A COMPUTER expert has hit the headlines after masterminding a new version of teletext.

Peter Kwan, 59, from Rodborough, has created a service based on the BBC's Ceefax which appeared on televisions from the 1970s.

The new service - called Teefax - works on old televisions and offers rolling news, jokes and tweets.

"It caught the imagination of people in the 1980s and 1990s," said Mr Kwan, who used to work on teletext systems for both the BBC and ITV.

"A lot of people used the service and everybody had their own favourite page.

"I remember using it to catch the football results.

"The service works on old televisions and comes out just the same as teletext."

Teletext fans can make the new service work by plugging a Raspberry Pi - a small computer - into an old analogue television.

A central server is used to download teletext pages which are sent through a composite signal to the TV.

Mr Kwan, a software engineer for a radio manufacturer in Cheltenham, started working on the service in around 2012 - the year that Ceefax was switched off by the BBC.

After contacting engineers and digital artists, he assembled a team to get the project off the ground.

Last year a version of the service was created for Stroud Fringe, called Fringefax, which was shown at Trading Post, the Sub Rooms and in eCycle in John Street, Stroud.

The team of software engineers led by Mr Kwan are hoping to create an online archive of old teletext pages from Britain, Germany and France.

Mr Kwan, who appeared on ITV to talk about the new service, told The Times: "It's like the modern day equivalent of restoring steam engines.

"It's completely useless but it keeps us occupied."

Ceefax was launched in 1974 and provided information on news, weather, sport as well as providing subtitles and programme information.

It stopped in 2012 as analogue television was replaced by digital.