Memories of teletext

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Does anyone remember using teletext regularly, in the 80s and 90s? In a way, it was a forerunner to having the internet at home, and being able to look things up quickly. I think I used it more than I actually watched TV (I was a teenager then). I used to love the jokes, 'Zine, and Backchat, where people (usually teenagers) could send in comments; and if you were lucky, yours would be screened. When you were able to send in comments by email, instead of by phone, post or fax, this was a novelty. "Ask permission to use the phone!" was the stern warning that came with this.

A hot topic on Backchat was the Teletubbies, then a brand new programme, which lots of teenagers liked to watch. I remember one comment on Backchat, which I think sums up the whole of modern social media: "I love reading Backchat, and watching you all making ridiculous comments about stupid things. Keep up the good work, everybody, it's so funny!"

Well it’s Saturday today so of course it would be time for Bamboozle

I used to love Teletext in the 80s. I once had a picture shown on 4-Tel! I remember the advent calendar on Oracle at Christmas used to seem really exciting. There was a 'soap opera' for a while as well which I used to follow avidly.

I rather lost touch with it in the 90s as I went off to university and discovered the newly dawning world of the internet. I didn't have a telly at university and then when I left university and started work, I only had a small portable telly donated by my parents with no teletext.

I don't think anything could ever recapture the excitement of Teletext: people brought up in the era of smart TVs could never know the joy!

I got some cracking holidays off teletext.

loved it!

I used to constantly type in 616. It showed you what was on the 5 channels now and then what was on next. Bloody handy I tell you, it was a little box that would sit in the bottom of the screen.

Bamboozle! I used to love that. There was a kind of agony aunt page on it somewhere as well that I used to read.

I can't believe we actually used to look for holidays on it.

We used the weather page obsessively too.

As soon as my DH came home from work he would put teletext on to catch up on news, you had to read it quick before it went onto the next page. We would also do the Bamboozle quiz. I lived near to my work and colleagues wanting to book holidays would come round lunchtime to go through the holiday section, take phone numbers and then book. You could get some great last minute deals.

My brother & I used to love Bamber Boozler!

I booked a holiday on a Greek island for £149 inc flights on Ceefax.

I'm a bit younger but remember using Teletext in the late 90's/early 00's as a teen. I used to love 'Zine! Nobody I know remembers it, you're the first person I've ever heard mention it @scalt.

Didn't the readers of 'Zine (who were cool/alternative types) hate the readers of Backchat because they were too normal or conventional?

Got some cracking holidays off teletext. The trouble was waiting for the page to come back round again

An uncle got a big new telly in the ‘80s, great big fat box as they were then. But my word he was proud of the teletext and ceefax. Used to show it off all the time, like he was working for NASA or something.

Apart from some basic news, listings and Bamboozle, the thing I remember most on teletext was the endless pages of holiday and flight offers.

It all seems so quaint now.

I liked the "meanest man in Britain" page.

It ranged from really useful tip on storing food to make it last longer to advice such as "you need some flowers for your wife? Nip through your local cemetery on the way home!"

Also pre internet ceefax and teletext were the only place to see breaking news quickly

I can remember the holidays, wasn’t there a pixelated palm tree on the page?

Bamboozle was my absolute favourite though.

It was '888' for subtitles. Much quicker than loading them on a Smart TV.

Oh yes! 'Zine vs Backchat I'd forgotten about that! I used to love reading those pages. There was also something called The Vibe I think? Maybe to do with music?

Yes!

Me too!

£350 all inclusive including flights to Cancun for a week - yes please!

Bamboozle was the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread title.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboozle!

Teletext was great! I found a pen-pal on there. We’re still friends today.

It was so exciting to be able to read the news without having to wait until tomorrow’s paper was delivered!

Wasn't there some crazy soap opera that updated daily?

My mother would go on a couple of Teletext holidays each year.

Anyone else remember Club 440 (teenage page?) I loved the agony aunt and Bamboozle

We booked our honeymoon after finding it on Teletext in 1999. It was 1.5k for 2 weeks in Kenya, a night in the Hilton Nairobi, a week safari staying all over including Treetops and then a week at White Sands in Mombassa. All trips and food. It cost as much as the entire wedding but was 50% off as should have been 3k.

I was just about to say that I booked a holiday to Rhodes off teletext. We went to Falaraki, 3 of us aged 18-20. We stayed in the most dodgy of places. We got burgled, and the holiday insurance we had through teletext basically covered nothing. It was awful. Apart from that we had a great time 😂