20 April-Bram Stoker (Dracula)

Bram Stoker was the author of Dracula. His mother was a daughter of Eliza O’Donnell of the O’Donnell family of Newport House in County Mayo. Her name was Charlotte Matilda Blake Thornley who lived in Sligo during the cholera outbreak of 1832 which claimed thousands of lives. It is said that the vivid stories she told about the horrors of the cholera epidemic may have influenced the writings of her son Bram.

Charlotte married Abraham Stoker, a civil servant, in Dublin in 1844. They set up home at 15 Marino Crescent, Clontarf in Dublin where Abraham (Bram) their third child of seven was born on November 8th 1847. As a child he suffered from unknown illnesses but when he started school at age seven he made a full recovery. He entered Trinity College Dublin in 1864. At University he became involved in athletics and served as President of the University Philosophical Society. He graduated with a BA honours degree in mathematics in 1870 and worked in the civil service in Dublin for almost ten years. During his time in the civil service he frequently acted as theatre critic for the Dublin Mail. He also visited Collooney in County Sligo which he described as the ‘most unbusy place in Ireland’.

In 1878 he married Florence Balcombe who lived at 1 Marino Crescent. Stoker and his wife moved to London in 1879 where he became manager for the actor Henry Irving and also manager of the Lyceum Theatre. As Irving’s manager Stoker travelled widely and was a frequent visitor to the United States where he met both President McKinley and President Roosevelt. However there is no record that he ever visited Eastern Europe. Stoker wrote 12 novels, the most famous of which is the Gothic horror novel Dracula which was published on May 26th 1897. The book was a success following publication and the story, which has been the subject of several theatre and film productions, continues to be popular to this day. In later years he worked as a freelance writer for the Daily Telegraph in England.

Bram Stoker died in London at the age of 64 in the year 1912 On This Day.

Bram Stoker photo

 

Photo by jcorrius

Bram Stoker photo

Photo by squeezeomatic

03 April-Tramp Press

Tramp Press is a successful independent publishing company based in Dublin, Ireland. The company was founded by Lisa Coen from Cross in County Mayo and Sarah Davis-Goff from Dublin. Tramp Press describes itself as being: ‘committed to publishing only the best and most deserving books, to encourage, support and maintain Ireland’s literary talent, and to enrich the lives of readers’. To date Tramp Press has published best-sellers such as: Spill Simmer Falter Wither, A Struggle for Fame, Dubliners 100,  Flight and Solar Bones. In March 2015 Tramp Press won the Arts category of the 2015 David Manley Emerging Entrepreneur Awards and in 2104 was runner-up in Image magazine’s Businesswoman of the Year Award. The company has successfully established a distribution network in Ireland the Great Britain and the rest of the world.

Flight by Oonna Frawley was the first book launched by Tramp Press in the year 2014 On This Day

Sarah and Lisa

01 April-Apple Inc.

Apple Inc. which was formerly known as Apple Computer Inc. was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne 39 years ago. However Wayne sold his share of the company to Jobs and Wozniak for $800. He sold his share before the company was incorporated in January 1977.

Apple is now one of the largest information technology companies in the world. It employs over 80,000 people in 15 countries around the world. The company manufactures hardware products such as the Mac and the iPhone and software products such as the iOS operating systems and the iTunes media browser.

Steve Jobs came to Ireland in December 1980 when Apple announced that it was to establish a facility to manufacture Apple Computers in Cork city. Today the company has over 4,000 employees in Ireland and Apple recently announced an investment of €850 million in the establishment of a data centre in Athenry in County Galway.

Apple Inc., which was first based in the garage of Steve Jobs parents’ home, has its headquarters in Cupertino, California, USA.

Apple Computer Inc. was founded in the year 1976 On This Day.

Apple Inc.. Paris by studio photos C sabinpaul. Thanks for + 2.184.280 on 2013-10-14 13:07:27

Steve Jobs photo

Steve Jobs died October 5th 2011

 

Photo by tenz1225