The Legacy Of CEEFAX | A Ground-Breaking Service

On the 23rd September 1974, CEEFAX was launched as the worlds first TELETEXT service. Now, 50 YEARS to the day, the long defunct system is still fondly remembered and celebrated. But why is that? What was so groundbreaking about Ceefax? Why has its legacy persisted for 50 years, despite being off the air for the last 12...?
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[@RemnantCult]

If there's one thing I got to say as someone who is west of the Atlantic in America: the folks in the UK seemed to really embrace the computer age and predict its importance in our lives. Things like the BBC encouraging computer education for the masses and the introduction of Ceefax demonstrates this commitment to making sure everyone is not only equipped for the future, but already at the cutting edge of information technology. That's what seriously strikes me. Until the early 2000s, a majority of people were still getting their latest info from newspapers. I love newspapers and print media, but this just illustrates how far ahead ceefax and teletext was. We never embraced it for some reason.

[@abzhuofficial]

One thing I also liked about Ceefax/Teletext is how its news articles that are posted on there are easy to read by 2024 standards, in the age of TikTok/Douyin, KZbin, and "fast food"-like media

[@GeoNeilUK]

One thing that also irritated me about TV programmes that featured computer education was they would always put gaming. This was when the UK had a fairly burgeoning computer and video games industry. Ocean could have been Ubisoft. What also helped with Teletext in the UK compared to the US is that Ceefax was provided free of charge by the BBC, just as Oracle and 4-Tel were also provided free of charge and the hardware to access Teletext ended up incorporated into the TVs themselves. By the 1990s, it was pretty much impossible to get a TV that wasn't Teletext enabled. From what I understand, in the USA, Teletext was never incorporated into American sets, meaning it needed an extra set top box and was a subscription service.

[@UnbelievableEricthegiraffe]

On certain pages, you could read the Austrian state broadcaster ORF Equivalent of Ceefax, I didn't imagine that dud I ,??.

[@furonguy42]

As a kid, I did have quite the fascination with Ceefax. I just found it immensely cool that the TV could produce these whole extra pages of information over the regular four channels we had, and that although it often looked static, was up to date to the minute! Even as the internet became more readily available to me, Ceefax remained intriguing specifically because it was on the television and used the same broadcast frequencies instead of internet technology. Although Ceefax itself may be gone, I appreciate that even today, the Closed Captions on BBC iPlayer still use that colourful Ceefax aesthetic.

[@FatNorthernBigot]

I didn't see the description for this video. Then, I pressed "Reveal" 😂 The BBC used to broadcast some Ceefax pages on normal telly, in the afternoon. I would then look up the same page on actual Ceefax, and the quality was so much better.😊

[@matthewlawrenson3628]

The school I attended back in 1988 had an in-house Teletext system. Everyone who did IT was taught to make pages for it. I can still make them today. Who says the tech education of 36 years ago is useless and obsolete?

[@michaelturner4457]

When I was still at school in 1979 I'd sometimes pop into the local Radio Rentals shop on the way home, and they'd let me see and use the Ceefax and Oracle on the TVs. Our family rented from Radio Rentals, and eventually got our own teletext TV in late 80s when it was more affordable.

[@Nostalgic80s-nd3qb]

If you remember Ceefax growing up, respect. Here’s to Ceefax.👍👌👍

[@annemariestones3984]

I loved playing Bambozzle on the channel 4 version! My mum would not learn how to use the Internet, so used to read the news from the ITV version until she died in 2018. (I believe that was running until 2019)..

[@centrevezgaming4862]

Yes I also had hours of fun playing it

[@plan7a]

There was a Bamboozle app for a while, on the (Apple) App Store, it wasn't too bad; it's no longer available though.

[@itskdog]

I forgot that there used to be replacements for Teletext on digital TV, as well. These days you don't hear about the red button as much except to point to iPlayer, and Sky have removed the Text button from their remotes

[@theoldham535]

It also had the magical 'Mix' button which meant you could quickly check the big Wednesday night footie scores whilst your folks could carry on watching Dallas.

[@katashworth41]

I loved Bamboozle on C4, but I am a quiz obsessive. I don’t think I’ll ever forget favourite pages. 360 for motorsport news, 501 for entertainment.

[@DavidDoom95]

Happy 50th Anniversary to Ceefax!

[@AdamMartyn]

🥳🥳🥳

[@GeoNeilUK]

Also, you could argue that not only did the internet kill off Ceefax, but also Ceefax’s replacement, the Red Button. Having said that, it would have been nice if they’d found a way to keep old Teletext going after the digital switchover. From what I understand from Oddity Archive, Teletext never took off in the USA because it was never incorporated into TVs, it was always a subscription service that needed a sepatate set top box. Home video recordings aren’t amazing at archiving Teletext pages, I think you’d need several recordings just to archive one page.

[@kilodeltaeight]

It absolutely makes sense that VHS would capture Ceefax pages: The data was transmitted as part of the Vertical Blanking Interval, which was a short bit of time at the end of each video frame where there was no picture. This was originally intended to give the electron beam time to move back to the top of the CRT so it could start drawing the next frame, but engineers quickly realized this brief idle period in the signal was incredibly valuable: Closed Captioning, Teletext like Ceefax, even data like video games or copy protection (bleh) for VHS Movies could be snuck in that space. You could actually see the VBI, if you wanted: on old analog TVs where you could manually tune the sync rate, moving the image slightly out of sync would show a black bar. That's the VBI, and if there was Closed Captioning or other data embedded in it, you'd also see lots of white flashing dots - which was the data! Since VHS encoded the entire signal, the VBI was captured as well - allowing you to play back data from the tape. A lot of basic VHS-to-Digital transfers captured the VBI too, and on those digital copies where it shows at the top of the frame you can likewise capture the data.

[@chrislee6650]

I was reading teletext from VHS tapes back in the day, but the line resolution of VHS meant it was all over the place, however when I got a S-VHS video recorder with its extra resolution, that did a remarkable job of storing the teletext data. Given modern eletronics and computers with the easy ability to just keep reading the data from older VHS tapes as it cycles around continually, it should be easily possible to restore it from standard VHS tapes.

[@CulturePhilter]

Used to play Bamboozel all the time as a kid. And the kids section of one of the teletext services used to do a Christmas advent calendar you could “open” every day of December.

[@JennyAnnTea]

Fantastic as always Adam! I used to love playing Bamboozle on Oracle. We didn’t have a teletext tv, but my mum worked at the house of someone who had one so if I wasn’t at school I used to go with her and sit watching Ceefax and Oracle for hours!

[@Saving7Prodz]

Happy Birthday Ceefax!

[@williamevans9426]

I was a little obsessed with Ceefax and remember their annual Advent Calendar, with the 'windows' accessed via the remote's 'reveal' button. (P.S. I was ten at the time - boy, do I feel old right now!)

[@mgthestrange9098]

I’d totally forgotten about the advent calendar, oh the excitement of pressing reveal!

[@joannedj1]

I also loved the Advent calendar!

[@rogerdarthwell5393]

An excellent video Adam! The anniversary of Ceefax was not complete without your video!

[@1697djh]

The Retro Computer Museum in Leicester has a version of Ceefax running over the internet, hooked up to a Teletext compatible TV set. Quite a cool implementation using a Raspberry Pi.

[@MiddayDolomite]

Excellent. That was a... Reveal-ing video.

[@njm1971nyc]

We had a very nice Sony Trinitron tv in the early 80s, but my dad went for the non-teletext model. The remote control still had all the teletext functions on it though, which was very frustrating, to me, that they didn't do anything!! 😄 Every tv we had after that - always Sony - came with text as standard. When I bought an S-VHS deck around 1988, the teletext worked almost perfectly on recorded tapes. On regular VHS, not so much, but it was partially usable, on a good recording.

[@evonne_o]

Happy birthday Ceefax 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉. Enjoy your holiday Adam.

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you!

[@mathieuleader8601]

I always remember how clear and colourful the weather forecasts looked on CEEFAX

[@jamesgriffin7962]

My uncle and I would always play Bamboozled on the channel 4 Ceefax and I also remember the music on the BBC version that would come on before BBC 2 would wake up in the morning

[@michaelturner4457]

I believe the teletext information has been recovered from SVHS tapes. Because that had enough bandwidth to record the teletext data relatively intact. I remember back sometimes in the 80s or 90s we had standard VHS at home, and I tried pressing the text button when playing a tape, but nothing much appeared in teletext mode. SVHS had a greater bandwidth and thus a much sharper picture than VHS.

[@plan7a]

I'd guess you'd get better results with S-VHS, but it was possible to get some results, albeit not perfect. I guess it also depended on how clear the signal was picked up when recording onto a tape. (Also how strong the signal was originally).

[@dickoon]

If you hadn't said that, I was going to!

[@centrevezgaming4862]

Such nostalgia the service it was and snickers are doing an collab with Morrisons to sell limited edition marathon bars

[@matthewpayton]

Happy 50th birthday Ceefax

[@loureviews]

On the Ceefax on VHS - I clearly remember seeing pages 'captured' when you paused a recording sometimes, and being fascinated by it. Perhaps a quirk of some recorders. I certainly remember the 1980s-90s peak of Ceefax (and Oracle) and yes, it was a major thing back then before the internet. It was cutting edge even when you had to wait for the right page to roll around again!

[@williamevans9426]

'Anyone remember 'VideoPlus' and the codes printed in the TV guides?

[@loureviews]

@@williamevans9426 absolutely!

[@starmersbarber]

An excellent piece. Cheers!

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you!

[@b8nnytez]

there was NOTHING like watching a footie game via Ceefax refreshing, wanting your team to be one or two 😂 more than the last update

[@ecwnikos]

i hope you have loads of fun on youre holiday.

[@IsaacKelsall]

If I’m correct, Ceefax started on 23 September 1974. I’m not sure but my father was 2 when it launched.

[@savagetop10s63]

The ceefax video you made was how I found your channel. I typed ceefax into youtube to see clips of it.

[@ynyslochtyn]

Ceefax was great and ITV's Teletext. The text service which replaced it was way inferior and they're even trying to ditch that!

[@debbiemckeown7626]

I still used it and teletext even after I had the internet, my first jobs was working match days at Celtic Park and checked what shifts I would be working on Cefax because I knew if it was a home game I’d be working.

[@thehappyfather2384]

Brill video once again ❤️ remember my mum finding here holidays on there … fiunny we watched the report last night and my 16/ son was howling with laughter and my 19 year old said “ so you remember this mum and dad “ ( howling with her brother 😅 ) their dad soon shut them up “ yea we do but watch year did it finish “ our son soon realised “ oh my days me and sister were both alive “ 😂😂😂😂😂

[@jasonhawkins4528]

Great video I remember games on teletext etc as well

[@plan7a]

Daily stories like "Turner, The Worm" and a lot more also were great!

[@jasonhawkins4528]

@@plan7a Yes I can only remember the worm one but it wa great before the internet

[@homogenized]

I'm American, I grew up in the 90s, I had cable... and yeah, you're right when you say teletext didn't really take off here. Don't know why! It's really cool! I've been fascinated by Ceefax for a while now!

[@stanwbaker]

We had NBCi and CBS Extracast in the 80s, which most affiliates couldn't be bothered with. Of course, cable viewers had similar, linear only, feeds on underutilized channels with a local radio station audio underneath. In Chicago and perhaps other markets something called Night Owl was a linear, multi-topic service that ran all night in the opening years of 24 hour broadcasting. Pre-teen me found these mesmerizing. I strongly recommend looking up Infochammel which is a parody and tribute to those days.

[@MostlyLoveOfMusic]

better times....

[@mpa-vr]

Never experienced Ceefax before. :(

[@jordancampbell6775]

I always enjoy watching Ceefax as a kid, before CBeebies comes on.

[@helenaskew4851]

I watched it for stuff I was into at the time

[@tsimeone]

I remember teletext/ceefax very well. 90s were fun and made some friends via Penpal on channel 4 teletext haha

[@JohnR_ytbe]

So many many memories! Though "several people" hard of hearing? Try 12 million in the UK.

[@Tom_murray89]

I loved Ceefax and teletext

[@AdamMartyn]

True classic staples of TV! 📺

[@Tom_murray89]

@@AdamMartyn definitely looking at a tv station’s website or an app isn’t the same

[@njm1971nyc]

Ceefax & Oracle 😊

[@NevermoreIQuoth]

Sometimes when bored as a kid i would randomly put in a number to see what page i could find. Once we got Sky and the internet in 2000-2001 i never bothered with it again.

[@hayleywaalen2612]

It looks like a computer within a TV.

[@njm1971nyc]

It was! A very, VERY basic one, but yeah.

[@illarterate]

Teletext lives! Did you see the Teletext @50 documentary? (Self-promo cuz I edited it, oops...)

[@AdamMartyn]

Drop a link and I'll give it a watch!

[@terryo2168]

The only way ro watch Wimbledon play football! 😀😀😀

[@mathieuleader8601]

reminds me of the old BBC computers from back in the day

[@mgthestrange9098]

Enjoy your holiday Adam, did you book it on Teletext? ⛱️

[@BBCinWales2020l]

🎉🎉🎉

[@danpretty970]

First to see this video about this incredible service

[@tigerbread78]

Does anyone remember the channel teletext's Digitizer games pages?

[@plan7a]

Absolutely!

[@Eric_Hunt194]

Yes, and the "Planet Sound" music pages too. There's a couple of albums I bought off the back of reviews on there, and there's absolutely no information about one of the artists online today. They even had a "discussion" page where you could send in messages by email or text, which was basically a very slow messageboard!

[@plan7a]

As well as CEEFAX I loved ORACLE and on Channel 4 4-Tel. (There it was two services in one!). Channel 5 also had a limited version of Teletext (or a different relative), and Teletext on ITV/Channel 4 was by nowhere as good, I felt.

[@Eric_Hunt194]

Channel 4's music pages wiped the floor with the BBC's equivalent. During the 1990s and 2000s both versions had a "message board" page where you could send in messages via email or text, and hope they got "printed" in the next few days. At one point there was a bit of a rivalry between the teams behind each channel's Teletext Music Section.

[@joannedj1]

Happy 50th Anniversary, Ceefax! Many fond memories of using the service, plus the equivalent on ITV and Channel 4. I think we, as a family, got our first teletext tv in 1984 and I was always looking things up on it, from the Top 40 singles charts to Premier League latest scores, and medal tables when the Olympics were on. Oh, and we can’t forget the legendary Advent calendars each December in the run-up to Christmas where you could see what pixellated festive item was behind the window by pressing the Reveal button on your remote! (If there can be a Ceefax archive of old pages, I’d like football news from 26th November 1992 please - when the news broke about Eric Cantona moving to Old Trafford. Ta!)

[@marcusblackwell2372]

Was CEEFAX a British thing, or was it international?

[@WeAreSTV1_Inc]

3 first comments 💀 anyway, great video

[@AdamMartyn]

Thank you!

[@ElectroStorm_Gaming]

1st!

[@NicolasPetrosLanning]

SUPER CLICKBAITY LOOKING TITLE WRITING!!!

[@AdamMartyn]

AND YET HERE YOU ARE!!!

[@NicolasPetrosLanning]

@@AdamMartyn WHAAT THE FUCK

[@TellyMadness_]

where's the clickbait Nicolas? enlighten us

[@UKCoastwalk]

We used to book our ski holidays using ceefax, you had to be quick though noting what offers where available. If you missed the details you'd have to wait for 80 odd pages to scroll around!

[@bytehigh]

Ceefax never sold holidays, Oracle and Teletext Ltd did.

[@CainSouthern2112]

I remember watching pages from ceefax before breakfast also there's a live stream on KZbin called pages from ceefax

[@Videogamearcadeplayer]

Ceefax is on KZbin with it being on a live stream called pages from Ceefax

[@rich_edwards79]

I use it quite a lot. As a child of the 70s, who was fascinated by it as a kid, I find the music relaxing and nostalgic. I have an old Raspberry Pi that I plan on setting up with with VBit and feeding into my old Panasonic plasma (which has a teletext decoder) when I get round to it.

[@victoriaharbach5968]

happy 50th birthday ceefax nice cake that cake will be good for worlds biggest coffee morning this Friday 😀🎂🫖☕📺

[@lisahadaway6794]

I'm the first one. 0:00