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 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.