# Henry Irving
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Sir henry irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), born John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility (supervision of sets, lighting, direction, casting, as well as playing the leading roles) for season after season at the West End’s Lyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as representative of English classical theatre. In 1895 he became the first actor to be awarded a knighthood, indicating full acceptance into the higher circles of British society.
Irving is widely acknowledged to be one of the inspirations for Count Dracula, the title character of the 1897 novel Dracula whose author, Bram Stoker, was business manager of the theatre.
Why Actors Were Social Outcasts Until Recently
For most of Western history, acting was a low-status profession often linked with vagrancy, moral suspicion, and limited respectability. This episode traces how that reputation formed—from Restoration England and Victorian theater culture through early Hollywood—and why the public association betwe…
The 19th Century Drunk Driver
London cab driver George Smith became the first person ever arrested for drunk driving after slamming his cab into a building on 10th September, 1897. He was fined 20 shillings (around £130 in today's money) - but was not banned from the road.
The vehicle he was driving only had a top speed of 12 …
Ep. 167 Getting Hollyweird in the Savannah Theater with Ghost Coast Paranormal
This Halloween, Hollyweird Paranormal is heading to one of America’s most haunted cities , Savannah, Georgia, for an after-hours investigation inside the historic Savannah Theatre.
Opened in 1818, this legendary theatre has survived more than 200 years of performances, devastating fires, a hurrica…
The First Knight of the Stage
Bradford may have got his death. But London got his life. Meet Sir Henry Irving, the first actor to be knighted and the man who made the Lyceum Theatre the centre of London’s dramatic world.
The Holiday That Created Dracula, Part 1: Bram Stoker in Whitby
Why did a man on holiday in Whitby go home with a monster in his pocket?
In the summer of 1890, Bram Stoker, a Dublin civil servant turned manager of London’s Lyceum Theatre, took a break in Whitby. He arrived with a few pages of notes and a villain called Count Wampyr. He went home with the bones …
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