Frank Hampson was born in 1918 in Audenshaw, England. He began his career at age 13, contributing artwork to "Meccano Magazine", a promotional journal for the popular toy. During the Second World War Hampson served in Britain's Royal Army Service Corps, and in 1946 began a 3 year course at the Southport School of Arts and Crafts. Hampson obtained a variety of freelance graphic assignments at that time, some of which were for the Reverend Marcus Morris who edited a Christian magazine, "The Anvil". Reverend Morris was concerned about the character of contemporary comic books, most of which were imported from America. In 1949 he decided to start an 'uplifting' comic magazine with Frank Hampson as the lead illustrator. "Eagle" was the title of the new magazine, and the main feature was the two-page "Dan Dare" strip.

Like most European comics, Eagle was a weekly publication with several stories per issue, but only a couple of pages devoted to each strip. Other regular strips were PC49 (John Worsley), Harris Tweed (John Ryan), Grandpa (Peter Probyn) and Professor Meek (Ionicus.) Hampson was the driving force in Eagle's art department and set up a studio system for the magazine, gathering a team of six artists to work on the Dan Dare strip, with himself as principal artist, and scriptwriter until the mid-'50's. Hampson also created a series based on the life of Christ, "The Path of Courage", and "The Commanders", a story celebrating the wartime activities of Winston Churchill and Bernard Law Montgomery.

Although Hampson had created Dan Dare and was responsible for most of the artwork through the first 10 years, the copyright was held by the publishers, and when they were bought out Hampson had difficulty working with the new owners. He finally left the strip in 1960, and was succeeded by artist Frank Bellamy. Despite several efforts he was never again to work in comics and worked as an illustrator until his death by a stroke in July 1985. He was most influenced by American science fiction artist Chesley Bonestell.

written by Andy Etris 2000