Famous imposters

Bram Stoker (1847–1912) was born in Dublin, a sickly child confined to bed until he was seven, who grew into a university athlete. He worked as a civil servant and an unpaid theatre critic, until his admiration for the actor Henry Irving led him to London, where for twenty-seven years he managed Irving's Lyceum Theatre.

In his spare time he wrote novels and stories, and after years of research into folklore and Eastern Europe published Dracula in 1897. It was only moderately successful in his lifetime, but it gave the modern world its image of the vampire. His widow published Dracula's Guest after his death.