Edward Craven Walker

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Edward Craven Walker (1918 – August 15, 2000) Born in Singapore, is mainly remembered as being the inventor of the psychedelic Astro Lamp, or Lava Lamp as it is known in America.

Craven was also an accomplished pilot and during WWII flew a DeHavilland Mosquito over Germany taking photographs of enemy positions. Despite the distinct danger of flying deep into enemy territory with no lights and armed only with a 3D camera, Craven successfully made it through the war. He met his first wife, Marjorie Bevan Jones, during WWII at one of the Air Force bases where she was serving with the WAAF. He continued flying fixed wing aircraft right the way through his life.

After the end of the war Craven set about developing an idea he had had in a country pub. The pub had on display a contraption that fascinated Craven and he vowed to expand on the concept. It had been made by one of the pubs old regulars who had since departed and was a one-off homemade device consisting of an egg-timer and a lightbulb. While the device itself was fairly rudimentary, Craven saw its potential and set about perfecting it. He set up a lab in a small shed where he mixed togethar various ingredients in bottles of different shapes and sizes, looking for the ideal solution. He discovered the best container for the job was a Lucozade bottle and it is that shape that has defined the shape of Astro Lamps up until the present day. The actual chemical mixture Craven kept a secret to his grave and that is in part why modern lamps behave slightly different to his Crestworth originals.

Crestworth was the company Craven set up to mass produce the lamps, and it operated out of a couple of small buildings on an industrial estate near Bournemouth for over 50 years, supplying the world with its infamous lamps. In fact, when the lamps enjoyed a modern revival, the company responsible, Mathmos, continued to manufacture the lamps on this same spot, using almost the same staff, that Craven had originally used all those years ago until they eventually moved the production line abroad in 2003.

The lamps were a massive success through the 60's, becoming symbolic of psychedelia, and virtually every household had one. Craven said of its mesmerizing motions, "If you buy my lamp, you won't need drugs... I think it will always be popular. It's like the cycle of life. It grows, breaks up, falls down and then starts all over again". However, in the 70's Craven fell victim to an investigation by the BBC which claimed that some of the chemicals Craven used in his secret concoction were extremely toxic and dangerous. The Astro Lamp's success was destroyed instantly and its sales went into decline. Through the high-flying 80's the Astro Lamp was considered extremely unfashionable and Crestworth pretty much closed down. However, in the early 90's, a young couple once again saw the potential of the Lamps and began manufacturing and selling them successfully. Cressida Granger and David Mulley approached Craven and came to an agreement whereby their company, Mathmos, would merge with a reformed Crestworth giving them the right to produce the 'original' Astro Lamps.

However, toward the end of the decade Craven began to get ill. Over the next few years he battled with Cancer, defeating it once only for it to reappear. He died August 15 at Matchams in Ringwood, Hampshire from the Cancer and was buried in a small cemetery in the New Forest. He was 82.

Edward Craven Walker was not just responsible for the Astro Lamp. He was one of the first dedicated Naturists, setting up his own camp at Matchams in Hampshire. The club thrived and became one of the largest of its kind in the UK. However, Craven's passion for naturism created unrest in his private life and he divorced his first wife Marjorie, with whom he had had 3 children, when she refused to conform to his lifestyle. Craven consistently failed in this area of his life and was married 3 times in total. He was also extremely interested in film and he combined this with his love of naturism. In the 50's and 60's nudity on film was very taboo and virtually unheard of but he managed to evade the censors by not showing any pubic hair. As a result he became a pioneer in this early genre of film. Under the pseudonym Michael Keatering, Craven directed the landmark naturist film Travelling Light (also known as Traveling Light (1959). This was the first naturist film to receive public release in the UK. Described as an underwater ballet, this film was shot off Corsica and was released in 1960. He later produced Sunswept (1961) and Eves on Skis (1963).

Craven raised controversy when he attempted to ban obese individuals from his naturist resort, arguing that Naturism was based on promoting a healthy spiritual and physical life, and obesity defied both ideals.