It’s 1974 and there are only three television channels to watch. This is about to change as on 23rd September the BBC Teletext Service went live with 30 pages of information. Its name refers to how viewers ‘see facts’ and was the first of its kind in the world. At the time of its launch there were not many tv sets that were capable of displaying the content but as upgraded televisions became available the service and its audience grew to 22 million weekly users at its most popular. Each Ceefax page had its own number, allowing users to navigate their way to individual pages using the keys on their TV remote control. It may seem very clunky to today’s younger generation but it was revolutionary in its own pre-Internet way. It eventually became taken over by digital technology and was closed in 2012.
However, there is a place where it is still alive and celebrates its 45th anniversary this year. It attracts 15% of Sweden’s population on a daily basis.
Find out more @
There is a nostalgic look back at the history of Ceefax @
