Sir Clive Sinclair, inventor behind Spectrum computer and C5, dies aged 81

Sir Clive Sinclair, who kickstarted the British computing industry in the 1980s with his Sinclair range of computers, has died at the age of 81, according to reports.

His daughter Belinda Sinclair told the Guardian that the pocket calculator trailblazer and the brains behind the Spectrum home computers died at his home in London on Thursday morning.

Sir Clive launched the first affordable consumer computer in 1980, costing less than £100.

The multimillionaire entrepreneur’s company launched the ZX models in a decade where personal computer use boomed.

Sir Clive Sinclair demonstrating his C5 electric vehicle, the battery-come-pedal powered trike, at Alexandra Palace.

Sinclair became the first company in the world to sell more than a million computers, making Sir Clive’s surname a household word.

His daughter 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.”

A man of diverse interests, Sir Clive’s projects also saw him explore new technology in the worlds of television and cars.

One ill-fated 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.

Born in 1940, Sir Clive left school at the age of 17, becoming a technical journalist writing specialist manuals.

Aged 22, he formed Sinclair Radionics, his first company, making mail order radio kits, including the smallest transistor radio in the world.

Later in life he pioneered the pocket calculator and was dubbed an “electronics wizard”.

Other ventures included expansions into digital watches and the development of the world’s smallest television set.

It was with another company, Sinclair Research, that Sir Clive found his home computing successes as he faced off against international competition.

The ZX 81 computer launched in 1981 sold half a million and was followed up by more powerful models.

Film director Edgar Wright paid tribute to Sir Clive’s computing achievements on Twitter.

He tweeted: “I’d like to salute tech pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair. He made 21st Century dreams feel possible. Will bash away on the rubber keys of a Spectrum in your honour. RIP.”

Sir Clive was knighted in the birthday honours in 1983.

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