They came with droopy, curly or spectacular handlebar-style moustaches.

One man almost looked like the Belgian fictional detective Hercule Poirot.

Men with the most striking whiskers appeared at a mustachioed and bearded men’s convention at the weekend.

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The distinguished-looking gents from The Handlebar Club met at the Dover Marina Hotel for their annual meeting.

But it was also to celebrate the group’s 70th anniversary with a dinner.

Video: The Handlebar Club celebrates 70th Anniversary

It was formed on April 1, 1947 in the dressing room of the Windmill Theatre in London’s West End and has been meeting on the first Friday of every month ever since.

This gathering consisted of 104 people, 50 club members and the rest their partners and children.

Members of this group, which also visited Dover Castle, came from as far as Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.

Two came all the way from Seattle and San Franscisco.

Among the most famous men in history with handlebar moustaches have been the Wild West lawman Wyatt Earp and the hunter Buffalo Bill.

There was also the banker J.P. Morgan and the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose murder sparked the First World War.

For more pictures see this Wednesday's Dover Mercury.