Hairy Dan was a comic strip in the UK comic The Beano. It first appeared in Beano issue 1, dated 30 July 1938 and ran until issue 297, dated 16 November 1946. The strip revolved around Hairy Dan, an old man whose long white beard usually saved the day. In the very 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. He also appeared in the Beano's 65th anniversary edition in a strip appearing alongside Ball Boy.