Mark Trevorrow (a.k.a. Bob Downe!) Australian Comedian, Cabaret Star, TV Personality, Writer Bob Downe "I found my look in the 70s and stuck to it. Is that a crime?" -- Bob Downe "Bob is a response to my GTV9/HSV7 variety-soaked Melbourne childhood. IMT, Sunnyside Up, Video Village, Kommotion, The Go! Show ... you name it, I watched it, and then me and my kid sister re-staged the numbers in the yard. So Bob is both a parody and a celebration." -- an interview with Mark Trevorrow "[What next from Bob Downe?] The doll, the CD-ROM, the DVD, the line of clothes, the designer caravan, the DNA sample... any other ideas in an e-mail, please!" -- an interview with Bob Downe astrology chart, profile, links Aries Ascendant, Aquarius Sun, Sagittarius Moon, Grand Cross ASTRoDATA: Mark Richard Trevorrow, born 4 February 1959, 11:00 (11AM) AEST (10hE), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. [Sy Scholfield [copyright] quotes data from Trevorrow by email in 2002. RR: A]. PERSONALIZED PLANETS: Aquarius CHIRON (conjunct Sun, sextile Moon), Aries ERIS (conjunct South Node). PATTERNS: STELLIUM (Mercury, Sun, Chiron in Aquarius), T-SQUARE (Mercury/Sun opposite Uranus, all square Neptune), T-SQUARE (Mars opposite Jupiter, both square Chiron), GRAND CROSS (Mars - Pluto - Jupiter - Venus), MYSTIC RECTANGLE (Ascendant & North Node - Uranus - South Node - Sun). MUTUAL RECEPTION: SUN in AQUARIUS (opposite) URANUS in LEO. SHAPE: SPLAY. CHINESE SIGN: EARTH DOG. NUMEROLOGY: "30/3" LIFEPATH.

photo by Amber M. Beattie Find Mark/Bob's latest tour dates and get your Aquarius postcards and much, much more at Amber M. Beattie's mega-funky Mark Trevorrow a.k.a. Bob Downe ("Prince of Polyester") website! Guess who does the voice for the fabulously "overt homosexual" Aussie 'Spalding' in John Callahan's Quads ?! MT's "absolute fave starsite is Rob Brezsny's freewillastrology.com"

Australian humourist and cabaret star Mark Trevorrow and his comic alter-ego Bob Downe (a loudly-attired caravan-dwelling entertainer from Murwillumbah) have achieved cult acclaim in both their homeland and the U.K., often appearing alongside Julian Clary and Lily Savage.

Trevorrow was born with the Sun, Mercury and Chiron all grouped together within a closeknit stellium in Aquarius. The latter two planets are associated with the press, so with one on each side of his Sun, Trevorrow in his youth did a 4-year apprenticeship as a reporter for the Melbourne newspaper, The Sun News Pictorial, with a stint later as freelance Arts Editor of Vogue Australia.

The glyph for Aquarius comprises two wavy lines that symbolise everything new and artificial (the "www" acronym for the world wide web is a literal representation of the Aquarius symbol). With Aquarius containing more of Trevorrow's planets than any other sign, his "super-synthetic" creation, Bob Downe, is thus known as the "Prince of Polyester" and the "Prince of Crimplene" after that unnatural fabric with a wavy weave.

Bob Downe first appeared in the mid 1980s when schizoid Mercury (which rules the Gemini Twins) crossed Trevorrow's glamorous Venus in Pisces. Under that conjunction Trevorrow seemingly split in two, with Bob emerging like a glam 70s male Aphrodite. Venus in Pisces is a rather lush and sensational placement that explains Downe's ash-blonde "suspiciously-unchanging" "hurricane-proof" hair, safari suits and gaudy over-the-top flare pants.

With Trevorrow having been born in the Chinese Year of the Earth Dog, no surprise that his alter-ego Bob loves to gallivant about in earthy-toned hush puppies. The Moon's South Node on his Aries Ascendant makes for a distinctive-looking and paradoxical character ("sexless but sexy," "daggy yet glamorous"), while the placement of his Ascendant-ruler, Mars, in Venusian Taurus, softens the gung-ho temperament usually associated with those folks born with the sign of the Ram rising on their horizon. Mars in Taurus also makes for singing sensations (Madonna has this combo). With his Moon in carefree and exuberant Sagittarius, Downe's signature tune is a wonderously-catchy (and tacky) rendition of "Yeah, Yeah"!

While Trevorrow is outwardly gay (having come out at age 19 as his progressed Ascendant ruler, Mars, reached 16° Gemini to form a Grand Trine with his Sun and North Node), having monastic and animal-loving Chiron (the planetary ruler of Virgo) as his only personalized planet has manifested in the suspected celibacy of his inner clown, Bob Downe. As Trevorrow has remarked in one interview: "I'm an out gay man playing a closeted character." Elsewhere he's qualified that statement with true Chironic wit: "[Bob's] the original entertainment closet case ... He's a shocking prude. I don't think Bob's ever had a relationship. He's devoted to his cat and budgie and guineapigs." A personalized Chiron can clearly manifest in some quite quaint habits. Putting it bluntly, Trevorrow's doppelgänger, Bob Downe, is "Murwillumbah's most confirmed bachelor."

With that Aries Ascendant, Bob Downe can be quite competitive. As the strongest link he won $21,700 for his nominated charity, The Smith Family on Australia's (Celebrity) Weakest Link in February 2002. Bob mentioned that the Smith Family "op shops" are where he gets all his clothes -- and I thought they were tailor-made! (Progressed Mars at 10° Cancer quincunx the midpoint between Mercury and Sun in intelligent Aquarius may have helped him outsmart the other contestants!)

At first it may be surprising that Trevorrow/Downe (the epitome of ultra-"retro" fashion) has only two retrograde planets -- Uranus and Pluto. Fittingly however, the first is in the dramatic sign Leo while the second is in the performance-orientated 5th House. Because it both opposes and rules Trevorrow/Downe's three Aquarian planets, Uranus (the television planet) wields the larger influence. Uranus also appears in Mutual Reception with the Sun, because each is placed in the other's sign. This especially fortuitous feature often appears in the charts of electric performers like Trevorrow (whose Downe character rose to prominence at the Edinburgh Fringe comedy festival.) The uniquely-talented Bob/Mark has thus also appeared on t.v. shows on both sides of the globe, becoming particularly well-known in the U.K. for shows like Bob Downe Under, and in Australia as compere of several telecasts of the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade. As tomorrow-seeking Aquarians with a dash of stylish Pisces and flashy Leo, at least one of the Trevorrow/Downe duo (when faced with the blas�) has been known to quip, "That's so last century."