Jonathan Cainer

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Jonathan Cainer is a British sun-sign astrologer.

Jonathan writes a daily column on his website that is reproduced in the Telegraph in Australia and the UK Daily Mail newspapers, in addition to a wide diversity of Internet sites in five or so different languages, including Japanese. He has also previously spent some time writing for the Express and Daily Mirror newspapers. His website includes weekly predictions, contributions by other writers, and more recently, the first Saturday's weekly predictions in each month provide an overview of the month ahead.

Jonathan's wife Melanie was killed in a car accident on the way home to the Manor House where the family lived, leaving him with four children.

The Independent newspaper reported in October 2005 that: 'He's a self-declared touchy-feely liberal and "unreconstructed hippie" who took his children on the anti-Iraq war demo'. The same article implied that the Daily Mail would not even like him if he didn't make so much money for them. Many newspapers and magazines rely on their astrology column to boost their circulation significantly. The few experiments by anti-astrology editors at excluding the columns have tipped the balance-sheet, so that horoscopes had to be quickly reinstated.^{[citation needed]}

Cainer's success may be down to the optimistic approach of his columns and the fact that he restrains from 'balancing' his columns with negative predictions or character judgments.

As a young man, he worked through the diploma course of the UK Faculty of Astrological Studies. According to Jonathan, when the final submission of coursework was due on a Friday, his class were told they needn't hand their course-work in until the following Monday (this version of events was disputed by the faculty at the time), giving them the weekend to polish the work. On the Monday Jonathan and three fellow students had their entries refused as it was three days past the deadline.[1]

The three other students retook the year and went on to pass their diplomas, but Jonathan left without the qualification, and got his first job writing sun-sign columns, soon becoming one of the most successful British astrologers in recent memory.

Today, Jonathan is reputed to be the UK's highest paid journalist (as reported in numerous newspapers and magazines, including Private Eye), though the main part of his income is from the phone lines he runs with the help of his brother Daniel, as the Daily Mail pays nothing for his column. The assertions that he is the "highest paid journalist" generally omit the fact that he is actually a shrewd and successful businessman who employs at least 25 people in what is really a small industry based around his writing.