David Starkey, the historian, an expert on the Tudors of 16th Century England, holds views on race which are equally stuck back in the ignorant past. Students and staff at Cambridge University have been campaigning for years to get him dropped for his racist views and his latest outburst saying there are “so many damn blacks” in Britain and Africa on a right-wing online discussion forum could see his honorary fellowship removed.
For years he’s been a regular contributor to The Moral Maze and Question Time as well as fronting popular history documentaries and clearly loves stoking up attention-grabbing controversies with his acerbic contrariness.
Born 3 January 1945 in Kendal, England, he has an ambitious Capricorn Sun opposition Saturn square Neptune which will make him oddly impractical and evasive for a Capricorn. What more likely marks out his individuality is his Sun on the focal point of a Yod to Uranus sextile Pluto which will give him problems modulating his ego-drives – half the time low in self-esteem and the other half bombastic and a blowhard especially with Uranus Pluto fuelling his need to stand out from the crowd.
Plus an argumentative Mercury in Sagittarius conjunct Mars and in an overly confident square to Jupiter. Sakoian & Acker remark that the Mars square Jupiter can be destructive because it uses collective power for self-aggrandisement. It can be hypocritical, extremist in views, constantly looking for windmills to tilt against.
His Yod is getting an almighty jolt right now from tr Uranus square Pluto knocking on one leg; and the Lunar Eclipse conjunct his focal point Sun. Last month’s Cancer Solar Eclipse opposed his Mars which is inflammatory. Plus he has a car-crash Solar Arc Sun square his Mars now and his Progressed Mars conjunct his Venus – his engine would be running extra hot.
He was an accident waiting to happen and should have been removed long since. The media are partly to blame since they love controversialists who can stir up noise. Heaven forfend that they should hold calm, reasoned discussions.
Interesting. I think Starkey enjoyed his celebrity and his reputation as a controversialist but I know that, in private, he was a generous person and donor to charities etc. Whilst this does not outweigh his other views it is an aspect possibly of a twelfth house Venus.
This does seem to be trend of outing “celebrities” for views or actions which are not now acceptable. We saw it in the me too movement but also recently with J K Rowling and others. I usually think of this as an effect of Uranus bringing to light things which are hidden but also possibly of Jupiter/Pluto/ Saturn mashup we have had this year.
It is fascinating to read this as i was born 6 days before this man in London. Perhaps it was some advantage that I grew up in a small colonial town as a woman – I would never have reached the level of expertise more available to a man. My life did a big crash 33 years ago – I was lucky it happened then, and that my biggest find in the years following were astrologers. I hope I am less objectionable now – am definitely calmer and long since gave up looking for things to kick against. It might have been better for him – and others – if he had crashed sooner.
I might have known he has Mercury conjunct Mars and in Sagittarius too, so overblown, exaggerated, bombastic, using words as weapons.
The Sun struggles, doesn’t it, not only being the focal point of a yod but also in opposition to Saturn in Cancer, (didn’t he have an impoverished childhood?). Does Sun close to the South node tend to slip back into self-destructive habit patterns? He’s always so angry and that anger frequently strays into spiteful attacks.
I agree about the media always giving him airspace. I think they think it will be ‘good TV’ with such figures but actually it just becomes predictable and we end up learning nothing.
Starkey did not come from a privileged background. He also suffered from a disability as a child having been born with club feet. His early historical work on Henry VIII household is actually pretty good but like so many academics who get a taste of the limelight he has become something of a caricature of himself courting controversy when it is not needed and offering opinions on subjects where he has no expertise. Underneath all that showboating I suspect there is some bitterness about his own past perhaps tied to family matters. Saturn in difficult placing can suggest issues with parents early in life though in this case it seems it was his mother and not his father who was domineering. The Cancer placing of the planet here may signify that relationship. Gifted children from humble backgrounds always run the risk of their parents living out their ambitions through them. That can create resentment later in life from children who feel they were always living out someone else’s destiny rather than their own. Being from an ordinary background in an elitist institution such as Cambridge University may have sharpened those feelings of inferiority and being trapped. Starkey’s waspish temper and his habit of seeking out controversy may indicate less about his real opinions on the subjects on which he pontificates and more someone kicking against something he only half perceives in his own background and upbringing. It’s a pity because when he is on his own historical turf he is quite interesting.
You know, the sad thing is that I really learned a lot from his Tudor series and I read and enjoyed his book on Elizabeth I. His delivery of the subject in the TV series was passionate, which was infectious and made you want to explore the subject further.
As you say Hugh, one feels there are deep and unresolved childhood wounds there. It’s almost as if he deliberately sets out to be offensive to get a reaction, something more often seen in teenagers. That Mercury/Mars in Sagittarius square Jupiter reminds me of those extreme risk-takers who dice with death and feel invigorated when they survive. Sun-Saturn hard aspects don’t always give the native a happy childhood as you say especially when the opposition takes place in Cancer/Capricorn, the parental signs as it were.
I agree he’s a good historian, but have always found his angry, superior manner rather off-putting. He has only got more poisonous in recent years, so imagine many long buried issues are creating havoc. I noticed his Black Moon Lilith is at 5 Cancer, with Saturn and square Neptune. His Chiron is 3 Libra. Mars currently transiting Aries has just opposed Chiron, and is moving towards a square with BML and Saturn – plus opposition to Neptune. Mercury will also turn direct on BML and Saturn in a week’s time. Looks like a fair amount of turmoil on various levels, alongside everything else Marjorie has written about. Hard to understand why someone so successful would do this to themselves, but it seems to happen quite often.
Lovely jubbly.
His come uppance is long overdue IMHO.
Thank you for this.