Hairy Dan

Hairy Dan was a British comic strip series originally published in the magazineThe Beano. It first appeared in Beano issue 1 on 30 July 1938 and ran until issue 297, dated 16 November 1946. The original artist was Basil Blackaller.

The strip revolved around Hairy Dan, an old man whose long white beard usually saved the day. In the first strip, Dan used his beard as a sail to win a boat race. A later story (from the 1940 Beano Book) saw Dan climb inside a horse skin and use his beard as a tail to win a "horse tail contest". The character later appeared for a short time in Sparky in 1965. 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.[1] He also appeared in the Beano's 65th anniversary edition in a strip appearing alongside Ball Boy.[2]

From 1972 until 1981 "Hairy Dan" appeared in the magazine The Beezer, where it was drawn and written by Bill Ritchie.