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TV Whirl - Celebrating 20 Purple Years

Site updated daily (May 2016)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
JA
james-2001
Someone gave him a disc with some TV pres material on a few years back, but now he can't find it Wink
TE
tesandco Founding member
Someone gave him a disc with some TV pres material on a few years back, but now he can't find it Wink


That's because you stuck it all on a recordable DVD rather than a real video tape. I refer you to Kryten on this matter...

Kryten: They're Digital Versatile Discs, sir. DVDs for short. They were very popular in the early part of the 21st century before they died out and were replaced with what we use now.
Lister: Oh, you mean videos?
Kryten: Precisely. Back then no one knew that the human race were utterly incapable of putting the DVDs back in their cases. Case in point: over 2 trillion went missing in just over 20 years. Videos are just too big to lose.
MrDexB, Warbler and Colorband gave kudos
JA
james-2001
Probably the only funny thing in that episode Laughing
TE
tesandco Founding member
Teletext - New Feature - 18/10/2016

Over the years I've always tried to put something a little different on the site rather than being 'Just Another Pres Site'. Therefore today sees the launch of something I've been working on for the last 2 months - the original teletext broadcasts. Next to a growing number of clips now as well as the play button there's now this button:-

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Press this on your remote to call up a gallery of the teletext broadcast accompanying that particular broadcast recovered from the original VHS (yes, the sharper among you might now see where the precise TX date on all recent clips came from too). I've tried to select a mix of the news, weather and topical reviews to provide a real insight to the events of that particular era.

The first launch goes live with services from ITV Tyne Tees Oracle in 1991 and everyone's favourite Channel 3 North East in 1997. Although I've got about 20 collections awaiting recovery work sat on the harddrive so there should be a lot more coming over the following weeks.


Oracle - November 1991
From the Oracle text service comes a very topical set of pages given the current Brexit situation, where the main news story of the day is the debate around the Maastricht treaty - a treaty which would later pave the way for the then EC to become the EU. There were even calls for a referendum with the British public on the issue then.

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Teletext Ltd/Channel 3 North East - February 1997
A combined service from Teletext Ltd and the Channel 3 North East ancillary text service, letting everyone know what transmitters are going to be off the air, as well as news reporting upon plans to privatise the London Underground. We all know how that worked out for them...

https://www.tvwhirl.co.uk

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Whilst the intention is to link the text broadcasts to the accompanying video, you can always jump to the text services directly via the latest updates page on the site too:- https://www.tvwhirl.co.uk/site/Latest-Updates
:-(
A former member
Kudos to that man! Just spent a little time reminiscing over Teletext - in both senses of the word. Although I was 10 before Oracle came to a close, we didn't have a teletext TV until after Teletext itself was launched, and this is the one I remember most.
JA
JAS84
Nice! Interesting seeing that 1997 BBC One schedule - no Homes Under the Hammer or Bargain Hunt in sight, instead we have Kilroy and Going For a Song. Also, Wednesday lottery draw at 8pm instead of after the news, news still at 9 not 10, and Points of View midweek.

68 days later

TE
tesandco Founding member
*
MERRY CHRISTMAS

Yes, I've been slipping in a last bunch of mostly festive updates to the site just in time for Christmas this past week or so.

Videos
* Some special retro tweaked idents that popped up on E4 a few weeks ago to promote the launch of their newest US import Timeless
* Bill Steel providing In Vision continuity for Tyne Tees on Boxing Day 1992
* A bunch of festive adverts from the same year, from arty ads for British Airways to less arty ones for the News of the World

* * *

Teletext - Out with the old, In with the New
* A series of new additions to the teletext on the site, covering the closing days of the Oracle service, and the early months of the new Teletext on 3 service.
* There are Oracle sequences from December 24th and 26th 1992, with various editorial members of staff wishing people festive greetings in between many of them signing off for a final time. And there's a lot of reminiscing about the history of television during 'The Oracle Years'.
* There are also two sequences from early and late February 1993 from Teletext on 3, with a further update from March 1993 to follow soon. The first 3 months of the new service saw a lot of changes and experimenting, with separate sequences of pages only shown at various times of the day such as evening primetime or late night for adults. As well as services more associated with Channel 4 like Bamboozled and Digitiser seeing their debut on the third button service instead. Oh... and don't forget that ITV Plus ancillary service in the 600s, which will definitely, certainly, without a doubt be launching very soon... just as soon as the ITV companies agree on a name!

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All of them can be easily found from this page - https://www.tvwhirl.co.uk/site/latest-updates/

And with that all that remains is to wish you a Merry Christmas from everyone on the TV Whirl team. Which pretty much means me by the way! Wink
Last edited by tesandco on 24 December 2016 10:24pm - 2 times in total
JA
JAS84
Thanks for that, those Teletext updates are interesting. Now this page made me laugh! Bottom 10 TV shows. Just someone's opinion, but the fact Jim'll Fix It is there is very much deserved in hindsight! Ditto Eldorado, which got a swift axing.
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JA
james-2001
Maybe I should send you a few of the old tapes I've still got to see if you can get any teletext from them.
TE
tesandco Founding member
JAS84 posted:
Thanks for that, those Teletext updates are interesting. Now this page made me laugh! Bottom 10 TV shows. Just someone's opinion, but the fact Jim'll Fix It is there is very much deserved in hindsight! Ditto Eldorado, which got a swift axing.


Just nobody tell A Sibley of Nottinghamshire about this axing...

*


Maybe I should send you a few of the old tapes I've still got to see if you can get any teletext from them.


I probably could get something off it. But would you really trust me not to lose the tapes?

Indeed with the amazing overflowing tape filing system I have here, part of me is expecting to find the entire TVS archive any day now buried underneath a stack of Granada Rentals E180s! Very Happy
JA
james-2001
Wouldn't matter if you did lose the tapes now, I digitised the content from them back in 2013 XD

To be fair, that person is right about Eldorado, I watched it when it was repeated on UK Gold in the early 00s and it did improve massively towards the end. I guess though it couldn't shake the reputation and the laughing stock of its early days.
TE
tesandco Founding member
They did seem to have a lot of letters about Eldorado back then from some of the other stuff I've found on other tapes too.

Latest Update - 29/12/2016

On which point, as promised more early Teletext on 3 from March 1993 is now online. Getting closer to the Teletext Ltd service as most remember it, the homepage header has now gone blue, and Digitiser, Bamboozle and the timed segments (Daytime etc) have all now moved over to Channel 4. With 3 now being used to provide an expanded news and regional service.

News of the time covers the scandal of the then BBC Director General John Birt having been uncovered as not paying tax. Although Noel's long-lost Glaswegian brother seems in favour of it!


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https://www.tvwhirl.co.uk/teletext/itv-tttv-teletext/#vid_5411
Last edited by tesandco on 29 December 2016 4:22pm

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