For the 22nd window of our heritage advent calendar we take a brief look at past Christmas Eve editions of the Yorkshire Evening Post (YEP) to see how they ushered in the festivities over the last century…

We start with the Yorkshire Evening Post front page from December 24 1996 – Christmas Eve, twenty five-years ago. It’s sad to say, but there really wasn’t much festive cheer in this edition of the YEP…this brief mention in the banner headline is the closest readers got to a seasonal message.

Twenty five-years before that (1971 – an unbelievable fifty-years ago) we get a little more of the Christmas spirit, with “a real Christmas special…a complete paper to last you through four fun-filled days.” – plus a quirky story about a man who sleeps in a stable, and a child already full of the joys of Christmas…

Then, seventy five-years ago (1946), we get a real Christmas feast – with an in-depth weather forecast for the big day and a lovely Merry Christmas message to the paper’s readers.

Finally, one hundred-years ago (1921), we find nothing but adverts on the front page. Inside the paper, however, we find a heart-warming photograph of two cheeky little Yorkshire chappies ahead of the biggest day of the year for little ‘uns.

In stark contrast to that image above, we find the black humour of the YEP’s Christmas message to their readers with some rather un-seasonal news headlines directly beneath (is this a deliberate juxtaposition, or not? We can’t really tell!) – a sentiment we can all share in: Merry Christmas to you…despite everything!

See you tomorrow for day 23 and hopefully a return to some festive cheer.