Folk singer Roger Whittaker, best known for his baritone singing voice, trademark whistling ability and guitar skills, has died. His popular numbers were Durham Town, I Don’t Believe in If Anymore, New World in the Morning and The Last Farewell. He had his greatest successes and fan base latterly in Germany.
He was born in Nairobi, Kenya on 22 March 1936 at 7.45 am and initially studied medicine, trained as a teacher and completed his National Service in the Kenya Regiment which he said sorted him out. He married in 1964 and had five children, 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
He had a 12th house Aries Sun with Mars in Aries conjunct his Ascendant from the 12th and a rebellious and unconventional Uranus conjunct from the 1st. The creative Neptune in Virgo opposition Saturn in Pisces of the mid 1930s falls across his performing 5th and 11th houses, with his Saturn conjunct Mercury and a Pisces Moon squaring onto an amiable, optimistic, laid-back Jupiter in Sagittarius in his much travelled 9th house. His Sun/Moon midpoint which is his marriage significator was exactly square his Jupiter which would make for a contented relationship and shared happiness.
His Mars was square a 4th house Pluto hinting at tensions in his childhood and a reservoir of anger which he said the army sorted out. In 1989, his parents still living in Kenya, were subjected to a brutal attack by a robbery gang in which his mother was tortured and his father was murdered. He said of the incident: “It will affect me for the rest of my life, but I believe we should all live without hate if we can”.
Oh lovely wasn’t he? Sad to say goodbye.
That’s so sad what happened to his parents. When I was a child I remember hearing from people that encountered him at work that he was an especially nice man, enough for me to remember his name even though I didn’t know his work.