Hairy Dan

Hairy Dan
DC Thomson comic strip character(s)
Publication information
Stars in	Hairy Dan
Creator(s)	Basil Blackaller
Other contributors	Bill Richie Bill McLoughlin
First appearance
The Beano	Issue 1 (30 July 1938)
The Beezer	1972
Sparky	1965
Last appearance
The Beano	Issue 297 (16 November 1946)
The Beezer	1981

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]

Story summary

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]

Subsequent appearances

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.

Similar Strips

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.

References

1. Moonie, George, ed. (30 July 1938). "Hairy Dan". The Beano Comic. No. 1. Illustrated by Bill Blackaller. D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. (published 26 July 1938).
2. "Hairy Dan". The Beano Comic. No. 297. Illustrated by Bill Blackaller. D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. (published 14 November 1946). 16 November 1946.
3. Moonie, George, ed. (1940). "Hairy Dan". Beano Book. D.C. Thompson & Co. Ltd.
4. Kerr, Euan, ed. (2 August 2003). "Ball Boy". The Beano. No. 3185. DC Thomson (published 31 July 2003). ISSN 0262-2467. EAN 9770262246133 (31).
5. The Book of the Beezer by Ray Moore. CJ Publications. 1997. p. 36.
6. "Adventures in Pictures: From Sparky to Starblazer and Beyond". Down the Tubes. 27 June 2008. Archived from the original on 8 September 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2021. Bill [McLoughlin]: I did "The Numskulls" on a regular basis and enjoyed that. "Little Mo" and "Hairy Dan" were others I wrote as well.
7. Dandy Monster Comic No. 1. Dundee, Scotland: D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. in conjunction with Aurum Press Ltd. 2006. pp. 40, 84. ISBN 1-84513-217-3.