Desperate Dan Desperate Dan Desperate Dan is a wild west character in the British comic magazine "The Dandy" and has become their mascot. He made his appearance in the first issue which was dated 4 December 1937. He is apparently the world's strongest man, able to lift a cow with one hand. The pillow of his (reinforced) bed is filled with building rubble and his beard is so tough he shaves with a blowtorch. The character was created by Dudley D. Watkins, originally as an outlaw or ‘desperado’ (hence his name), but evolved into a more sympathetic type, using his strength to
The Boy Who Swam With Piranhas The Boy Who Swam With Piranhas The Boy Who Swam With Piranhas is a 2012 book by David Almond. It is about a boy, Stanley, who runs away from home and joins the circus. A "BookTrust" review of "The Boy Who Swam with Piranhas" wrote "Full of surreal, fairy-tale touches, this is an joyful and warm story of self-discovery, perfectly accompanied by the quirky illustrations by Oliver Jeffers." and "The Guardian" wrote "Almond has produced a circus ride of a story, with thrills and spills and all the fun of the fair." "Publishers Weekly" called it "Bold, imaginative, and funny"