Harold Styan OBE (4 March 1895 – 30 October 1982) was an English gymnast and physical culturist in the music halls in his youth, a physical training instructor and drill sergeant in the First World War, and a sports teacher and youth worker in Harrogate, Yorkshire, for the rest of his life.

[4] In 1921, Styan was as yet unmarried and living with his widowed mother and his brother Harry at 9 Providence Terrace, Harrogate, and working on his own account at various addresses.

He was employed as a page boy at Harrogate's Grand Opera House at the same time,[8][9] and made his stage debut as a gymnast at 16.

[10][7] He enlisted in 1914 in the 1st West Yorks, and his physical skills earned him promotion; he was trained at Aldershot in Swedish gymnastics.

[8] In 1921 Styan was running a school of gymnastics in the Harrogate area,[11] including classes for men and women at the Belvedere YMCA.

[11] In 1926 he was presented with "a memento of his work in training the Claro division tug-of-war team to win numerous Yorkshire competitions", according to The Leeds Mercury.

Another pupil from the same school, Jack Ogden, later related a tale that, "well into his old age [Styan] was attacked by two yobs on the Stray and laid both of them out flat".