DRACULA and vampire folklore will be the subject of a symposium organised by a University of Hertfordshire academic.

The discussion will feature a trip to Golders Green Crematorium today (Friday) to pay respects to Bram Stoker, Dracula’s creator, on the centenary of his death.

Dr Sam George, who leads the Open Graves, Open Minds: Vampires and the Undead in Modern Culture Research Project at the Hatfield-based uni will be joined at the urn by members of the Stoker family for speeches and toasts on the April 2012, a hundred years exactly after Stoker’s death in 1912.

The event will also see Dr George and Dr Bill Hughes introduce their book, ‘Open Graves, Open Minds: Representations of Vampires from the Enlightenment to the Present Day’.