Teletext links

All the teletext stuff I could find compiled into one large, but very handy categorised list. Happy telly-texting.

General teletext resources

• The long-awaited Teletext Archive collects digitised versions of old teletext services from off-air domestic video tapes.
• Teletext Then and Now: The Teletext Museum collects teletext pages of historical significance, not just from its native United Kingdom but worldwide also.
• The Teletext Preservation Project and its sister site Viewdata.org.uk aim to hunt down and archive as many pages as is humanly –and indeed robotically– possible.
• The Viewdata and Teletext Frame Database is a browsable catalogue of archived services that aims to become the largest of its kind.
• The Teletext Mailing List remains an ‘underground’ source of teletext-related chat, even in this pre-post-teletext era. RIP a legend
• The Teletext Facebook Group is a prime teletext news source for social networkers of webland. It presently has over 1.4k members.
• The Teletext Archaeologist, AKA Jason Robertson, is recovering teletext recordings from old video tapes. His website contains more information on how teletext recovery works.

International (Non-English Language)

• Tekst-tv.dk, a Danish teletext fansite run by Thomas Boevith. [Danish]

Audio/video

• The Teletextr Podcast includes panels from Teletext Fest events and interviews with prominent members of the artisan teletext movement.
• Carl Attrill’s Teletext People interview series is a social history of the medium, collecting stories from those who have helped shape its creation, continuation and community.
• Here is a series of YouTube playlists for teletext documentaries, presentations and news stories.

Section/service specific

• Super Page 58 is a tribute to Teletext Ltd’s infamous ‘Digitiser’, with over a decade’s worth of Mr Biffo archives.
• New Mailbox is an archive of the Paramount Comedy Mailbox service that also collects episodes of the teletext soap ‘Park Avenue’.
• The Vegetable Revolution is effectively a successor to Channel 4’s chaotic ‘Mega Zine’, which could be described as a teletext message board. Up until 2012, the new site reprinted letters from the original teletext service.
• The Zine Museum, curated by Andrew Nile, collects all known recoveries of the Mega Zine.

Teletext festivals/projects

• The International Teletext Art Festival (Inactive since 2015) has been running since 2012, and has broadcast on services in countries such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Finland.
• The 2006 VBI Microtel project was a service broadcast on Dutch teletext for the 35th International Film Festival in Rotterdam. During its all-too-brief lifespan, it exhibited numerous artists’ teletext designs.
• The Teletext Block Party: teletext art on the road. Has hosted workshops and ‘txt parties’ at Tate Britain, St Helens Library and the Superbyte Festival amongst others. Note: Block Party information is posted here at teletextart.co.uk these days.
• The Museum of Teletext Art showcases prominent pieces of teletext design from 2012 onwards. It has been featured on YLE Text in Finland and ARD Text in Germany.
• Teletext40 was the world’s first(?) exclusively online teletext service, created to celebrate 40 years of the medium. In its two-year lifespan, it broadcast hundreds of pages created with the accompanying Teletext40 Editor (now known as Edit-TF). Two ‘Pages From Ceefax’ style videos, known as ‘Teletext40 On View’, were produced.
• Teefax is the pioneering VBIT Pi teletext service, but it can also be viewed in a web browser. Within ten minutes, you too can be running a new teletext service on your old television.
• Nathan Dane’s NMPTV reboots the BBC’s Pages From Ceefax show with up-to-date code pulling data from the BBC website, and even has a YouTube livestream.

Online viewers

• The ZXNet Online Teletext Viewer displays numerous user-generated teletext services such as Teefax, Chunky Fringe Text and the TVArk SPARK service, all in a television-style emulator.

Current teletext services

• See here for a full list of analogue teletext services in operation.

Teletext artists

See here for a more comprehensive list of teletext artist biographies.

• Dan Farrimond (that’s me) has been exhibited on teletext services across Europe… and the UK.
• Ian ‘Swirv’ Irving designed for Ceefax and 4-Tel, creating cartoon character 4T The Dog.
• Steve Horsley is a former employee of Teletext Ltd. who now creates more than just pixel horses.
• Raquel Meyers works with text mode formats such as PETSCII and teletext.
• Sarah Burgess creates colourful teletext illustrations and cartoons.
• Here is a list of all teletext artists featured in events documented by this site

Articles on teletext design

• Steve Horsley talks about his ARMS teletext art
• Dan Farrimond interview with Computer Arts (Internet Archive)
• Dan Farrimond interview with Mistigris
• Teletext Design piece by Peter Fagan
• An introduction to teletext art by Claire Voon @ Hyperallergic

Teletext-related blogs

• Digitiser2000 is the new home of ex-Teletext writer Mr Biffo. He occasionally posts about his experiences working with teletext. See also: Games of My Years: The Digitiser Story.
• Chipflip is blog-label about low res crafts such as teletext and text art, while Text-Mode, curated by Goto80 and Raquel Meyers, compiles examples of such art.
• Jason Robertson’s Teletext Blog documents pages captured from VHS and Betamax recordings.
• S-Config has written an informative blog post on the revival of teletext, with links to useful resources on teletext art.

Other useful resources

• The Micro Arts Group site includes a detailed timeline on the history of computer art.

Last updated 14 July 2024.