete Buttigieg, 19 January 1982 7am South Bend, Indiana, has the heavy pressures of tr Pluto conjunct his Capricorn Sun across the 2024 election. Tr Saturn is not quite out of his low profile 1^st Quadrant so is not at a peak which comes in later years. 2025/26 look good or him; and so does 2028 – not perfect but a definitely hopeful election.

Mitch Landieu, 16 August 1960, no time, is making a confident and successful push through 2023 to late 2024 with tr Pluto square his Jupiter/Pluto though that runs alongside muddle and mayhem Neptunian influences. But something is keeping his spirits up.

Joe Manchin, 24 August 1947, no time, who has been blocking the Biden agenda despite being a Democrat (in name at least), may be keeping his profile high for a run. He’ll have high hopes which are disappointed in 2023/2024 (and exact at the election) though he does pick up more fortunate Pluto transits to his Jupiter/Pluto midpoint in 2024/25.

On the Republican side, Mike Pence can forget it since he has troubled, aggravated influences over the next few months and disastrous, dead-halt ones in 2024. Not a chance.

Ron DeSantis, 14 September 1978, no time, has two strongly upbeat, fortunate and successful influences in 2024. Tr Uranus square his Sun/Jupiter midpoint in October 2024 and again spring 2025; with tr Pluto opposition his Jupiter in 2024/2025 including across the Inauguration. Whether he runs or not, he’ll be firing ahead on all cylinders and on a high.

Donald Trump, has more than a few sinkholes and mudslides to cope with over the next year with a scary, trapped, dead-halt Solar Arc Mars square his Pluto, exact in six months; and a discouraging also blocked Solar Arc Pluto square his Saturn, exact this time in 2023. Tr Uranus will be shaking his self-esteem through 2024 as it squares his Mars. His Solar Arc Neptune will conjunct his South Node over the election and is aiming to undermine his Moon and Sun in 2025/26. He does have Jupiter moving through his 10^th which can be successful but that won’t outweigh the minuses on his chart. He’s already starting to lose his stranglehold on the Republicans and the next year may finish the job.  

Boris Johnson having been demoted from big dog to tiny dog is huffing and puffing hints he may be back, the rumour mill being further stoked by the prime pot-stirrer Dominic Cummings. How likely is it? Contrary to the prevailing BJ fanclub yowls that it was a disloyal backstab that brought him down, in reality Westminster (and most of the country) could not cope with his lies and lack of integrity any longer.

 There might be two worries ahead for those keen to see even a smidgeon of decency and competence return to No 10. If his birthtime at 2pm is accurate then his Solar Arc Jupiter and his Progressed Mars are both poised to cross his midheaven in the next two years, which suggest a confident and successful career surge.

   However what might also be a pointer is tr  Jupiter moving through his financial 8^th house from July 2023 for a year which will bring money rolling through. His stint at No 10 curtailed his income severely and with multiple children and a new wife and two new minis he was finding the going less lucrative than his previous overpaid journalistic career.

  Theresa May has earned more than £2 million since leaving Downing Street and I might hazard a guess that once his ego recovers from the shock of being ousted after such a short stint, he’ll be eyeing more profitable prospects further afield from speaking engagements, journalism and book contracts.

  He’s downbeat at the moment till early August and again through December; with coming-down-to-earth-with-a-bump Uranus aspects returning to his Neptune and Jupiter this December effectively through till mid March.

  Into 2023 tr Saturn will oppose his Sun/Moon midpoint in early March bringing a sense of separation briefly in his marriage; but it also for a politician brings lowered popularity. Then tr Saturn in Pisces will tip cold water over his chaotic Mutable T Square starting with a square to his Mars in mid March and moving onto his Second Solar Return from late April running to January 2024. That is usually a heavy time of facing up to reality and being forced to make considered decisions for the next third of life.  

  Tr Pluto square his Moon from late March, on and off till late 2024 will be the interesting one to watch since his Moon is highly sensitive to events.

  He does pick up a lucky break, good-for-new-projects tr Uranus conjunct his Mars/Jupiter midpoint from May 2023 on and off for a year which may see gainful offers coming his way.

  Tr Neptune will square his Sun and Venus May 2024 on and off for a year to undermine his confidence/prospects which may or may not be connected to tr Uranus square his Sun/Moon midpoint, disrupting his marriage in 2025.

 His relationship chart with the Tory Party 1912 chart continue to be on a downhill slide till February 2024 with tr Neptune square the composite Mars, with other downwards blips before then. His relations with UK Inc will be high-tension, very unsettled and not improving right through till 2026.

  Carrie is not having a great 2023 with tr Neptune conjunct her Pisces Sun into 2024; and their relationship, sagging at the moment, will rock n’ roll through an exceptionally bumpy patch in 2025/26.

Nothing is set in stone but a return looks less than likely.

Joe Biden is creaking along through a bout of Covid with his approval ratings sinking to a new low over concerns about the economy; and his wife Jill’s dipping after a badly received speech to a Hispanic civil rights group. VP Kamala Harris is down in the dumps as well.  Almost two thirds of Democrats do not want him to run for the White House again in 2024 though he’s sticking firmly to his intention to do so at present.

  2024 will not be a good year for him with a disappointing tr Neptune square his Jupiter/Uranus midpoint in the months leading up to the election at the same time as a catastrophic tr Uranus square his Mars/Saturn midpoint in the October of 2024; and a disruptive tr Uranus opposition his Sun just before that.

  He’ll be increasingly confused either mentally or devastated by problems he can’t make a dent in from early 2023, on and off till late 2024 (exact at the election) with tr Pluto square his Sun/Neptune midpoint and tr Pluto square his Venus/Neptune midpoint also running early 2023 to late 2024 which Ebertin describes as a “painful renunciation.” Though that last could be due to an emotional relationship as well as a career hope.

  By the Inauguration in 2025 he has tr Pluto square his Taurus Moon on the focal point of a Yod so it will be an ultra-sensitive time for him. Though he’ll also have a confident, upbeat tr Pluto opposition his Jupiter/Pluto midpoint at the same time.

  At the moment he has tr Uranus square his Pluto/North Node midpoint for  significant disruptions which is sometimes associated with great or tragic upsets within a community. The early August Mars, Uranus, NN will catch it exactly, and Uranus continues on till mid October and returns in late April 2023. He’s got an accident-prone/setback tr Saturn square his Sun/Mars midpoint late August to mid September, and again early December this year.

  This year into early 2023 he has tr Saturn square his Mercury, Sun, Venus in Scorpio which is downbeat but probably nothing too critical.

  From June 2023 on and off till March 2024, tr Uranus opposes his Sun/Mars for periods of serious aggravation. Plus a panicky, undermining tr Neptune opposition his Mars/Pluto midpoint August 9^th to September 20^th this year again Feb/March and December 2023. 

 He does have one upbeat influence – tr Pluto trine his Sun/Jupiter midpoint this August till early this December which is only mild but better than nothing and will bring some relief.

  Much of the above, even the calamities and catastrophes, would be standard since the White House is never a walk in the park. Though the running Neptune sinkers as well as disaster-prone influences throughout suggest it might be more than ordinarily bumpy and swampy for him.

Jill Biden looks relatively upbeat over the 2024 election since tr Jupiter in Gemini picks up her Sun, Mars in Gemini but wives are not always a good judge since they are quite often relieved to be away from the goldfish bowl and risk of a White House stint.

Kurt Vonnegut, one of the kings of 1960s counter-culture, whose anti-war novel, Slaughterhouse Five, touched a chord with Vietnam demonstrators has gone on to become one of the enduring greats of American 20^th Century heritage. A new well-received bio-pic Unstuck in Time is a compilation put together by a devoted fan and friend.

  Born 11 November 1922 12.25am Indianapolis, Indiana, Vonnegut was born into a German immigrant family who fell on hard times through the depression and never recovered. Neither parent was ideal and his closest support was his African-American nanny. During World War Two he enlisted in the army, went home briefly on leave at one point to discover his mother had suicided the night before, was posted abroad, captured by the Germans and had the misfortune to be sent to work in Dresden which suffered heavy firebombing by the allies in 1945. Dresden was largely destroyed with around 25,000 civilians killed. Vonnegut survived by taking refuge in a slaughterhouse meat locker three stories underground.

  On his return he married, went to university, earned a living by writing for various outlets, adopted his sister’s children when she died, and only hit his big break with novel number six, Slaughterhouse Five.  

  He had his intense Scorpio Sun in the communicative 3^rd house squaring onto a 12^th house Neptune, hinting at his own creativity and a dreamy, impractical father who withdrew when his fortune crashed. He also had Jupiter Mercury in Scorpio in his 3^rd giving him penetrating insight as well as an ease with words and that squared onto a Leo Moon opposition Mars in Aquarius. His angry mother stifled him as a child but along the way the grit in that relationship also drove him on to express dark truths the public wanted to hear.

  His Water Grand Trine of Jupiter Mercury Sun trine Pluto trine Uranus was creative, as well as healing for others if not for himself, and would wrap him up in his own highly private bubble of reality separate from others. Uranus Pluto would be drawn to activism and rebellious causes; Jupiter Pluto gave him confidence and Jupiter Uranus luck and an adventurous streak. His Saturn squared Pluto and was trine Mars giving him a bleak view of life. His Venus in Sagittarius in his 4^th would give him solace from his home life, maybe his nanny early on, then his adult family life, later disrupted when his wife took to religion and they split.

  His Sun/Moon midpoint was conjunct his Virgo North Node – which is an intriguing coming-together of the spirit of the age with his inner essence. He became whole when he tapped into the zeitgeist.

  In February 1945 when he survived the Dresden bombing tr Pluto in Leo was opposition his Mars exactly, for great fear and entrapment; with his Solar Arc Saturn less than a degree away from a square to his Mars for a destructive event. Tr Uranus was opposition his 4^th house Venus for an emotional upheaval; and his Solar Arc Ascendant was conjunct his North Node, fittingly for an event which in later years became the inspiration for his best known novel, Slaughterhouse-Five.

  Despite the darkness of his subjects he disliked being called a “black humorist” but he did home in on bitter and hopeless truths, with a grim wit.

  His global superstar 22^nd harmonic was strong and desolate. His writers 21H and creative 5H and 7H were also marked.

  He died aged 84 in 2007.

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Brynley Fussell, a no-hoper from a poor, broken family rose above the wreckage of his childhood in the most extraordinary way through innate technical talents, luck and driving, if not focused, determination. At 10 he landed in a remand home for accidentally setting fire to a haystack, a place he said was a “sadistic hellhole”. He was then sent to an approved school, where he was systematically abused, causing him to shin down drainpipes and run away multiple times. Every time he was caught, his sentence was extended and after ten years he arrived at Bedford prison. As a serial escaper, he had 77 convictions. During his years in custody had developed a passion for flying and taught himself the basics from watching a pilot on a joy ride and reading magazines and books.

  He ran away and stole one plane which ran out of fuel so he was captured. Next time round he stole another and made it across to France, having memorised the instructions from The Aeroplane magazine.  He was arrested and imprisoned but became “the most famous pilot in the world, a man fêted on six continents for his superb flying skill and his daring”. A Conservative MP suggested he should be freed and enlisted in the RAF. The author of a book about test pilots wrote with an offer of support if he went straight.  “It was the first time in my life,” said Fussell, “that anyone had offered to help me.”

   He served another 21 months in jail, during which time he took classes in mathematics and geometry and on his release was given a job in the engine test department of an aeroplane company. He never gained any qualifications but later worked in the metallurgy department at the University of Swansea and after that ran two laboratories at Imperial College in London. Latterly he helped to establish a Swansea laboratory in mass spectrometry which became one of the world’s most influential centres.

  He was born 9 February 1931, no birth time sadly – the same year as the mad and intrepid, across-the-globe Irish cyclist Dervla Murphy (see post May 26 2022 below). She also came from difficult beginnings to carve out her own unique path with reckless courage.

 Both charts had the generational used-to-tough-conditions Saturn in Capricorn opposition Pluto and it squared onto an innovative, rebellious, trail-blazing Uranus in Aries conjunct the North Node. Such a Uranus can be lawless, overly defiant, a disrupter but is also good at pushing back boundaries and can be suited to an experimental career.  

   Fussell’s Aquarius Sun was sextile Uranus North Node and inconjunct Pluto so he would have a problem with authority figures. Jupiter conjunct Pluto would give him a wealth of self-confidence and a lucky Jupiter square Uranus would incline him towards risk-taking and adventure. His Mercury opposition Mars was argumentative and a fast thinker; and opposition his Pluto as well would give him penetrating insights – as well as a tendency to obstinacy.  His intensely secretive  Scorpio Moon was probably square his Sun and trine his Pluto. Not an easy man but what a way to rise above his beginnings. He died this May aged 91, oddly enough just ten days before Dervla Murphy.

  I just love mavericks who pull themselves up by their bootstraps and carve out a life for themselves against all the odds.   

Add On:  Geoffrey Dorman, the ex-military author of aviation books, who set him on the road to redemption and a purposeful life, was born 7 July 1894 in London. His Cancer Sun was conjunct Fussell’s Pluto and Jupiter; and his compassionate Jupiter Neptune in Gemini trine Fussell’s Sun – a supportive figure.  Both had an Aries North Node so Dorman probably recognised Fussell’s striving to be independent and stand out. Dorman’s Saturn was conjunct Fussell’s South Node.

 Their relationship chart had a powerful, influential Jupiter Pluto conjunction opposition Uranus – so there was a potential for change.