Len Deighton (February 18, 1929)

I’m coming to the end of XPD, so I thought I should look at Len Deighton, StarLogically. As you might expect, no one knows what time he was born, nor has any astrology site tackled his birth chart. So here goes.

This was a hard one to pin down and rectify. The energies are close for linking with events in his life, but not exact. At age 11 (Pluto in Cancer) he witnessed the arrest of a spy his mother worked for. At age 33 (Neptune in Virgo), he published his first book, “The IPCRESS File”. That places Mercury in the 12th House, conjunct to the Ascendant in Aquarius, and I think that’s why he hated writing. As a result of this rectified timing, his Ascendant and Pluto are inconjunct.

Pluto Inconjunct Ascendant

This can be an indication that through experiences with others, you will be forced to undergo many significant changes in life. At times the crises may be quite unpleasant, but for the most part the results will be very positive, although for some people, they may be less constructive. But you must be very careful about the kind of people you get involved with. Choose your friends with great care and try to find people who have a healthy outlook on life and who seem reasonably well balanced. People who are driven to extreme behavior or who act compulsively, as if they could not plan anything in advance, are not very good for you. They will get you into difficult situations that you do not need.

Mercury in the Twelfth House

You are fond of secrets and often keep your thoughts hidden from others, because you feel it is better if they don’t know what you’re thinking. Just be careful that you don’t make this attitude so plain that people start distrusting you, even when there is no reason to. Unfortunately, this position may mean that you are afraid to tell people your ideas because you think they are no good or that everyone will disagree with them

Mercury Conjunct Ascendant

You are probably quite restless and always wanting to be on the move. Your mind changes course very quickly, and you go from idea to idea. Be careful, however, because you could become a person who knows a little about many areas, but not enough about any one subject. Avoid being shallow and try to develop enough self-discipline to stay with a subject or project long enough to get something lasing from it.

But What About Harry (Palmer)?

I never knew that Deighton liked to cook, which is why it surprised me to see Michael Caine show some culinary skills in the first Harry Palmer film. Now I understand why. Deighton’s mother was a cook.

Deighton also wrote five cookery books, and wrote and drew the cookstrips in The Observer for four years. Several of the strips are pinned up in the background of the film set of Harry Palmer’s kitchen in The Ipcress File. In January 2015 Deighton created 12 new cookstrips which were printed monthly in the Observer Food Magazine.

Wikipedia

That must come from the Moon/Mars conjunction in Gemini.

“The best thing about writing books is being at a party and telling some pretty girl you write books, the worst thing is sitting at a typewriter and actually writing the book.”