Colin McIntyre (1927-2012)

[pelam123]

The founder and first editor of BBC'S Ceefax service has died at the age of 85. Ceefax was the world's first teletext news and information service and the template for all t.v. text services.The biggest thing I miss about the analogue switch-off is the loss of Ceefax (and Oracle years before on ITV). I received so much breaking news and info from Ceefax it was invaluable as both a news source and general info and always the first place to go when I wanted to seee what was going on in the world. So well done and thanks Colin, you were a real televison innovator.

[David Challinor]

I thank him too and have been happy to see so many respondents to his sad death LAMENTING the passing of ANALOGUE in favour of DIGITAL under the comments section for the BBC's obit for him ...I wonder if Tessa Jowell and chums who helped kill off the better quality analogue signal/technology (well to my mind at least, I'm already sick of, for example, seeing Pixals instead of the ripples of sea water) so we can have more commercial channels full of rubbish, will ever read these comments , below????

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36.
cynical-syd
13 Minutes ago

Ceefax was brilliant because we got exactly what the name suggests - the facts. There was no space available for opinions, bias and woffle.
Just wish I'd bought my Ceefax enabled set a few years earlier, and that it still worked!

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Comment number 35.
chris ivory
20 Minutes ago

A visionary, without question. I always found Page 150 useful - that was the page that displayed newsflashes in a small window on screen. Why this has not been taken on by the digital version really does beat me.

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Comment number 34.
Drunken Hobo
31 Minutes ago

I suppose I'm quite lucky to have grown up in the 90s. I've been young enough to be swept away with the internet & home computing craze, yet also have memories of pre-digital days such as video tapes & Ceefax.
I didn't realise it had been around since 1974 though, it must have been really cutting-edge at the time, I was still impressed with it in the 90s, when internet was slower than Morse Code.

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Comment number 33.
Steve
55 Minutes ago

Ceefax, well teletext, allowed me to sell so many holiday bargains that even Google ads can't rival.

x travel agent

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Comment number 32.
blogward
18th May 2012 - 23:53

C for Colin - Teletext kept me sane during a job in the 80's with HSBC: sore;y missed.

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Comment number 31.
mappamundiman
18th May 2012 - 23:43

Spent hours reading the football stats and letter to the editor.....Thank you.

The phones are now replicating this 'with the marketing' ...but no better..ahead of his generation,

Thanks again

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Comment number 30.
dkcov2003
18th May 2012 - 23:31

Ceefax amazed me when I first encountered when my dad showed it me at the old BBC Radio Sheffield office where he worked. Seemed like the future had arrived....or maybe not in hindsight.

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Comment number 29.
U14363675
18th May 2012 - 23:29

This is what I fail to understand.

TV in the UK is supposed to be (mostly) public service Broadcasting.
We loved Ceefax and to some extent the Commercial offerings teletext and C4 which had good stuff.

Not one of us was consulted about "Digital" nor the loss of the "text" service yet here we are losing it all, and for what?

Noting better imho, 99 channels of rubbish and repeats do not = quality

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Comment number 28.
FrankDoberman
18th May 2012 - 23:29

Do you know I used to read the telly more than watch it ? Says it all really ! I wouldn't be too sniffy at the ITV / Channel 4 services either , something for every insomniac like me !

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Comment number 27.
Wilbirion
18th May 2012 - 23:10

@24. Mooker
Laughable? You are clearly too young to remember a world without the internet.

It was a work of pure genius, doing so much with so little. A level of ingenuity which is sadly lacking with so many things today.

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Comment number 26.
U14363675
18th May 2012 - 23:02

Ceefax (and Teletext) were a lot better than any of the Digital services that are shoved at us now by a mile.

The Digital stuff barely works, and when it does it is often out of sync.. I hate it.

Bring us Ceefax for digital !

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Comment number 25.
JoldenGubilee
18th May 2012 - 22:56

I really miss Bamboozle which was on C4 text.
Thanks to Colin I had some entertainment when there was nothing else to watch on tv.

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Comment number 24.
Mooker
18th May 2012 - 22:40

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

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Comment number 23.
kev
18th May 2012 - 22:38

the demise of ceefax is a backward step in the digital age, the red button services arent as good as ceefax or the other teletext services were.
Like most good things that work - this is one thing that cant be beaten
its demise is the bad part of "modern" television.

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Comment number 22.
Mike Shepherd
18th May 2012 - 22:35

Ceefax was interest and entertaining. Then BBC News took it over. The quality plummeted and never recovered.

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Comment number 21.
Rufus McDufus
18th May 2012 - 22:34

Ceefax (& Telextext) were wonderful services. Very easy to navigate and news stories without enough space for any bias! Digital text just doesn't compare - we've taken a step backwards.

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Comment number 20.
JelloforPM
18th May 2012 - 22:32

Remember watching Ceefax cricket updates when England were in The West Indies, around the late 80's/early 90's. My Dad, a couple of Uncles and I glued to the Ceefax screen watching in disbelief as England skittled the Windies out.

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Comment number 19.
Paul H
18th May 2012 - 22:14

Ceefax beats most internet news services, and certainly the "red button" news, hands down. Easy to navigate, concise news, clear to read and, once you learned a few numbers, incredibly simple to navigate. We haven't exactly improved on it, have we? For all of us who got our daily fix of "Charivari" on 119, Mr McIntyre's passing is a sad day.

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Comment number 18.
Shoestring
18th May 2012 - 22:11

I loved Ceefax. It was the precursor to the internet for the masses and I always checked what it had to say, first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

Does anyone else remember the character 'Ceefax' in the BBC series 'Roughnecks'? He was so called because he knew everything - the best ally in a pub quiz.

I never knew Colin was the force behind it, but I thank him for making it happen.

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Comment number 17.

18th May 2012 - 22:08

As My Favourite Comedian would say..

May his God go with him.

Ceefax was brilliant it really was, and even despite the internet I miss it, it was simple straight forward intuitive, all the other channels copied it but never surpassed it.

As for this Digital rubbish they cannot get it right, so I simply gave up, the internet is useless as far as a Ceefax type service, no comparison.

[Nick Dando]

Here's the obituary from the BBC News site.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18123992

Nick