In the end, The Sun played it straight and simply carried the picture of Saddam with the words "Ladies and gentlemen... we got him", supplied by consul for Iraq Paul Bremmer as he announced to the world the capture of former dictator Saddam Hussein.
Inside it devoted 14 pages to the capture of Saddam, with coverage of reaction and the celebrations that followed.
News International sister paper The Times carried the headline "Saddam captured", along with a large picture of the weary dictator followed by seven pages of coverage.
Below the front page picture The Times carried the "Ace of Spades" shot of Saddam and had a little fun with its headline: "Ace in the hole faces trial for his life".
The Independent was more sedate, putting levity aside. It simply carried its picture alongside a front-page byline story from its long-time Middle East writer Robert Fisk.
"So they got Saddam at last. Unkempt, his tired eyes betraying defeat; even the $750,000 in cash found in his hole in the ground demeaned him," Fisk wrote.
"We got him" went across the front of the Daily Telegraph with a rather restrained smaller picture on the broadsheet leader, with its front page story given plenty of space.
"Survival has always been Saddam's primary motivation. Even now he will be desperately hoping that he can cut some form of deal with the coalition that will save him from the indignity of the firing squad," the Telegraph said.
The Guardian front-page headline spelled out Saddam's future with the words "Saddam prisoner", accompanied by a story detailing the demands that Iraqis were making for a trial inside Iraq.
The Daily Mirror, which for months has criticised the war and the post-war situation, seemed to embrace the news in true tabloid style and was the only paper to use the "Ace of Spades" image large on its front page with the familiar image of Saddam replaced by the grey bearded one beamed around the world yesterday.
Of all the front pages, only the Daily Star felt it could not rely on the world's biggest story to sell papers -- it had a front page split in two, half devoted to model Jordan and the other half to Saddam's picture and the baying headline "Hang him".
The Daily Express is obviously gearing up for life under the stewardship of Daily Star editor Peter Hill -- under its "Ladies and gentlemen... we got him" headline and full-page picture, it dangles the question "Now should he die?".
Elsewhere, the other mid-market and tabloids thought the story was big enough that readers would still want to dwell on the humiliation of a despot.
Rival Daily Mail told it as it was, with the full-page photo of Saddam and the headline "Saddam, mighty dictator caught like a rat in a hole".
The FT carried multiple pictures with small shots showing the demeaning medical examination running above its main picture and the headline, "The tyrant is a prisoner". A second story on the front page said it all "Saddam betrayed by his own people".
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