INFOMAN

CAPTAIN JAMES T KIRK of the Starship Enterprise

Astrology is all about cycles, especially of time. In theory, everything that has a "birth", such as a person, object, animal or event, can have a horoscope. But what about fictional characters? In one sense they are "born" when their author first writes about them. Surprisingly often, however, they are given a fictional date of birth as well. In Wuthering Heights, for example, Emily Bronte tells us that Catherine Earnshaw was born on 20 March 1784, at "about 12 o'clock of that night" at Thrushcross Grange near Haworth (based on Ponden Hall, found at 53 N 50, 0 W 30), which would give her a Piscean moon, and a rising sign on the cusp of Scorpio and Sagittarius. The chart seems to work well, but does it have any validity? After all, it is only "made-up".
To add to the philosophical conundrum, here is the birth chart of a fictional character who won't even be born for another 230 years. Star Trek series creator Gene Roddenberry stated that Kirk would be born in the year 2228 behind a barbershop in a small town in Iowa, and in 1985 an enterprising barber from Riverside IA (population 282) rang Roddenberry to ask if his barbers' could be the one and obtained his consent. Hence a plaque above a memorial slab there reads, "Future Birthplace of Captain James T Kirk March 22, 2228". The date has since appeared in a number of Star Trek manuals and promotional material, and the chart (set for noon as no cosmic time traveller has yet manifested with a birth cybertificate giving the correct time) fits him to a tee. The good people of Riverside, having done well financially by capitalising on the association,  celebrate the future birth of Kirk each year on June 23 and 24. William Shatner, the actor who immortalised Kirk on film and TV, was also born on March 22, but in Montreal in 1935 - unless he isn't telling us something...