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The gathering celebrated a cornucopia of the most extravagant facial hair from across the UK and around the world – and their fans.

An event I must support – being someone who almost didn’t appear in his high school yearbook until I relented and trimmed my sideburns.

Fortunately, that sort of stupidity has diminished in the job market in this land – over time. I have not been absent a beard since 1979.