Frank Clifford

Biographical Information

As he noted in an interview with The Guardian: "My first professional reading in public was, rather bizarrely, at the Stringfellows nightclub where I was put up on a pedestal, under a strobe light and next to a huge bottle of champagne. " [1]

"In September 2012, at the annual Astrological Association Conference, Frank became the thirteenth and youngest winner of The Charles Harvey Award for Exceptional Service to Astrology (see picture below, left). Previous winners include Liz Greene, Robert Hand, Dennis Elwell, Melanie Reinhart and Deborah Houlding. Frank Clifford

"An astrologer and palmist since age 16, Frank began his data collecting work with Lois Rodden, contributing to and editing her Profiles of Women (1995) book and magazine Data News. When Rodden was approached to develop software to house the data collection, Frank suggested she call it 'Astrodatabank'. His own Clifford Data Compendium first appeared as part of the Solar Fire package in 1997 and was updated in 2000. Frank's first book, British Entertainers: the Astrological Profiles was published that same year. A paperback version of the most recent edition (2003), with hundreds of chart wheels (Placidus), quotes from celebrities and the astrological signs of entertainers, is available from various bookshops or online from Amazon and www.flareuk.com. Later, in 2009, his Astrologer's Book of Charts was published.

"In 1996 he founded Flare Publications, and since then Frank has edited and published over two dozen astrology books, including Astrology in the Year Zero by Garry Phillipson, The Contemporary Astrologer's Handbook by Sue Tompkins (2007), and a revised edition of The Twelve Houses by Howard Sasportas (2007), with tribute essays to Sasportas by Liz Greene, Darby Costello, Melanie Reinhart, Laura Boomer-Trent and Erin Sullivan. Recent titles include Using Astrology to Create a Vocational Profile by Faye Cossar and From Symbol to Substance: Training the Astrological Intuition by Richard Swatto.

"In 2009, Frank compiled The Astrologer's Book of Charts (available in hardback and paperback formats), and wrote Solar Arc Directions (2011), Getting to the Heart of Your Chart: Playing Astrological Detective (2012) and Humour in the Horoscope: The Astrology of Comedy (2013). Two booklets on Venus and Mars were reprinted in a single volume, The Astrology of Love, Sex and Seduction, in 2013, and a handful of other booklets followed on T-squares, locational astrology, palmistry, and sign combinations. Frank is also working on finishing The Midheaven: Spotlight on Success.

"Frank has combined his work as a consultant astrologer with that of Sun sign columnist for magazines such as Marie Claire (UK), Quick and Simple (US), Reveal (UK), and Candis (UK). He has also been profiled in various broadsheets and tabloids, and did a number of TV and radio shows (from interviews to commenting on the daily newspapers). His media work has ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous: from being interviewed for documentaries on the BBC comedy Little Britain, the BBC Radio series The Inconstant Moon and the Danny Boyle feature film Sunshine, working with Oxford University Press and Universal Studios, to being asked by the tabloid The Sun to locate a then-missing Saddam Hussein! In his collection, Frank has a cheque slip from The Sun with the note: 'For reading Saddam Hussein's parm.' (Spot the typo!)

"Frank is also a well-known palmist (The Guardian newspaper dubbed him the 'palm reader to the stars'), and his book Palmistry 4 Today (Rider/Random House, 2002) is considered the modern textbook on the subject, and has been published in five languages (including Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Serbian). A fully revised and expanded edition was published in the USA in 2010. Frank's other book on palmistry, Palm Reading (Hamlyn, 2003) is a unique guide with profiles on love, work and personality for each palm marking and hand shape. It was published in Chinese and Russian. In 2007, cards of these profiles were published. The book has been updated and will be republished as The Frank Guide to Palm Reading. Most years Frank organises the Hand Analysis Conference in London, which brings together some of the top palmists in the country.

"In 2004, Frank took over the running of The London School of Astrology (www.londonschoolofastrology.co.uk) from Sue Tompkins, and runs certificate and diploma classes, seminars and residential courses in astrology and palmistry. The LSA prides itself on inviting an eclectic range of some of the most accomplished astrologers from around the world to give seminars and classes. Frank has also set up an annual Astrology Student Conference (ASC, 2008-) and an occasional Astrology and Music Conference (2009-). Frank lectures all over the UK and was, for a few years, a regular guest tutor on the psychology course at the London Metropolitan University."