FREE E-SUPPLEMENT: From Bowie to Bielsa – YEP 135’s birthday is showcase of iconic Leeds coverage
The Yorkshire Evening Post is celebrating its 135th birthday with a supplement that doesn’t just look back — it sweeps readers into the very soul of Leeds.
This isn’t just a special edition. It’s a time machine.
And you can now read it for free online!
FREE E-SUPPLEMENT: YEP 135 - the Yorkshire Evening Post 24 page-special supplement is now live, see below, as a free digital page-turning edition. For the best reader experience, on a desktop, click the three dots at the bottom right of it and choose full screen, or open in a new window - CLICK HERE.
READ TODAY’S YEP: Explore the latest news, sport and features from the Yorkshire Evening Post at www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk — and join us at the start of our next 135 years by taking out a paper, digital or multimedia subscription - CLICK HERE.
This YEP 135 supplement lifts the curtain on the stories, scandals, heartbreaks and triumphs that have shaped a city and the paper that has chronicled it every step of the way.
From David Bowie shimmering under Leeds’ stage lights to Marcelo Bielsa igniting a footballing revolution at Elland Road, the supplement captures 135 years of the moments and icons that shaped a city.
Across the pages, the YEP’s past and present collide in a swirl of memory, theatre and grit. Journalists share the moments that made them fall in love with storytelling; civic leaders reveal how the paper has stood as Leeds’ conscience, applauding progress one day and demanding answers the next.
The YEP’s campaigning heart beats loudly throughout, revisiting the investigations that rattled power, exposed injustice and galvanised ordinary people into extraordinary action.
Turn another page and Leeds bursts into full technicolour. Veteran photographer Steve Riding opens his treasure chest of rock ’n’ roll history, transporting readers to the nights David Bowie played at the Leeds Rollarena, Springsteen set Roundhay Park alight, Tina Turner tore down Batley Variety Club, and Madonna brought global pop stardom to LS8.
These images aren’t just photographs — they’re electric flashes of cultural lightning that once struck Leeds.
Then there are the front pages — iconic, urgent, unforgettable. Queen Victoria’s death. The Titanic. Dam-busting raids. Kennedy. 9/11. Leeds United’s title win. Each one a snapshot of a world changing in real time, captured in black ink and raw emotion by the YEP.
And, of course, the sporting theatre that defines this city is here in full roar.
Decades of Leeds United drama unfold withe memories of Bremner and Cruyff squaring up under floodlights; Vinnie Jones playing ringmaster on the final day of the season; the tears of relegation; the ecstasy of promotion; and the wild, joyous chaos of trophy parades that turned the city centre gold and white.
Marcelo Bielsa’s transformational leadership of the modern LUFC era is explored in depth.
Rugby fans can relive Leeds Rhinos’ greatest epics — the last-second tries, the Wembley glory, the nights when Headingley felt like the centre of the universe.
Threaded through the supplement are tributes from icons, entertainers, business leaders and sporting legends — voices that grew up with the paper, sparred with it, relied on it, and celebrate it still.
This is Leeds laid bare: passionate, bruised, brilliant, unbreakable. This is the Yorkshire Evening Post in full voice: campaigning, chronicling, capturing life as it is and as we wish it to be. And this anniversary edition invites readers to dive in, flip through the decades, and rediscover the magic of a newspaper that has become part of the city’s DNA.
Open the e-supplement, turn the first page, and let 135 years of Leeds come rushing back to life.
Laura Collins, Digital Publisher of the Yorkshire Evening post, writes: “I’ll never forget the first time I drove through Leeds City Centre as a bright-eyed student heading to the big city and seeing the Yorkshire Evening Post clock tower rise into view.
“Quietly commanding the skyline, it has borne witness to decades of headlines – from stunning transformations unfolding below through to local triumphs and challenges that have stitched our city’s communities together.
“It is more than a building – it’s an institution, a living witness to the trials and tribulations of life in Leeds and a keeper of secrets and stories gathered over the generations.
“I had always wanted to be a journalist and I knew there and then as my dad navigated his way through the city centre that I wanted to work for the YEP.
“After stepping into the newsroom over 18 years ago, I knew I had found my home. Just as many journalists have done before me, I wanted to honour the stories that make Leeds such a special place to live in.
“To witness, to record and to give communities a voice across the city with the same dedication as my predecessors – a roll call that includes the likes of Barbara Taylor Bradford, Keith Waterhouse and Mark Knopfler to name a few.
“When it came to life 135 years ago, the paper promised readers, ‘the prompt and accurate publication of news – news of all kinds – is the main business of the Yorkshire Evening Post’.
“ And we’ve held true to the pledge made more than a century ago. Our acclaimed campaigns, investigations and fundraising drives – Boots For Bairns, the Armley Asbestos Tragedy and the Half and Half Appeal – helped to bring about real change across the city.
“ As misinformation continues to rise we have had to defend our journalism like never before. It reminds me that fighting for what is right is never optional, it is the DNA of the YEP.
“ Just as the clock tower has stood firm through decades of change, the YEP will continue to stand for what is right and give a voice to Leeds for many more decades to come.”