DC THOMSON'S TAYTEL - 1982

Before the arrival of the internet, the basic concept of providing an interactive information system on screen commenced in the UK in the early 80's. BT came up with PRESTEL, a public viewdata service. A modified TV receiver in the home was linked by your telephone to a main computer database that connected various Information Provider companies. Subscribers could view thousands of pages on TV featuring items such as weather, travel updates, sport etc, as well as send messages or order goods.

DC Thomson was Dundee's IP and they called themselves TAYTEL 263 VIEWDATA.

The screen visuals were similar to present day Ceefax & Teletext with images made possible using the square block method.

The image above you should be able to figure out, it being the DCT building at Meadowside, and below are some of the original Taytel/Prestel on-screen graphics from 1982.