The home computing world is mourning the loss of pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair, who has died at the age of 81.
The entrepreneur’s company launched the ZX models in a decade where personal computer use began to boom in the UK, with Sinclair becoming the first company in the world to sell more than a million computers, catapulting Sir Clive into a household name.
A man of diverse interests, Sir Clive’s projects also saw him explore new technology in the worlds of television and cars.
One initiative was the Sinclair C5 vehicle, an electric tricycle heralded as the future of eco-friendly transport, but which turned out to be an expensive flop.
Sir Clive left school at the age of 17, becoming a technical journalist writing specialist manuals.
At 22, he formed Sinclair Radionics, his first company, which made mail order radio kits, including the smallest transistor radio in the world.
It was with another company, Sinclair Research, that he found his home computing successes as he faced off against international competition.
The ZX81 computer launched in 1981 sold half a million and was followed up by more powerful models in later years.
Sir Clive was awarded a knighthood in the Queen’s birthday honours of 1983.
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