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Hairy Dan

Hairy Dan was a British comic strip character by Basil Blackaller originally published in the magazine The Beano Comic in the comic strip of the same name. It first appeared in issue 1 on 30 July 1938 and ran until issue 297.^[1][2]

Hairy Dan is an old man with a floor-length beard. His stories were about how this beard would save the day. Notable examples include issue 1 when Dan used his beard as a sail to win a boat race,^[1] and the first Beano Book when he pretended it was a horse's tail for a "horse tail contest".^[3]

To celebrate The Beano's 65th anniversary, Dan cameoed in a Ball Boy strip.^[4]

The character later appeared for a short time in Sparky in 1965. From 1972 until 1981, Hairy Dan - Football Fan appeared in The Beezer, where it was drawn by Bill Ritchie,^[5] and written by Bill McLoughlin.^[6] This strip differed from the original in that the character was unbearded and focused on football related humour. The Hairy in the title referring to the character's long scruffy hair.

A similar strip appeared in the first Dandy Monster Comic entitled Old Beaver's Brainwaves and also featured a man with a large white beard and using it to save the day.^[7]

The Dandy also featured a character called Whiskery Dick who was similar to Hairy Dan except where Dan had a long beard, Whiskery Dick had a large moustache.

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