"Page the Oracle"

That used to be the slogan of ITV's teletext service, which has now passed the way of all things non-digital. I can't help wondering how unnecessary a loss such a useful and entertaining information service this is. In its heyday, there would be frequent occasions when I would turn on the television just to look at the Ceefax/Oracle pages rather than the programmes.

I can remember first looking at Oracle 30 years ago in 1979, when TV strikes were about, but in between the periods off-air we occasionally got snatches of this exciting new ASCII coloured screen with a "Reveal" button for various answers to questions or (more often than not) jokes - back in the days of the new fangled "Teletext Television Set". Nowadays that term itself is now default, and defunct. The digital box and the in-built digital channels will soon rule the roost, though they have their own hang-ups too, and have generally not been as reliable as Teletext was.