A new star is born – Oscar CAINER After the untimely death of the Mail’s astrologer Jonathan Cainer, meet his anointed successor — the nephew he taught everything

On the face of it, the haunting video begins much like the many thousands of zodiac forecasts Jonathan Cainer recorded over the years for his devoted followers: the soothing strains of otherworldly music, a starry sky, the great astrologer himself resplendent in a purple shirt and bow tie.

then he speaks. ‘If you’re watching this video, it’s because a time has come that I knew would come and that I felt it incumbent upon me to prepare for . . .’ With which he reaches out to put a hand on the shoulder of his 31-year-old nephew, Oscar.

this is no ordinary video. Instead, it’s a message from Jonathan from beyond the grave to introduce his successor.

Recorded last year, this deeply prescient film wasn’t expected to see the light of day for many years to come.

Sadly, that changed less than a month ago, when the Mail’s worldfamous astrologer collapsed in his Yorkshire home at the age of 58. he died later in hospital from a massive heart attack — his third in recent years.

Oscar, who has studied astrology for many years with his uncle, was in the car with his wife, Annie, and twoyear- old son, truman, when he learned of Jonathan’s death. he is not an overly emotional man, but on that morning he sobbed. he is close to tears now as we watch the video.

‘My uncle always had very wacky ideas. I suppose I thought this was just another one of those, but that was the thing about him.

‘Quite often you’d question “Why are you doing it?”, then it made sense later,’ says Oscar.

‘he’d just had a heart attack [his second] a few days before. he said: “I want to do a video that introduces you as my successor. I want people to know you’re the one I want to take over.”

‘his wife [third wife Sue] and kids were there. I have to say I felt kind of funny. there he was stuffing himself into this suit and putting on a brave face, but he’d just had a heart attack.

‘I knew vaguely what it was going to be about, but I didn’t know what he was going to say. I gulped when he began speaking. Up until that point it had all been very convivial. We’d been having a laugh and a chat around the kitchen while he was making tofu fried eggs. then, suddenly, we were talking about a time my uncle wasn’t going to be around.

‘We had to do a few takes. he could see I was a little shaken up by the idea of it, so he put his hand on my knee and said, “Just remember that you’re in someone’s front room. talk to the camera like you talk to me.”

‘Jonathan knew he wasn’t immortal, so he put in place a plan for what to do if we lost him. But until now, I’ve been the understudy. Stepping into the role is huge responsibility.’

With the gentle humility that defines him, Oscar adds: ‘I’ve got such big shoes to fill. I’m excited about developing his legacy, but part of me is a little bit anxious and I was having this dream last night where I was just feeling I wasn’t quite ready for this.

‘I got this text message from him in my dream that said: “Don’t worry. You’re going to be fantastic. You’re doing the right thing.” ’

hang on a minute, Oscar — messages from beyond the grave, texts in dreams, isn’t it all, well, rather wacky? he shrugs in a ‘we’re talking about Jonathan Cainer, what do you expect?’ sort of way.

take his uncle’s funeral. More than 200 purple-robed (purple was Jonathan’s favourite colour) witches, wizards and goodness knows what else turned up at a barn on the outskirts of York for the ceremony, officiated by a local celebrant known as Stargazer Lou.

‘ that was wacky,’ says Oscar. ‘Jonathan has eight children but only one son, Izaak. he’s a 24-year- old actor and he turned up dressed as the sun and read a poem that was quite funny and sweary.’

It was a fitting send- off from a family who could never be described as ordinary.

‘One of the stories at the funeral was that his kids were messing about at the table when they were very young and accidentally set his son, Izaak, on fire!’ says Oscar.

‘they shouted, “Dad, Dad, Izaak’s on fire.” he poked his head into the room and shouted: “Will you shut up, I’m on the phone.”

‘Right at the end, everyone was invited to write something on the big purple coffin in gold pen.

‘What touched me was the volume of messages — so many gold stars from everyone he’d touched. I just

‘He was loved by millions for his compassion’ BEL MOONEY IS AWAY

thanked him — thanked him for believing in me.’

Jonathan was a charismatic eccentric who wasn’t always the easiest of men to know, but, nonetheless, Oscar — who grew up in North London — loved him dearly. His uncle’s rambling manor house in Yorkshire was, he says, a spiritual home, and his cousins were more like brother and sisters to him.

‘There was a point when I wasn’t particularly happy at school, so I went up there to stay,’ he recalls.

‘I really enjoyed it. There was lots of creativity, lots of poem-writing and freedom to be yourself.

‘I suppose it was hippier than my home in Muswell Hill. My uncle was aware I wasn’t happy and came up with this plan that I was going to join them in York and be part of the mad house.’ Oscar’s father, Daniel, is one of Jonathan’s two younger brothers and helps to run the astrological website that employs 30 members of the late astrologer’s family and close friends.

Jonathan’s private life was a chaotic, unwieldy thing that included a child from an early relationship; three stepchildren and three children from his lengthy marriage to much-loved second wife Mel, who died in a car crash in 1992; a ten-year relationship with girlfriend Sarah; and another daughter with Sue, the nanny he hired after Mel’s death, who became his third wife in 2014.

It does help you begin to Hand of fate: Jonathan, right, introduces Oscar in a video understand why his brother believes he ‘lay awake at night with a lot more anxiety than he let on’.

His family called him Don Jon. ‘whenever I think of him, I think of him as Jupiter,’ says Oscar. ‘ This great big planet with all these moons that go round him. I remember going to my first- ever music festival with him at Glastonbury when I was 15.

‘He had a big winnebago and each day there’d be queues of hippies coming to his door asking for answers to their problems.

‘He was very like a king holding court, but he liked power. He liked to be needed.’

Oscar was working as a tour manager in his early 20s when he began to study astrology. ‘I heard him say that he wanted a Cainer to continue his work, so thought that’s something I can do for him instead of wanting something from him as everyone else seems to.

‘I didn’t want to be another person queuing up at his winnebago door asking for a hand-out.’

So he studied for a year at the Faculty Of Astrological Studies in London in 2009, where he discovered a natural aptitude for the subject. Like his uncle, Oscar’s strength is the emotional insight and compassion with which he is able to make astrological events relevant to an individual’s daily life.

‘It was early 2011 that I began to truly realise if you’re aware of astrology in your life, it can have an impact on you that’s meaningful and important.

‘when I spoke to my uncle about it, he had this little smirk on his face and a certain look in his eye. He began to give me the files for the birth charts to re-write so they were a bit more modern.

‘we are both very similar in our approach. Neither of us ever liked being told what to do, so we both write in a way that allows people to ask the right questions so they can find the answers themselves.

‘ But there is only one Jonathan . . . ’ Oscar stops. His uncle’s sudden death continues to touch him deeply.

‘Look, our approach to astrology is very similar, but we’re different people. My uncle enjoyed the glamour and excitement of being the famous astrologer, whereas my rising sign is Virgo, which is about service and stability.

‘I am my uncle’s nephew. I am not my uncle. There is a lineage. There is a bloodline. I have my own talent which I think is informed by what he’s taught me.

‘My uncle was loved by millions of people because of his compassion. It is a compassion he recognised in me as an astrologer and something he’s encouraged me to develop.

‘Although we’ve lost him far too early, I’m very excited about furthering his legacy and guiding Daily Mail readers with the same compassion and sensitivity.

‘He saw something in me even before I was studying astrology.

‘He said to my mum when I was born that I was going to make waves. I know his faith in me was absolute, and I will do everything I can to repay it.’

WATCH the video of Jonathan and Oscar at dailymail. co.uk/jonathancainer

‘His faith in me was absolute. I want to repay it’