Cast your mind back exactly 27 years to August 11, 1999.
As the Moon moved between the Earth and the Sun during the UK’s last major solar eclipse, routine life in Leeds came to a complete standstill.
Office workers flooded out of desks and into Park Square, shoppers paused on Victoria Quarter pavements, and crowds gathered outside Leeds Town Hall with protective glasses and makeshift pinhole projectors to catch a glimpse of the sky.
Now, as the city prepares for tomorrow evening’s (August 12) dramatic 91% solar eclipse, we have raided the Yorkshire Evening Post archives to look back at how the city experienced the phenomenon nearly three decades ago - after enquiring about your memories of that fateful day.
Here are some classic archive photos captured by YEP photographer Dan Oxtoby and Mark Bickerdale on that memorable morning in August 1999.
1. Leeds Eclipse - 1999
Office workers and members of the public down tools and gather in Park Square, Leeds, to watch the rare astronomical display unfold.
2. Leeds Eclipse - 1999
The Victorian architecture of Leeds Town Hall framed against the changing light as the Moon passes across the Sun during the August 11, 1999 solar eclipse.
3. Leeds Eclipse - 1999
The crescent Sun shines through cloud cover over Leeds as the Moon’s shadow reaches near-total coverage during the 1999 event.
4. Leeds Eclipse - 1999
The eclipse visible alongside the silhouetted roofline and spires of Leeds city centre during the mid-morning darkness of August 11, 1999.
5. Leeds Eclipse - 1999
Shoppers and workers in Leeds city centre stop on the pavement and point toward the sky as the eclipse reaches its peak.
6. Leeds Eclipse - 1999
Equipped with protective solar eclipse viewing glasses, crowds in Park Square look up as the Sun is obscured over West Yorkshire in 1999.