Some saw Ian Craft as a trailblazer, pushing at the boundaries of fertility treatment; others regarded him as a maverick, taking advantage of people desperate to have a baby. For many who had been turned away by the NHS and other medical practitioners, he was their final hope, the doctor of last resort. He may have been expensive, but he was usually willing to try — and often he was successful.
The ebullient Craft, who saw his role as a creative one bringing happiness to other people, was present at the dawn of the IVF era. After the work of Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe led to the birth of the first test-tube baby in 1978, Craft produced the first test-tube twins and the first