Today is the day many of us say goodbye to Ceefax after the analogue TV signal was switched off across London. The BBC’s teletext information service started transmitting back in 1974 and is still providing information on a wide range of topics covering news, sport, weather, TV listings and businesses.

It is incredible to think, but before the web arrived Ceefax pages were often the first location to report a breaking story or headline. It was the internet before we had the internet and its passing has seen it trending on Twitter today under the hashtag #Ceefaxmemories.

The pages in London are being phased out today and it will shut completely by October 24 as part of the digital switchover — so there is still time to rush to Kent, Sussex the North East and Northern Ireland which will have it for a while longer (should you be suffering withdrawal).

There are some great tweets on #ceefaxmemories including many about how it wasn’t always so great, but it certainly had its moments including this one:

Wycombe Wanderers manager Laurie Sanchez signing a striker from a Ceefax ad who then scored a winner in FA Cup quarter final #Ceefaxmemories

— Neal Mann (@fieldproducer) April 18, 2012

Here it is, my favorite of my #Ceefaxmemories, absolutely brilliant youtu.be/L6Z-L95ebpE

— Neal Mann (@fieldproducer) April 18, 2012

It has taken a lont time to get here. It is almost as if Ceefax has been hanging on for these last few years as usage of it fell away as it was supplanted by the web and other devices.

The end of Ceefax began almost a decade ago after the BBC stopped broadcasting Ceefax on Sky Digital service, but later brought back a limited service including a TV schedule for BBC One and BBC Two.

The BBC has reused the old Ceefax page numbers where it can on the Freeview and digital satellite BBC Red Button Ceefax-replacement services (which can be terribly slow).

The analogue Ceefax service follows ITV and Channel 4′s Teletext service into mothballs after they closed in December 2009 and Channel 5′s “five text” service closed in 2011. However, a limited analogue teletext service through ITV and Channel 4 is still available through terrestrial.

Some of ITV’s pages live on online at The Teletext Museum.

There are lots of pieces around today looking back today at Ceefax including this 10 things we miss on the Telegraph, including these two:

1. News headlines
Page 101 was the only way outside of newspapers and radio and TV news bulletins to get the latest news on demand. It was a classic founding part of the Ceefax service.

4. The colour weather map
Page 401 brought up the iconic pointillist Ceefax weather map – giving people the latest forecasts for the whole country.

It’s closure comes as the space shuttle Discovery yesterday made its final voyage as it took a piggyback jet ride to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum annex in Virginia on the back of a 747.

If you never saw this great shuttle Ceefax infographic a the time it is worth a look as we say goodbye to our earliest digital news and information service.