LAVA LAMP inventor Craven Walker has died - just two weeks after he was reunited with his childhood sweetheart.

Mr Walker's emotional meeting with former girlfriend Pearl Corney took place at his home in Hurn Road, Ringwood.

It was the first time they had seen each other in more than 60 years.

The reunion was held just days after Mr Walker, 82, had appealed to Daily Echo readers to help him get in touch with his first love.

He and Pearl first met at a dance in Southampton in the 1930s.

The couple were inseparable for two or three years but lost touch when Mr Walker was posted abroard by his employers, British American Tobacco.

They got together again earlier this month after Pearl was shown the Echo article in which Mr Walker said he wanted to trace her.

The pair pledged to stay in touch, but their newly rekindled friendship proved to be short-lived.

Mr Walker, who had cancer, died at his home earlier this week.

Pearl, 79, learned of his death in a telephone call from his fourth wife Sue.

Pearl said: "When Craven and I were young we used to go out all over the place and had the most wonderful time. They were very happy days for both of us."

Mr Walker became a household name in the 1960s after he invented the Astra lamp - later renamed the lava lamp by the Americans.

It quickly became the one piece of furniture no fashion-conscious couple wanted to be without.

Sales slumped in the 1980s, but the hypnotic lamps, with their exotic colours and ever-changing formations, are again proving popular.

Mr Walker's business success was eclipsed only by his status as a well-known naturist.

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