Austin Churton Fairman, who used the name Churton Fairman but was more widely known under the pseudonym Mike Raven in the 1960s and early 1970s, was a British radio disc jockey, actor, sculptor, sheep farmer, writer, TV presenter and producer, ballet dancer, flamenco guitarist and photographer.
14 Facts About Mike Raven
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Mike Raven's mother died in the United States when he was a child, after catching an infection from him, and he was brought up by three aunts, who sent him to Aldenham School.
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Mike Raven went up to Magdalen College, Oxford, but was called up for wartime service in the Royal Ulster Rifles, where he served as a lieutenant.
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Mike Raven wrote a well-regarded travel book, Another Spain, published in 1952, about Spain's undiscovered countryside and in particular Aurelia's home village of Quintanarraya.
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Mike Raven acted on stage in Moscow in the 1950s with John Gielgud, and occasionally played flamenco guitar music in a Spanish restaurant in London.
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At that point, he began using the name Mike Raven, and presented shows which focused on his love of American blues, rhythm and blues and soul music, of which he owned a large record collection.
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The Mike Raven Blues Show debuted on the first day of Radio 1, and was a regular feature, usually on Sunday evenings, until November 1971, eventually expanding to a two-hour slot.
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Mike Raven was regarded as a leading authority on the subject, and the show was highly influential in promoting the music of African American culture within the UK, being described as "essential listening for every self-respecting blues fan".
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Mike Raven first appeared as Count Karnstein in the Hammer horror film Lust for a Vampire but suffered the indignity of having his voice re-dubbed.
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Mike Raven then moved to the Amicus production company for I, Monster, and worked with producer Tom Parkinson on Crucible of Terror, in which he played a mad sculptor.
11.
Mike Raven appeared on the television music show 2 G's and the Pop People, performing a version of "Monster Mash".
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Mike Raven reverted to using his real name in 1974, and began to produce carvings in wood and granite, combining religious and erotic imagery.
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Mike Raven determined not to sell any work until he had enough for an exhibition, but was initially thwarted by the unexpected deaths of two of his sponsors, the critic Peter Fuller and then the artist Christina Hoare.
14.
Mike Raven's first show of sculptures was eventually arranged in Cornwall, but shortly before it was due to open the sponsors pulled out on the grounds that some of the works were in bad taste.