Created and presented by ventriloquist and artist
Francis Coudrill, Hank was a part
of 50's BBC TV's Whirligig magazine programme.
Coudrill used puppetry and mechanical card animation
to present Hank's good-natured adventures. The cowboy's
friends and foes included Mexican Pete, Big Chief Dirty Face,
Little He-He (son of Big Chief Laughing Gas
and Minnie Ha-Ha!) Freddie Parrot, nephew Cassie and of course Hank's
horse Silver King
Hank also featured in TV Comic. The 1956 splash page
included here, perhaps drawn by Tony Hart,
includes Richard Hearne's Mr Pastry, Muffin The Mule,
penguins Esk and Moe, and Sooty.
