Matthew Eagles has been fascinated by the yellow glow of SOX streetlights since childhood; it is the fact that they give off an initial red light before slowly changing through shades of orange and yellow as they warm up that he finds particularly fascinating.  Even the house where he was born was lit by a Thorn Beta 5 35-watt SOX lantern. As a five-year-old, he would sneak out of bed on a summer’s evening to watch the last streetlight as it switched on further down the road. Years later, this developed into an extended period of collecting data on local SOX streetlights at lighting-up time, which Matthew fitted in around other interests, and the culmination of this was a 160-page research document compiled in 2010.

Alongside this, Matthew has built up a collection of SOX streetlights, including another Thorn Beta 5 mounted on a swan-neck steel column which is on display inside his house. In 2005 he started his first website on SOX lighting, having gathered information from experts elsewhere, and circulated the book “Why Is He Interested In Streetlighting?” among other enthusiasts, which in 2021 was further developed and published as “Why SOX Lights?” (currently out of print). In 2018, Matthew created a 30-minute programme for YouTube on SOX lighting, and also conducted a UK-wide survey to find out the extent of SOX lighting in use at the time. Matthew has also given talks and demonstrations at science festivals, and has always given support to the use of SOX where the opportunity arises.