Mystic Meg dead: Sun astrologer Margaret Lake who shot to fame on National Lottery dies aged 80 after short illness
MYSTIC Meg, Britain’s most famous astrologer has died, aged 80.
For almost 23 years millions of Sun readers have followed her daily horoscopes in Britain’s favourite paper.
Last month Meg – real name Margaret Lake – was admitted to St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, London, suffering from flu.
She died at 3.45am this morning.
Meg’s agent of 34 years, Dave Shapland, said: “Without any question, she was Britain’s most famous astrologer by a million miles.
“Nobody came close to Meg in that respect. She was followed by millions in this country and also around the world.
“She even became part of the English language – if a politician, somebody from showbiz or ordinary people in the street are asked a tricky question they will say ‘Who do you think I am, Mystic Meg?’
“It shows what an impact she made.”
Sun editor Victoria Newton said: “This is devastating news. We have lost an icon.
“Our brilliant and incomparable Meg was synonymous with The Sun – she was a total legend. We loved her and so did our readers.
“For more than two decades Mystic Meg has been a must read column and cemented her as Britain’s most famous astrologer.
“She was a true professional whose guidance helped our readers daily – our postbag bears testament to this.
“One of my favourite memories of Meg is when all the Spice Girls came to the office, just as they were riding high at number one.
“We planned a tour for them but all they wanted to do was meet Mystic Meg!
“You know you’re a true icon when the only person Victoria Beckham is interested in is you.
“Farewell Meg. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Our thoughts are with her family and friends.”
Piers Morgan said: “Mystic Meg was Britain’s most famous astrologer and a fascinatingly mysterious lady who loved her work with a passion but was rarely seen or heard in public.
“I was her editor at the News of the World for several years and she was extraordinarily professional in everything she did. A master of her very popular craft.”
Margaret Anne Lake was born on Monday, July 27, 1942, at a maternity home in Accrington, Lancs.
She pioneered horoscope readings on the phone and when the service started in 1989, it broke all BT records.
Meg fast became the world’s most successful phone-line astrologer, and a household institution thanks to the National Lottery TV show.
This is devastating news. We have lost an icon
Victoria Newton, Sun editor
For three years, with her distinctive dark hair and flowing gowns, she appeared on Saturday night primetime where in a swirl of stage smoke, she stared into her crystal ball to predict who would win the jackpot.
Mystic Meg even had an entry in Longman’s Dictionary of Contemporary English.
According to astrological charts she was a Leo, with Leo rising and Mercury in Cancer.
People born under this combination ‘command any stage they walk on, leaving behind stardust and inspiration’.
Meg lived alone in a three bedroom flat in London’s Notting Hill which she shared with seven cats that she said found her and moved in.
Meg was the result of 20-year-old RAF radar operator Bill Lake’s war-time romance with Millicent Howard, 23. The couple married six months before Meg was born.
Mum and baby moved in with Millicent’s parents Ann and William Howard in their terraced home in Accrington while Bill was away during World War II.
By the time her husband was demobbed in 1946, Millicent had fallen for a BBC engineer and demanded a divorce.
Bill Lake kissed his daughter goodbye outside his in-laws’ home in 1946 and never saw Meg again.
From the age of five Meg became close to her great-granny Howard, a Russian gypsy who fled from her homeland in 1888 with her prized possessions – a strange set of European Tarot cards and a crystal ball.
Granny Howard realised Margaret had the natural psychic talents of her Romany heritage and taught the youngster astrology and fortune telling.
When Meg turned 21 she inherited her gran’s crystal ball, which she used to tell the future for nearly 60 years.
Like all children I had special friends no one else could see but while most kids are talked out of theirs I kept mine. My great-grandmother who had the gift made sure I kept mine
Mystic Meg
Despite being a household name, Meg was so private she did not give interviews to journalists who had to fax their questions and she would reply in writing.
Meg did reveal: “I can still remember being taken to the coast to see how the phases of the moon affected the tide and realising they affected people, too.
“Like all children I had special friends no one else could see but while most kids are talked out of theirs I kept mine. My great-grandmother who had the gift made sure I kept mine.
“The gift often skips a couple of generations so my mother – who was an engineer – was annoyed, rather than impressed when I used to tell her who was going to knock on the door half an hour before they did
“My great-grandmother’s Tarot cards vanished the day she died – five days before her 100th birthday – just as she’d predicted.”
Tragic lover
At the age of seven, Meg’s horoscope predicted she was destined to marry a wealthy man.
By the 1970s, Margaret had worked as a fortune teller before going to university in Leeds where he got a teacher’s diploma.
She did not go into teaching and was working as a sub editor on a women’s magazine when she met and fell in love with millionaire football pools heir Nigel Moores.
Sadly, the prediction made when Meg was a young girl never came to pass. In 1977, her lover – then aged 39 and worth £9million – was killed in a car crash in the South of France.
Meg’s agent Dave Shapland said: “In all the time I knew her there was never another man in her life.
“She gave the impression of being a recluse, living on her own with her crystal ball and seven cats for company. That was the reality. She was a very private person.”
Talents
By 1986, after a spell writing erotic stories for soft porn magazines, she was working as a journalist at the News of the World magazine.
Her talents were spotted when the editor caught her predicting the future for colleagues who went worried about love or money.
Next day, she became ‘Meg Markova’, the paper’s new astrologer, who never drank, only ate veg and went to the gym four times a week to keep her clairvoyant powers strong.
As well as writing weekly horoscopes, Meg’s column carried messages from beyond the grave.
Readers loved her bizarre psychic instructions with clues about who was making contact from ‘the other world’.
Messages like: ‘Josephine of Plymouth – Get in touch with SR. It’s your destiny, JD’
Or, ‘Karen of South London – Dad hid what you seek in the garage, MH. Barry of Crewe – Own up, there’s no other way, JT.’
They not only caught the imagination of readers who wrote to Meg in their thousands but telly star David Frost loved them so much he began his Sunday morning TV show by reading out Meg’s messages from the other side.
Her editor, Wendy Henry, remembered: “She was very talented and very specific.
“One year she predicted a jail break and another time she said that a horse called Desert Orchid would become one of the best racers of all time.”
Record breaker
The mid-Nineties saw her biggest postbag ever – from Manchester United fans angry that Meg had – correctly – predicted their team would lose to Everton in the FA Cup final.
Mystic Meg also pioneered horoscope readings on the phone and when her four-minute astrology predictions for the coming week started in 1989 they broke all BT records.
Her agent remembers: “By about two o’clock on the Sunday afternoon, BT had taken 92,000 phone calls and by the Monday night it was up to 136,000.
“She broke all records at the time and the idea went round the world to places America, Australia and South Africa.
And in 1994, when the BBC launched their National Lottery show they turned to Meg to make predictions live on air, watched by 20million viewers.
Dave Shapland said: “She stayed there every Saturday night for three years and when Meg’s predictions about winners happened she became legendary.
“Even now some still think she is on the Lottery for some reason. That’s the kind of impact she made on it. It was quite incredible.”
Even now some still think she is on the Lottery for some reason. That’s the kind of impact she made on it. It was quite incredible
Dave Shapland, Mystic Meg's agent
On March 29, 1997, Meg predicted the lottery jackpot would be bought in Sunderland.
The winning ticket WAS bought in Sunderland – by a syndicate of Sun readers who shared £2.4million.
And in 2002 Mystic Meg helped Sun reader John Billson win nearly £23,000 in a bet.
After his wife Helen showed John, of Market Harborough, Leics, Meg’s Sun horoscope predicting ‘luck is linked to football scores’, he bet £6.50 on a five-match accumulator and scooped £22,797.
Thanks to the TV exposure, Meg became one of the biggest names around and like a pop star or an actor she became a regular guest on the sofa, especially on the Des O’Connor show.
Meg’s other passion was horse racing.
She said: “You might think I’d use my gift to make a fortune but that would have been wrong and dangerous. There are mischievous spirits about.”