The study of more than 15,000 people found "in no cases did date of birth relate to individual differences in personality or general intelligence".

The authors, from universities in Germany and Denmark, wanted to further examine a link between date of birth and sun signs in astrology, but found "no support".

Writing in the May edition of Personality and Individual Differences, the authors said: "We conclude that the present large-scale study provides no evidence for the existence of relevant relationships between date of birth and individual differences in personality and general intelligence."

". . . if there is some truth to astrology then some general effects of prominent astrological factors like sun signs should be detectable using large enough samples.

"The present large-scale study certainly found no independent effects of sun signs, elements, or gender, and thus yields no support for the common claims of astrology."

TV astrologer Russell Grant said the survey needed to distinguish between the "pop" astrology and "proper" astrology.

"We all know that the sun signs are used in newspapers and magazines as a form of entertainment because we cannot sum up all people in terms of 12 signs," he said.

"But proper astrology is based on where all the planets are at the exact time of someone's birth, and that has been used for thousands of years."


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