The thorny issue of Mr Crepsley's BIRTHDAY raised its head on Twitter last week!!

A fan with the user handle @1Larten posted a screenshot from a Darren Shan fandom site, listing his birth date as being the 8th of January, 1820.

Another fan with the handle of Festival Of The Undead (I've shared lots of their memes) replied with a screenshot of a post of mine from last year, where I stated (tongue firmly in cheek) that Mr Crepsley's birthday actually fell on April 1st every year -- i.e. April Fool's Day!!!

Now, I'm guessing the date listed on the fandom site might have originated with the Cirque Du Freak movie -- I have a vague recollection of the date appearing at some point briefly during the film, though it's been a long time since I've watched it, so maybe I'm wrong about that, and the creator of the fandom page simply plucked a random date out of thin air. Either way, NOTHING in the movie should be considered canon -- as I've said often over the years, I did enjoy the movie, but ONLY ON ITS OWN TERMS -- it wasn't faithful to my books, and chopped and changed my rules and characters at whim. The best thing is to consider it an artefact from an alternate universe, and whether you love it or loathe it, don't mix it up with the books, because it exists completely separately to them.

As for my own post -- as I said, it was tongue in cheek, and I never settled on an actual birth date for Mr Crepsley. I doubt he would even know what it was, given the time period that he was born into, and that people in his social classing probably wouldn't have paid too much attention to dates, and that he was orphaned so early in life. In truth, if we were to cast a spell and conjure up his spirit, to put the question to him now, I imagine he would roll his eyes, snort, and witheringly tell us that birthdays are only of any interest to humans, not vampires, and to stop bothering him with such nonsense!!! :-)

In short, although I'll continue to good-naturedly claim that April 1st is his birthday (on those years when I remember it, or when a fan reminds me), it can be any day of the year that any reader wishes, so feel free to "celebrate" it any day you like!!

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