Valentine Augustus Walker (14 Feb 1890 - 18 Mar 1969) (also known as Val Walker and Val Enson) was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 magician, escape artist

Escapology

For the Jessica Mauboy song, see Inescapable.Escapology is the practice of escaping from restraints or other traps. Escapologists escape from handcuffs, straitjackets, cages, coffins, steel boxes, barrels, bags, burning buildings, fish-tanks and other perils, often in combination.-History:The art...

 and illusion designer. He was born in Moseley, Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

 to Joseph Walker. a landscape gardener and his wife Emma, worked as an electrical apparatus maker, later serving in the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 and was billed as the "Wizard of the Navy". Walker is credited as the designer of the Radium Girl

Radium Girl

The Radium Girl is a stage illusion of the classic type involving a female assistant in a large box and is probably best categorised as a penetration or restoration-type illusion. Its origins and history are much less well documented than those of many other "big box" illusions but some sources...

illusion. He is also said to have been the designer of the John Bull Straitjacket, which was created for a challenge to Houdini in 1926. He was married in 1913 to Ethel Dora Harris, the daughter of Thomas Daniel Harris and his wife Emma Ellson.

Further reading

• Tad Ware, "The Radium Girl", in Magicol Magazine, pub by Magic Collectors' Association, (date unknown)
• Val Walker, written recollections published in Abracadabra magazine in 1968 (full details unavailable)

External links

• A picture from the State Library of Victoria, Australia, showing Val Walker in naval uniform.
• Discussions about Val Walker on the Genii forum website