Is it true the Aga was invented in Sweden

A.� The Aga was invented in 1929 by Nobel-prize winning Swedish physicist Gustaf Dalen (1869-1937). He was convalescing at home from an accident involving gas cylinders, when he noticed how much time his wife spent caring for their wood burning stove. He was inspired to create a cooker that would make the ranges of the day more economic and efficient to use.

The Aga cooker works on the blue flame principle, ie. smokeless fuel means efficient heating. Sales of the cooker soared almost as soon as it was sold and it proved particularly effective at heating draughty country houses in the UK. Users are renowned for their obsessiveness of thr Aga and claim they have a multitude of uses, as well as cooking and heating.

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Q.� Where are Agas made now

A.� The Swedes ceased production of Agas in the late 1950s. By this time, they had been converted to burn wood and run on electricity. When electric ovens came on the scene, much of Europe lost interest in the Aga, although they have remained as popular as ever in Britain, and today the 7,000 sold each year are solely produced in Shropshire. The Aga/Rayburn company is based at Ketley, Telford, and the castings are made at the Coalbrookdale Foundry on the same site where Abraham Darby first smelt iron using coke instead of charcoal in 1709.�The first Aga arrived in the UK in 1929, and by 1932, they were being manufactured in Slough.

Today they are exported all over the world, from America and Australia to South Africa and Japan.

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Q.� How have they changed

A.� Agas have wavered very little from their original design, although there are now a huge number of ranges, from two-oven electric stoves, to giant six-oven, oil-powered stoves in virtually every colour under the sun. Agas were made in cream only until around 1956, and cream remains the most popular choice for most customers.

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By Katharine MacColl