Pictures: Festive sparkle, then and now

CAPTION: TONIGHT is switch-on night in Adderley Street, Cape Town. The Christmas lights will go on to signal, for many, the true start of the festive season. The budget for lights was lower this year than it has been in previous years. The theme is The Circus

CAPTION: TONIGHT is switch-on night in Adderley Street, Cape Town. The Christmas lights will go on to signal, for many, the true start of the festive season. The budget for lights was lower this year than it has been in previous years. The theme is The Circus

CAPE TOWN, WESTERN CAPE, 12/19/2013, Adderly Street in Cape Town city centre comes alive at night with Christmas Lights on every corner. Picture: Adrian de Kock

CAPTION: SEA LIFE IN CITY LIGHTS. Christmas came to Cape Town last night when the lights in Adderlet Street were officially turned on. A sneak preview was had on Tuesday night when the Electricity Department switched on the light for a short while. Although the testing time was brief, a photographer vwas there to capture this scene of seals, starfish, sea horses and sea gulls which reflect the oceanic theme this year. The lights will be on every night from now till Parliament opens in January. DATE: 09 December 1971

Adderley Street 1969

NO CAPTION date: 15 DECEMBER 1989

CAPTION: It was an outer space Father Christmas thet zoomed to earth in his spaceship today as the commercial side to the festive season got under way. There to meet him at a city department store was an alien robot, and all the excited earthlings. DATE: 24 November 1984

CAPTION: The Christmas decorations at Cavedish Square are, as usual, spectacular DATE: December 7 1981