My first ever daily zodiac column appeared on March 4, 1986 in the launch issue of the now defunct Today newspaper. Then, as now, the predictions had to be ready a couple of days in advance. I must, therefore, have been writing those initial forecasts twenty years ago this very day! 6,420 columns, 75,000 individual predictions or roughly eight million words later I'm still very much enjoying the job. I can't get any balder or greyer, but I reckon I can manage a good few million more words ... and I'm looking forward to the next twenty years!

Dear Maureen,
Most planets move slowly, but the Moon covers a degree every couple of hours. That's fast enough to quickly make (and then break) a significant angular contact to your birth chart. We all come under such a passing influence quite often but only usually notice when other planets are also affecting that part of our chart... unless we are born under a sensitive sign, like Scorpio!

Dear Jonathan,
I recently saw an advert from an astrologer offering to reveal my "key to wealth and success". After I accepted a free reading, she began to bombard me with letters. The latest warns of a dreadful development that, apparently, I can avoid only if I purchase a special report.
Anne

Dear Anne,
I doubt that the writer of these letters is a real astrologer... or even a real person. Her letters may seem very personal but they tend to be produced on large machines, owned by cynical marketing companies. I'm currently working, with a group of reputable colleagues, to develop an international code of conduct to help stamp out this abuse of astrology. Till then, at the risk of sounding like the pot calling the kettle black... no ethical professional would ever use a veiled threat in order to sell you a service.