It falls to few writers to spawn an entire entertainment industry. Ofiand, I can think of six: Mary Shelley with Frankenstein; Edgar Rice Burroughs with Tarzan of the Apes; Arthur Conan Doyle in the creation of Sherlock Holmes; J R R Tolkein; J K Rowling; and, of course, the subject of this biography – Bram Stoker – and his thirsty Transylvanian count.

Of the lasting popular impact of Stoker's alarming creation there can be no doubt. As I write this, a head- line in today's newspaper reads: 'Prince joins fight to save Dracula's old villages', above a story about Prince Charles supporting a campaign to save some ancient hamlets in Transylvania from