Edward Craven Walker
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Edward Craven Walker (4 July 1918 – 15 August 2000) was a British inventor, who invented the
psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science o ...
Astro lamp, also known as the lava lamp.


War record

Craven was a pilot in
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, flying a DeHavilland Mosquito over Germany to take photographs from an unarmed plane. He met his first wife, Marjorie Bevan Jones, at an air base where she was with the
WAAF WAAF may refer to: * w3af, (short for web application attack and audit framework), an open-source web application security scanner * Women's Auxiliary Air Force, a British military service in World War II ** Waaf, a member of the service * WAAF ( ...
. Craven continued flying after the war.


The Astro lamp


Genesis

After the war Craven developed an idea he saw in a country pub in Dorset, England. The pub had a contraption made by a regular, Donald Dunnett, who had since departed, a one-off device which used two immiscible fluids as an egg timer. While it was rudimentary, Craven saw potential and set about perfecting it and turning into a lamp. He set up a laboratory in a small shed where he mixed ingredients in bottles of different shapes and sizes. He discovered one of the best containers was a Tree Top Orange Squash bottle and its shape defined the Astro Baby Lamp or Astro Mini as it was then called.


Industry

Craven with his wife Christine set up a company, Crestworth and then Mathmos, to produce the lamps, operating from small buildings on an industrial estate in Poole, Dorset. Walker said of his lamp, "I think it will always be popular. It is like the cycle of life. It grows, breaks up, falls down and then starts all over again." In the late 1970s the popularity of the "hippie" style abated somewhat, and lava lamps fell out of fashion. The Walkers kept their company going throughout the 1980s but scaled back operations. In recent decades, the lamps popularity returned as people feeling nostalgic search for original collectable versions, which often are quite expensive, or buy news ones which are available from numerous companies. Original Mathmos lamps are still made by the company in Great Britain, including updated versions of their classic designs.


Later years

In the early 1990s, a young couple began manufacturing and selling them successfully. Cressida Granger and David Mulley approached Craven and took over running the company and renamed it Mathmos in 1992. Initially they were in partnership with Edward and Christine Craven Walker and the company was called Crestworth Trading Ltd. Over a period of years they bought out the Walkers bit by bit. They had the rights to produce Astro Lamps and continued to manufacture in the same location, using almost the same staff, machinery and even some of the 1960s components. Craven Walker remained a consultant at Mathmos until his death helping particularly to improve the formula of the lamps. Astro lamp has been in continuous production for 60 years and has been handmade in Britain since 1963. and is still made today by Mathmos in
Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...
. The Mathmos lava lamp formula developed initially by Craven Walker in the 1960s and then improved with his help in the 1990s is still used. His lava lamp company Mathmos celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2013.


Naturism

Walker was a member of
Spielplatz Spielplatz (German for playground) is the longest-operating naturist resort in United Kingdom, and consists of located in the village of Bricket Wood, in the English county of Hertfordshire. As of 2021, the resort consists of 65 houses. History ...
naturist camp in the 1950s. who was routinely described as Naturism's Ambassador. He set up his own naturist resort at Matchams, near Ringwood, known as the Bournemouth and District Outdoor Club (BDOC). The camp closed in 2000 after Craven's death.


Film work

Craven combined film with naturism. In the 1950s/60s
nudity in film In film, nudity may be either graphic or suggestive, such as when a person appears to be naked but is covered by a sheet. Since the birth of film, depictions of any form of sexuality have been controversial, and in the case of most nude scene ...
was
taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
but he evaded censors by not showing
pubic hair Pubic hair is terminal body hair that is found in the genital area of adolescent and adult humans. The hair is located on and around the sex organs and sometimes at the top of the inside of the thighs. In the pubic region around the pubis bon ...
. As a result, he became a pioneer in this
genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other f ...
. Under the
pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...
Michael Keatering, Craven directed the naturist film '' Travelling Light'' (1959). This was the first naturist film to receive public release in the UK. Described as an underwater ballet, it was shot off
Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...
and released in 1960. He later produced '' Sunswept'' (1961) and ''
Eves on Skis ''Eves on Skis'' is a 1963 British naturist documentary from Edward Craven Walker. It was not a success at the box office.Simon Sheridan, ''Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema'', Titan Books 2011 p 48 References External ...
'' (1963). He lost a lot of his film archive when a tree fell on the garage in which it was stored while he was away at his apartment in Costa Natura, a naturist resort in Málaga, Spain.


Death

Toward the end of the 1990s, Craven suffered from
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
. He died in
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
in 2000, aged 82, and was buried in a small cemetery in the New Forest.


References


External links


Official website


Background story on the history of Craven Walker's invention at Oozing Goo.
BBC.co.uk - The Mystique of the Lava Lamp

Mathmos
*
FlowOfLava - A short Biography of an amazing inventor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Edward Craven 1918 births 2000 deaths British film directors 20th-century British inventors British naturists Deaths from cancer in England Social nudity advocates British people in British Malaya