Berg was born Barry Parkinson in Chorley, Lancashire, England on 28 October 1947.
Between 1988 and 1994 he wrote extensively for electronic repair manuals and produced course material for science education.
In 1980, while studying and practising astrology Berg became acquainted with astrologer Jeff Mayo and collaborated with him on several projects while developing 13-sign astrology.
In 1989 he began writing "The Evening Sky", a monthly New Age and cultural astronomy feature syndicated to local newspapers, schools, colleges, universities, and released onto the Packet Switched Radio Network. A monthly guest on BBC Eastern Counties and Three Counties Radio, independent Horizon and Chiltern Radio was the 'expert spokesperson' on numerous national radio and television networks.
13-sign astrology
Berg published The 13 Signs of the Zodiac in 1995, which sold well in the UK.
The 13 Signs of the Zodiac was published in Japan in 1996 in a translation by radio host Mizui Hisami (水井久美), and the first edition sold out within days. Throughout 1996 Berg appeared each Monday on Fuji Television's Big Today programme networked nationally to an audience of nine million.[1] During 1996–97 Berg wrote for major Japanese magazines and produced a weekly column in the broadsheet newspaper Sankei that he continues to write.
Berg has constructed 13-sign profiles for many 'A’ list Japanese celebrities and politicians.[2]
In 1995 Berg proposed a symbol for Ophiuchus which has come into comparatively widespread use in Japan.[citation needed] The symbol looks like a letter U with a superimposed tilde. In 2009, it was suggested for inclusion in the Unicode standard as part of an emoji extension. The symbol has been added to the Unicode Miscellaneous Symbols codepage (U+26CE ⛎) as of version 6.0 (October 2010).[3]
In 2008, he published (under Barry Parkinson, his birth name) a book combining traditional 12-sign horoscopy with the concept of blood group–based personality types popularised in Japan in the 1970s by Masahiko Nomi, resulting in a system of 48 personality types.[citation needed]
