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   https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/sep/16/home-computing-pioneer-sir-c   
   live-sinclair-dies-aged-81   
      
   ===   
   Home computing pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair dies aged 81   
      
   Creator of the landmark ZX Spectrum and the less commercially successful C5   
   died after a long illness   
      
   Haroon Siddique   
   Thu 16 Sep 2021 13.18 EDT   
      
   Last modified on Thu 16 Sep 2021 20.43 EDT   
      
   Sir Clive Sinclair, the inventor and entrepreneur who was instrumental in   
   bringing home computers to the masses, has died at the age of 81.   
      
   His daughter, Belinda, said he died at home in London on Thursday morning after   
   a long illness. Sinclair invented the pocket calculator but was best known for   
   popularising the home computer, bringing it to British high-street stores at   
   relatively affordable prices.   
      
   Many modern-day titans of the games industry got their start on one of his ZX   
   models. For a certain generation of gamer, the computer of choice was either   
   the ZX Spectrum 48K or its rival, the Commodore 64.   
      
   Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX chief, commented on Twitter on an article   
   calling Sir Clive the father of the ZX Spectrum: "RIP, Sir Sinclair. I loved   
   that computer."   
      
   Belinda Sinclair, 57, told the Guardian: "He was a rather amazing person. Of   
   course, he was so clever and he was always interested in everything. My   
   daughter and her husband are engineers so he'd be chatting engineering with   
   them."   
      
   He left school at 17 and worked for four years as a technical journalist to   
   raise funds to found Sinclair Radionics.   
      
   In the early 1970s he invented a series of calculators designed to be small and   
   light enough to fit in the pocket at a time when most existing models were the   
   size of an old-fashioned shop till. "He wanted to make things small and cheap   
   so people could access them," his daughter said.   
      
   His first home computer, the ZX80, named after the year it appeared,   
   revolutionised the market, although it was a far cry from today's models. At   
   GBP79.95 in kit form and GBP99.95 assembled, it was about one-fifth of the   
   price of other home computers at the time. It sold 50,000, units while its   
   successor, the ZX81, which replaced it, cost GBP69.95 and sold 250,000. Many   
   games industry veterans got their start typing programs into its touch-based   
   keyboard and became hooked on games such as as 3D Monster Maze and Mazogs. The   
   ZX80 and ZX81 made him very rich: in 2010 Sinclair told the Guardian: "Within   
   two or three years, we made GBP14m profit in a year."   
      
   The business mogul Lord Sugar paid tribute to his "good friend and competitor"   
   on Twitter, writing: "What a guy he kicked started consumer electronics in the   
   UK with his amplifier kits then calculators, watches mini TV and of course the   
   Sinclair ZX. Not to forget his quirky electric car. R.I.P Friend."   
      
   In 1982, he released the ZX Spectrum 48K. Its rubber keys, strange clashing   
   visuals and tinny sound did not prevent it being pivotal in the development of   
   the British games industry. Much-loved games -- now in colour -- that inspired   
   a generation included Jet Set Willy, Horace Goes Skiing, Chuckie Egg, Saboteur,   
   Knight Lore and Lords of Midnight.   
      
   Sinclair became a household name as his products flew off the shelves and was   
   awarded a knighthood in 1983. But he would also become synonymous with one of   
   his less successful inventions -- the Sinclair C5 -- which would cost him   
   financially. The C5, a battery-powered electric trike, was launched in January   
   1985, with Sinclair predicting sales of 100,000 in the first year.   
      
   But it flopped, and Sinclair Vehicles found itself in receivership by October   
   of the same year. Reviews expressed concerns about the safety of driving a   
   vehicle below the sight line of other motorists, as well as exposure to the   
   elements. The following year, Sinclair sold his computer business to Amstrad.   
      
   The Sinclair TV80, a pocket TV, was another device, like the C5, that did not   
   catch on, although people now regularly view programmes on their mobile phones.   
   And although they do not look like the Sinclair C5, which later acquired cult   
   status, electric vehicles are, of course, all the rage today.   
      
   Belinda Sinclair said: "It was the ideas, the challenge, that he found   
   exciting. He'd come up with an idea and say, 'There's no point in asking if   
   someone wants it, because they can't imagine it."   
      
   But he did not make personal use of his own inventions. His daughter said he   
   never had a pocket calculator as far as she knew, instead carrying a slide-rule   
   around with him at all times. And he told interviewers he used neither a   
   computer nor email.   
      
   Outside inventing, his interests included poetry, running marathons and poker.   
   He appeared in the first three seasons of the Late Night Poker television   
   series and won the first season final of the Celebrity Poker Club spinoff,   
   defeating Keith Allen.   
      
   He is survived by Belinda, his sons, Crispin and Bartholomew, aged 55 and 52   
   respectively, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.   
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