David Langford
David Langford (born April 10, 1953, Newport, United Kingdom), aged 73, is a British writer. Langford is best known for Ansible and The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Langford's honours include Hugo Award for Best Related Work, Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer and BSFA Award for Best Short Fiction.
David Langford’s zodiac sign is Aries, Chinese zodiac is Water Snake, with Life Path 5 in numerology.
Aries, Chinese zodiac is 
Water Snake, with 
Life Path 5 in numerology.Your match with David
David Langford’s AsterNym identity
The Gilded Pioneer
Metal represents precision. Metal-led charts are associated with standards, boundaries, discernment and the ability to remove what is unnecessary. Life Path 5 represents freedom: change, movement, variety and resistance to restrictive routines.
Metal Day Master (BaZi) × cardinal Sun × Life Path 5, on the physical plane.
How common is the name David in the U.S.?
#35
US rank in 2025
~3,689,613
Americans share it since 1880
1955
its peak year
The SSA recorded 76,119 American boys and 149 girls named David in 1953: 5th among boys and 748th among girls for the year.
US Social Security Administration public records
What David’s name adds up to
Worked from the name as published, letter by letter.
9
Expression · the bigger picture
8
Soul Urge · achievement
1
Personality · self-directed
The name opens on D (4) and closes on D (4). The value it repeats most is 4, which numerology reads as craft.
Pythagorean letter values · A=1 to I=9, then J=1 again
David’s lucky numbers, colours and stones
Traditional correspondences, calculated not chosen.
Lucky numbers
5 · 2 · 8 · 9
Lucky colours
Blue & Black
Lucky day
Tuesday
Direction
↑ North
Season
winter
Stones
Diamond, Red Coral, Aquamarine
Flower constellation
🌼 Daisy · 🌺 Red Dahlia · 💠 Water Lily
White · Crimson · Moonlight white
Eight Mansions · Kua number
Kua 1, trigram Kan 坎, East group. Best direction Southeast, worst West.
A different tradition from the Direction above, and a different question: feng shui reads it from the solar year 1953, which turns at Li Chun rather than at New Year, and from sex, which Wikidata records as male. Work out your own →
The record
What sets David apart
The record David Langford is measured by: Ansible and The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
The schooling ran through Brasenose College.
David Langford was 22 when the work began in 1975.
Wikipedia files David Langford under Welsh science fiction writers, British satirical novelists and Writers from Newport, Wales.
Michael M. York shares the birth date exactly, so the chart below is nearly the same document for them both. What follows the chart is where they part.
- Known for
- Ansible and The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
- Educated at
- Brasenose College
- Awards
- Hugo Award for Best Related Work (2012), Hugo Award for Best Short Story (2001) and Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer (1985)
- Nominated for
- BSFA Award for Best Short Fiction and Locus Award for Best First Novel
- Working from
- 1975
- Citizenship
- United Kingdom
- Languages
- English
- Wikipedia editions
- 11
What the chart says
David, according to the stars
Core essence
David leads with the body. First in, first to speak, first to say the thing everyone was thinking, and honestly a little surprised when the room needed a second to catch up. The core of David is courage that does not look like courage from the inside, it just looks like Tuesday. They would rather be wrong fast than right slowly, and it is why people follow them.
How David wants to be loved
David wants to be loved boldly. Venus in Aries falls fast, says so, and wants you to chase back. Grand gestures land, so does a fight followed by a proper make-up. What bores them is hesitation. Be direct, be a little brave about them, and keep the spark lit on purpose.
How David creates
How David makes things happen: they refine it until it shines. A Yin Metal day master is jewellery, precise, aesthetic, particular about the finish. David creates by polishing, by taste, by knowing exactly which detail makes the whole thing sing. Sensitive to being handled roughly, and worth handling well.
Instinct
Instinct: David is wise and watchful, a Snake year, and their gut reaction is to observe before moving. Elegant, intuitive, private, and usually right about people long before saying so. The Water year softens it: intuitive, adaptable, feeling their way through people.
Purpose
Purpose: Life Path 5 is the free spirit. David is here to explore, to change, to taste everything and report back. Adventure, variety and freedom are not distractions from their purpose, they are it. The lesson is choosing, sometimes, and staying.
Triggers
Triggers: being rushed, and being pushed. Mars in Taurus means David is slow to anger and very hard to move once they are. Patience is the superpower, stubbornness its shadow. Let them set the pace and they are unstoppable in their own time.
Computed from David's birth date. Working below.
Where David sits
Six lines
David’s dot comes from the chart; yours is where you put it.
You likely balance a tight inner circle with a wider orbit you dip into.
You may leap first and adjust as you go. Waiting can feel like losing momentum.
You likely share some feelings openly and keep others to yourself.
You may want to resolve tension the moment it appears, rather than let it sit.
You likely balance practical steps with room to imagine further.
You may feel connection fast. Chemistry can arrive before the details do.
Tap each line where you sit.
All twelve of yours, from your birth date →✦ A real star from their birth night
Dedicate a star to David Langford
Three stars chosen from the real sky above Newport on the night they were born. Choose the story that connects you.
A 9 p.m. reference sky, not the birth minute. Dedications are commemorative and confer no ownership of stars.
The sky over Newport that night
Computed for 51.59°N, 9 p.m. local sky.
At 9 p.m. the star closest to straight overhead at Newport was Merak, in Ursa Major, 80.4° up.
The brightest star above the horizon was Sirius in Canis Major, and 104 catalog stars were up in all.
From 51.6°N, Vega, Capella and Deneb never go below the horizon: they are circumpolar at this latitude.
Canopus, Rigil Kentaurus, Achernar, Hadar, Acrux, Mimosa and Toliman cannot be seen from Newport at all: they sit past the −38.4° declination limit this latitude imposes.
The Moon was at waning crescent, 13% lit, and already below the horizon, with the Sun 17° down.
How unusual David's chart is
Chart pattern score
63 / 100 · Unusual
Yod onto Neptune · Yod onto Saturn · Venus retrograde
An AsterNym index built from stelliums, yods, grand crosses and chart shape. It is not a population percentile, and a high score is not a better chart. Without a birth time the houses are left out of it.
Score your own chart →The quick version
Aries Sun
Aries SunFires first. Thinks later.
David Langford's Sun was in Aries for the whole of April 10, 1953, so no birth time is needed to settle it.
What Aries means →Water Snake
Water SnakeWatches. Waits. Then precisely.
David Langford was born on April 10, 1953, which falls in a Water Snake year of the Chinese calendar.
What the Snake means →Life Path 5
Life Path 5Can't sit still. Won't try.
David Langford's birth date, April 10, 1953, reduces to Life Path 5 under the numerology method AsterNym uses.
What Life Path 5 means →What stands out in David’s chart
- The tightest major aspect in David Langford's date-only chart is Mercury sextile Jupiter, with an orb of under 1°.
- Five of the ten planets fall in Cardinal signs, making Cardinal the strongest modality in this chart.
- This chart has an even Fire/Water emphasis, with three planets in each.
- David Langford combines a Metal Day Master in BaZi with a cardinal Sun and a Life Path on the physical plane, the combination AsterNym calls The Gilded Pioneer.
David’s birth chart
Reference chart · birth time unknown
Positions are checked across the whole date. The Moon ranges from 26° to 11° Aquarius or Pisces depending on the hour.
No birth time, so the houses are a solar chart: the Sun’s sign counts as house 1.
Placements
Tap one to light it on the wheel.
The working: aspects, Chiron and the asteroids, dominant planets and configurationsshow
Aspects across every possible birth time
stableMercurysextileJupiter0.0° to 0.3° orb
David’s mind opens doors for their growth. Nothing happens until someone makes the first move.
stableSuntrinePluto0.1° to 1.1° orb
David’s core identity flows straight into their depths. Effortless, which is exactly why it gets taken for granted.
stableVenusoppositionSaturn0.4° to 0.9° orb
David’s affections pull against their discipline from across the wheel. Two ends of one rope.
stableMarssextileUranus0.4° to 1.1° orb
stableSaturnconjunctionNeptune1.6° to 1.7° orb
stableNeptunesextilePluto1.7° orb
stableSunoppositionNeptune1.8° to 2.8° orb
stableVenusoppositionNeptune2.0° to 2.6° orb
stableJupitersquarePluto2.4° to 2.6° orb
stableSaturnsextilePluto3.3° to 3.4° orb
stableSunoppositionSaturn3.4° to 4.5° orb
stableVenustrinePluto3.7° to 4.3° orb
Chart signature
Elements
- Fire3 of 10
- Earth2 of 10
- Air2 of 10
- Water3 of 10
Modalities
- Cardinal5 of 10
- Fixed3 of 10
- Mutable2 of 10
Counted across the ten planets by sign.
David’s Chiron, Ceres, Eros, Hygiea and Lilith
What astrologers make of these five, at noon values.
⚷ ChironCapricorn 20°50′ (moves 0.02° over the day)
centaur (2060) · the wound and what is learnt from it
⚳ CeresGemini 20°13′ (moves 0.35° over the day)
dwarf planet (1) · how a person nurtures and wants to be nurtured
♡ ErosPisces 19°22′ (moves 0.61° over the day)
near-Earth asteroid (433) · what draws them and how they desire
⚕ HygieaGemini 1°21′ (moves 0.29° over the day)
main-belt asteroid (10) · health, routine and what keeps them well
⚸ Black Moon LilithVirgo 12°02′ (moves 0.11° over the day)
mean lunar apogee · the part that refuses to be tamed
Aspects to the asteroids and Lilith
- Ceres sextile Sun 0.1°
- Chiron square Sun 0.5°
- Ceres sextile Pluto 0.7°
- Chiron square Neptune 1.7°
- Ceres trine Neptune 2.4°
- Chiron sextile Mercury 2.6°
- Chiron trine Jupiter 2.6°
- Black Moon Lilith sextile Uranus 2.6°
David’s dominant planets
1. ♀ Venus8 pts
disposes Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune; 4 major aspects
2. ♂ Mars7 pts
rules the Sun sign, Aries; disposes Sun, Venus; 2 major aspects
3. ☉ Sun6 pts
disposes Pluto; 5 major aspects
Configurations in David’s chart
Yod onto Neptune · Mercury, Jupiter, NeptuneTwo planets in sextile, both quincunx a third. Astrologers call it the finger of fate and read the apex as an adjustment the chart keeps returning to.- Yod onto Saturn · Mercury, Jupiter, SaturnTwo planets in sextile, both quincunx a third. Astrologers call it the finger of fate and read the apex as an adjustment the chart keeps returning to.
- Yod onto Mercury · Neptune, Pluto, MercuryTwo planets in sextile, both quincunx a third. Astrologers call it the finger of fate and read the apex as an adjustment the chart keeps returning to.
- Yod onto Mercury · Saturn, Pluto, MercuryTwo planets in sextile, both quincunx a third. Astrologers call it the finger of fate and read the apex as an adjustment the chart keeps returning to.
Minor aspects
semi-sextile, semi-square, quintile, sesquiquadrate, biquintile, quincunx.
- Mercury quincunx Neptune 0.8°
- Jupiter quincunx Neptune 0.8°
- Mercury quincunx Saturn 0.9°
- Jupiter quincunx Saturn 0.9°
- Mercury semi-sextile Venus 1.5°
- Venus semi-sextile Jupiter 1.5°
- Mercury quincunx Pluto 2.5°
Born the same day as David
Michael M. York was born on April 10, 1953 too, the same date and the same year. With no birth time for any of them the chart is identical, not similar: the same Sun, the same pillars, the same Life Path. The sky over the birthplace is not shared: from Newport, at 51.6°N, Vega, Capella and Deneb never set at all. Same sky, different lives.
More people like David
Other writers
- Robert Charles Wilson1953
- Rick Atkinson1952
- Vijay Seshadri1954
- Simon Doonan1952
- Eugene Robinson1954
- Rita Dove1952
Born in United Kingdom
- Angus YoungAustralian guitarist
- Delroy LindoBritish-born American actor (born 1952)
- Tim Berners-LeeEnglish computer scientist
- Jack SzostakAmerican biologist
- Billy IdolEnglish singer
- Simon DoonanBritish businessman
More charts like David’s
Fellow Aries suns
- Lanford WilsonAmerican playwright
- Jericho BrownAmerican writer
- Phyllis McGinleyAmerican writer and poet
Born in Snake years
- LaMelo BallAmerican basketball player (born 2001)
- Jaime Jaquez Jr.Mexican-American basketball player
- Isaiah Crawfordcollege basketball player (2020–2020) Louisiana Tech
Also born on April 10
- Sadio Mané1992
- Omar Sharif1932
- Roberto Carlos1973
- Charlie Hunnam1980
- Aliko Dangote1957
- Dolores Huerta1930
Fellow Yin Metal day masters
- Lieke MarsmanDutch poet
- Cecil Day-LewisIrish-born British poet
- James StillAmerican poet from Alabama
Other Aries Snake charts
- Harvey Williams CushingAmerican neurosurgeon
- Ellen GoodmanAmerican journalist and writer
- Clifford K. BerrymanAmerican cartoonist
- Dean AchesonAmerican statesman and lawyer
Other Gilded Pioneers
- Otto WallachGerman chemist
- Nelly SachsJewish German poet and playwright
- Walther Hermann NernstGerman physical chemist and physicist
- Robert HillyerAmerican poet
Famous people with Life Path 5
- Russ YeastAmerican football player (born 1999)
- Will AndersonAmerican football player (born 2001)
- Kenneth Walker IIIAmerican football player (born 2000)
From the journal: The 12 animals and how the race story goes · The Lo Shu square: the oldest magic square there is
David’s cards
Computed from April 10, 1953. Tap to flip.
Birth tarot card
The HierophantAsterNym identity card
The Gilded PioneerWestern zodiac
AriesChinese zodiac
Snake 巳Life Path
5 · Explorer♂ Ruled by Mars
Iron Fe
The working: BaZi pillarsshow
BaZi pillars
Day Master: yin Metal.
Year
癸
yin Water
巳
Snake
Fire
roots & early life
Month
丙
yang Fire
辰
Dragon
Earth
work & drive
Day
day master
辛
yin Metal
卯
Rabbit
Wood
you & partnership
Where this comes from, and how it is worked out
David’s birth date and birthplace come from Wikidata Q720787 (CC0), as do the occupations, works and awards above. With no documented birth time this chart is rated X on the Rodden scale, the astrological convention for how well evidenced a birth time is. The banner above lists what that leaves out. Entries are matched to Wikidata by entity id rather than by name, kept at day precision, and dropped where sources disagree on the date.
Tropical zodiac, whole-sign houses, modern rulers. Aspects on the western_v1 orb policy; minor ones at 1.5° to 2.5°, skipped where a major already holds. Minor bodies from JPL Horizons heliocentric vectors, Lilith as mean apogee. Dominance is an AsterNym score — rulerships, dispositors, aspect count — so other methods can name a different leader.
Portrait by Unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The same David Langford at Wikipedia, ansible.uk and X.
Roster last reviewed September 10, 2026. The full method: how it works.
Traditional interpretations, not facts or predictions, and not endorsed by David Langford.
Quick answers about David Langford’s chart
- How old is David Langford?
- David Langford is 73 years old, born April 10, 1953 in Newport, United Kingdom.
- What zodiac sign is David Langford?
- David Langford is an Aries: born April 10, 1953, which puts the Sun in Aries for the whole of that day.
- What is David Langford's Chinese zodiac animal?
- The Snake, with the Water element, from the Chinese lunar year of the April 10, 1953 birth.
- What is David Langford's Life Path number?
- Life Path 5, calculated in numerology.
- What is David Langford's Chiron sign?
- Chiron in Capricorn at 20°. Position from JPL Horizons.
- Where is David Langford's Black Moon Lilith?
- Mean Black Moon Lilith in Virgo at 12°. This is the mean lunar apogee; the osculating Lilith some tables use can sit up to 30° away.
- What is David Langford's dominant planet?
- Venus, on AsterNym's dominance score (8 points: disposes Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune; 4 major aspects). Mars is second and Sun third. Other sites weight rulerships and aspects differently and can name a different leader.
