Occasionally it happens. Some poor unsuspecting fool from the world of sport is prodded into a press conference to explain the dire performance of his team and tries to laugh it off with a oblique and untutored reference to the workings of the cosmos.
And he gets laughed out of the room. A previously spectacular career is reduced to rubble and subsequent generations only remember him as that idiot that said “lines of Venus were in the wrong juxtaposition”.
Capricorn Research is not sure what the lines of Venus are, but does know what a juxtaposition is. It is the coming together of things that don’t normally belong in each other’s company. Like astrological insights and cricket press conferences.
” Lord ” ( his nickname ) Ted Dexter was the first cricketer Capricorn Research had heard of owing to the fact that he was England captain when I was 7 years old.
Dexter’s style of play was very much in the Sun opposite Jupiter mould. He was an expansive and cavalier middle order batsman with a Test average of 48 who could bowl at a decent medium pace.
Younger readers might appreciate a comparison with Ben Stokes.
But so often its the T Square in a chart that shows what someone will be most remembered for.
” Lord ” Ted has Mercury in Gemini at the apex of a pattern based on an opposition between Saturn in Pisces and Neptune. Which is such a beautiful example of someone being lampooned for quoting New Age nonsense, that I will keep it in mind when reading some of my Twitter feeds.
Saturn and Neptune are not great for sports people. They tend to show someone who is out of touch with what’s actually going on. Mercury in Gemini is the epitome of the dashing young batsman and its interesting that Dexter’s peak came when he succeeded Peter May as England captain in 1961 as Pluto was in the T Square.
He made his highest Test score of 205 in Karachi with an average of 71. In 1962 when Pakistan toured England his average was 89. He made 481 runs (48.10)in a drawn series down under, the most runs ever by an England captain in Australia.
But he lost the captaincy, the price of failing to regain the Ashes twice and losing a series to the West Indies powered by fast bowlers Charlie Griffiths and Wes Hall.
In 1989 he again succeeded May, this time to become Chairman of the Selectors as Jupiter was in his T square, conjunct Mercury. In true square to Saturn and Neptune fashion, England immediately celebrated by getting trounced 4-0 by Allan Border’s Australia.
And Ted was wheeled out to give his version of events.
It is always interesting when muggles take it upon themselves to make some comments about astrology. At the time I had no idea why Ted Dexter chose to use those ” lines of Venus “.
By common consent the two planets that rule the study of astrology are Jupiter and Uranus. Dexter’s transits for the time were Uranus opposite and Jupiter conjunct his natal Venus.
Just brilliant, once again we all have to bow down to the awesome power of astrology.
I have long felt that the Cosmos doesn’t want the vast majority of humans to understand astrology. Things obviously work far more easily without their knowledge so it allows people like Lord Ted to be its spokesman. But it obviously wants a good laugh at the same time.